The Chevalier (Châteaux and Shadows) Read Online Free Page A

Mademoiselle?” He smiled, deliberately baiting her, though she had echoed his own thoughts.
    She blinked and looked away. “Wrath, envy, greed. The priest told me I should not count my recent illness and recovery as sloth. I’ve never had trouble with gluttony, except on rare occasions.”
    “But pride?” Manu was sure she had more than her fair share.
    She glanced at him with a tiny smile on her lips. Her pink, plump lips. “Sometimes it is all I have.”
    Moi aussi , he almost said. He stared at her profile for a long while before offering his arm. They stepped out into the hot midday sun. Mademoiselle de Fouet adjusted her hat to keep the sun off her face, and he donned his brother Cédric’s hat, which was much nicer than his ragged riding hat but too big. He wasn’t sure he was thankful for his brother’s loan of clothing, as he would almost have preferred to wear his dusty leather riding clothes, which had the advantage of being comfortable.
    They walked toward the carriage that stood waiting to take the ladies back to the manor. Manu’s thoughts turned back to confessionals.
    “And what about lust, Mademoiselle de Fouet?”
    She jerked in surprise, and he saw her cheeks flush red before she turned her head away and the brim of her hat obscured her face.
    He stopped short in surprise, staring at her hat. Except for the moment when she hadn’t known he was watching and curtseyed to imaginary people, she had seemed like a hard-shelled, bitter image of his mother. That she lusted surprised him.
    He wanted to ask after whom. He dreaded it was him. No, he dreaded it was someone else.
    Manu took a long stride to catch up with her and helped her into the carriage with the other ladies. He stepped back with his father, brother, brother-in-law, and various nephews to return on foot with the servants. His father had always made a good case for walking, except in the worst weather, to give the horses and the servants more rest on Sunday. Manu wasn’t sure how walking half a league was rest for the servants who had been up since before the dawn to lay fires and cook breakfast, but he didn’t argue.
    “Well, Manu!”
    He thought the voice from behind his right shoulder was his father, but when he turned to look, it was his brother Cédric, twelve years older than he and heir to the barony. He looked and sounded more like their father all the time. He was even getting a bit of a belly.
    “How is the horse farm?”
    Manu narrowed his eyes to be sure his brother wasn’t teasing. He had been the most set against Manu starting a breeding operation, saying Jean-Louis would get better rents from grain harvests. Besides, a truly good horse breeder should set up operation close to a royal palace and hope to come to the attention of the court, not lose himself in the provinces. Manu could only afford the nominal fee that Jean-Louis charged him and liked being far from the court and from his family’s interference.
    “Excellent, thank you.” Manu tried to sound more polite than he felt. “I’ve just sold a young stallion to a duke’s household. He hopes to train the stallion to race.”
    Cédric appeared genuinely pleased. “Dom told me. It’s an excellent coup for you.”
    Manu bristled at the implication he had success only through luck and not skill, but felt a hand on his other shoulder before he could retort. Dom smiled at him and raised his eyebrows in warning at Cédric, his oldest friend. “I’ll have to have a look at your horses when I’m in Poitou in a few weeks, Manu. If I delay, I won’t be able to afford your prices.”
    “You wouldn’t have anything in carriage horses, would you?” asked Cédric. “My leaders are getting old, and I could use a new pair. Matched, if you have them, but anything strong, with good looks.”
    They talked about horses all the way home, Manu describing his newest foals and Dom describing the broodmare he had tried to buy from Manu the year before, but which Manu had