Page 17 of Bold Angel
Her temper heated a little more that she should notice, when she had firmly vowed that she would not. She felt his piercing gray-blue eyes as she approached in a russet woolen tunic over a soft yellow chainse. His gaze seemed to warm as she drew near, moving over her clothing with approval, then returning to her face.
“You have done well in choosing your garments. I hope you also are pleased.” His features were arresting: smooth dark skin, full curving lips, black slashing brows above his unusual eyes. She saw him smile and unwillingly remembered how warm she had grown when he had kissed her.
“The clothes are lovely. I am most grateful, my lord.”
“Caryn, this is Father Burton. He is returned from the abbey at St. Marks. Father, this is Caryn of Ivesham, my betrothed.”
In a swine’s eye,she thought but merely forced another smile. “Good morning, Father.”
“Now that Father Burton is back in the castle,” Ral said with a slight note of warning, “Mass will be held in the chapel early each day.”
Caryn merely nodded. It wasn’t that she minded Mass. The church was an important part of life, and in her own way she was devout. It was only that she knew the words by heart, spoke to God whenever she felt the need, and there was so much more she might be learning in that same span of time.
“I had wondered,” was all she said.
“Have you broken your fast?” Ral asked. “There is bread and ale, mayhap a chunk of cheese if you are hungry.”
“I will wait for the midday meal.” At the sound of an opening door, she glanced around and caught a beam of sunlight flooding in with the entry of one of the scullions. She sighed as the heavy oaken door swung shut, once more blotting out the sun.
“Art restless this morning?” Ral asked as the priest bid his farewells and walked away.
“Aye.”
“’Tis just that you should feel so.”
Thinking of the outlaws she had unwittingly aided, she could not disagree. “I suppose.”
He frowned at her lackluster mood. “Mayhap a breath of air would raise your spirits.”
Caryn smiled in earnest, brightened by the thought of a moment out of doors. “’Aye, my lord. Even a short breath would help.”
“I will walk with you for a time, then you will return to the keep as I have commanded.”
Caryn’s heart plunged. The savage Norman knight would go with her. She groaned to think of spending more time in his company. Then her dark mood brightened. What matter if he should go with her? He could show herthe bailey. She could discover the lay of the land, might yet find the means she would need for escape.
If she had to put up with the dark Norman’s presence, so be it. ’Twas little enough price to pay.
***
Ral took the small woman’s arm, felt it stiffen beneath his touch, and guided her off toward the heavy front door. The little minx was easy enough to read. She disliked him, blamed him for what had happened to her sister. Yet he would marry her still. In time he would tame her. He would rein in her unruly spirit, gentle her, and bring her willingly to his bed.
He eyed her luscious curves, the fullness of her breasts beneath her tunic. She was small but well formed and far lovelier than he had first noticed.’Twill be a pleasure, demoiselle,he thought, feeling a tightness in his groin.’Twill be a pleasure indeed.
They descended the wooden stairs to the hard damp ground of the bailey and walked past a gathering of his men. Knights, squires, and pages, men-at-arms assembled in full battle dress trained for war as their lord expected. Ral demanded his soldiers stand at the ready. He wanted his squires well prepared as they approached knighthood. He wanted his pages to make good squires.
“Good day, my lord.” Those words from Odo, his chain mail clanking as he doffed his helm and strode forward from the others, his blue eyes bright beneath his fiery red hair. It was cut in the Norman fashion, shaved high up the back of the neck with a long bang in front, a style Ral did not favor.
“My lady.” Odo sized up the woman on Ral’s arm and cast him a glance berating him for what he saw as weakness in allowing her a respite from her sentence.
Ral inwardly smiled. Odo need not worry—the maid would be returned to the keep soon enough. And shewould be grateful for his leniency—another step in his scheme to bring her in hand.
“’Tis a pleasant day, is it not?” Odo said to Caryn.
“Aye. ’Tis a welcome respite from the cold.” She glanced up at the cloud-streaked blue sky. “Though it looks as though it may yet turn to storm.”
Ral liked the sound of her voice, liked that it was sweet and light, yet there was something sensual about it. Just as there was in the sway of her hips in the pretty russet tunic, a shade close to that of her long braided hair. It was there in the fullness of her lips when she smiled, the way her lashes swept over those velvet brown eyes when she tried to hide what she was thinking.
“How goes the training?” Ral asked, frowning as he saw his youngest knight, Geoffrey, take a blow to the shoulder, caught off guard as he stared too long in Caryn’s direction.
