The Bride Hunt Read Online Free

Queen Mathilda herself. She would not be cowed by mere barbarians.
    The man with dark eyes grabbed her hair and yanked her head back, causing her to yelp in pain in spite of herself. Then he spoke to Red-Beard, who shook his head and responded in their strange language.
    Isabel’s eyes teared with the stinging pain in her scalp, but the dark Scot held her so tightly that she could not have moved or he would have pulled her hair out at the roots. He touched her improperly, skimming his hands over her neck and shoulders. He filled his hands with her breasts and squeezed, but Isabel clenched her jaw tightly and withstood the indignity in silence. But when he slid his hands under her skirts, she kicked him away.
    The barbarian threw his head back and laughed, showing brown, rotted teeth. He released her so suddenly that she fell backward into the dirt. Ignoring the pain caused by the torn flesh at her wrists, she shot a pleading look in Roger’s direction; but he lay unconscious at the opposite end of the enclosure.
    Anvrai had gone deadly still, and Isabel wondered if he’d done it intentionally to avoid notice.
    Mayhap he was dead.
    She felt her chin begin to quiver as tears welled in her eyes. I will not weep .
    Blinking rapidly, she took a deep breath, pulled herself up to a sitting position, and ignored the two men, who had begun to argue loudly…over her.
    Red-Beard suddenly bent to slice the straps that held her so tightly, but the dark-eyed onestopped him. Apparently acquiescing to Red-Beard’s price, he dropped several coins into the man’s hand.
    Isabel realized she had just been purchased as a common slave.
    She clenched her teeth and withstood the humiliation without any notable reaction as she watched Red-Beard stride away, stuffing his newly gained coin into the pouch at his belt. Then she glanced up and took the measure of the dark Scot, considering every possible way she might manage to kill him.

Chapter 3
    T hough Anvrai’s wrists bled with the futile effort to get free, he ignored the pain and tried manipulating the manacles around his wrist. He managed to turn his hand far enough to grab hold of the chain that held him pinned to the ground. With so little leverage, ’twas difficult to pull, but he had to do something.
    They’d taken Lady Isabel away, and there wasn’t a soldier alive who didn’t know what that meant.
    For the first time since they’d arrived there, Anvrai had gotten a good look at Lady Isabel as they’d hauled her out of the enclosure. He shouldn’t have been so shocked by her appearance.
    The beautiful lady, with her elegant sable hair and flashing golden eyes was dirty and disheveled. Her hair hung in dark clumps down her back, and her fashionable, silken kirtle was gone. Naught but a torn, chainsil chemise covered her nakedness, but just barely. Every detail of her body was visible through the thin, worn cloth.
    Barefoot, and with her hands tied behind her back, she stumbled over the rough ground as the Scots guard shoved her out of the enclosure. And there was naught Anvrai could do about it.
    He did not want to be responsible for her. ’Twas one thing to do battle, knight against knight in defense of a holding. But this was a much more personal struggle. His duty to her was far too similar to the charge his father had given him years before with his last breath.
    But Anvrai had not been able to protect his mother and sister, and they’d died horribly. Norsemen had overrun his family’s manor, murdering his father and all who impeded their pillaging. As he lay dying, Alain d’Arques had sent a young Anvrai out to hide his mother and sister from the invaders. But the murderous barbarians had caught them.
    Those memories were best forgotten. He’d survived, and he would do so again—with or without Lady Isabel.
    In frustration, he pulled up on the chain, using every bit of force he could muster for the task, but he had to be careful not to alert either of the men who