The Virgin's Pursuit Read Online Free

gently-bred women would not indulge in. “I am free in the forest and I am happy to be so. The days do not present hardship, but the joys of a simpler life.”
    This was no furious ranting of an angered woman. Certainly, she seemed to believe she would fare well alone in the forest.
    â€œYou are an uncommon woman, Isolda of Iness.” He couldn’t deny a new respect for her. “One day, you will tell me all about how you carved out a hidden existence in the woodlands right under Norman noses, but for now I need to get you back to the keep.”
    His horse arrived—a fleet-footed mare with enough strength and speed to cover the many leagues before nightfall.
    â€œI am not leaving,” she protested, her wide eyes and wrinkled nose telling him how repugnant she found the very idea. “I will never go back to Iness until my family’s banner flies over the keep.”
    â€œThat is where you are wrong.” He did not give her any warning before he swept her off her feet and deposited her on the mare’s back.
    She gasped and nearly shrieked, but she was a wise enough horsewoman to know better than to frighten the animal.
    â€œYou are mad,” she accused, firing off the words like her own stock of arrows. “I escaped Iness once and I will only do so again.”
    Hoisting himself up into the saddle behind her, Cormac found he was once again subjected to the sweet torment of her fragrant form pressed tight to his chest.
    â€œThen I will have to keep my eye on you night and day to be sure that doesn’t happen.” The idea of such close proximity sent a surge of pure longing through him.
    He smiled when she met his words with cold silence. Kicking the animal into motion, he leaned into his new captive, gladly reminding her of the heat that flared between them when they touched.
    â€œYou suggested once before that I don’t play enough games.” His hand spanned her ribs just beneath her breast, his thumb close enough to touch that plump swell if the horse should hit the ground with a bit of extra force. “But perhaps I just needed one that I found enjoyable.”
    â€œHolding a woman against her will is no game,” she said stiffly, keeping herself as still as possible as they moved together in rhythm with the animal’s cantering pace.
    â€œThen I will make sure I only hold you when you want me to.” It would be no small hardship, since he suspected she would never again come to him as easily as she had that morning.
    â€œThat will never happen.” The heat in her tone when she said it gave him hope.
    Where there was smoke, surely fire would follow. As he guided the mare to the east, where Iness awaited, Cormac knew he only needed to fan the flames.

Chapter 3
    She was home, and yet not home at all.
    Isolda walked as a ghost through the corridors and staircases of the keep where she’d grown up, her footsteps echoing hollowly on the stone steps leading out of the courtyard.
    Cormac had been by her side every moment since they’d arrived, but she felt utterly alone in this place that had once been so familiar to her. The words he exchanged with his servants and retainers were a dull drone she hardly heard. Her ears were attuned to the sound of a squeaking lift used to raise water from the well and the soft ring of the chapel bell to signal Mass. Her heart ached with the memories of the life she’d lost when the Normans came.
    â€œIt has grown desolate under your care,” she accused softly as she followed him up the staircase leading to the private chambers.
    Iness had a circular keep, with a courtyard in the center and the great hall, smaller hall and sleeping quarters ringing that open area. Brilliant tapestries and hanging lanterns had brightened the way up this passage just one year ago. Now the spring sun did not touch the covered steps where so many trespassers had trod.
    â€œA man lives simply when he has no