Page 38 of Bold Angel
“But you said—”
“I know only too well what I said.” Again he surveyed her, taking in the shape of her legs outlined by the tight-fitting hose.
“Please, my lord, I was so looking forward to a day in the forest.”
“No.”
“I promise I will please you.”
Ral pondered this last, caught by her eager expression, knowing full well how much the day must mean. He tried to imagine how he might tactfully avoid the situation he had created, but his eyes kept straying to her shapely legs. Her breasts rose and fell softly andwisps of flame dark hair peeked from beneath the rim of her brown felt hat. When she bent to retrieve her sachel, Ral knew a surge of lust that made the blood pump hotly through his veins.
He wanted to rip off her snug boy’s clothes, to pull her down on the floor and drive himself inside her. He wanted to take her there and then, to pound into her again and again. By Christ he’d been a fool when he’d promised not to bed her.
He watched her face in the light of the candle, expectancy adding a glow to her lovely features. “’Tis not… not uncommon for a lady of your station to accompany her lord on the hunt.” She looked so hopeful he inwardly groaned. “I will see to the arrangements—while you change your clothes.”
“But—”
“Or you may remain here in your chamber. The choice is yours.”
Caryn sighed. “Aye, my lord. If it means I may go, I will do as you wish.”
“Do not dally. When you are ready, you may join me out in the bailey.”
Disgruntled at the change in his plans, Ral strode from his chamber down the passage that led to the stairs. By the time he had reached the great hall, he discovered his dark mood had brightened and he was looking forward to the day ahead. He would order a tentkeeper to accompany them, as well as a cook to see to a proper midday meal. He would make the day a special one, something his little wife wouldn’t soon forget.
Besides, they had all been working hard of late; they deserved a day of pleasure.
Within the hour, as the sun rose over the horizon in a fan of orange and gold, Odo, Hugh, Lambert, Geoffrey, and a dozen of Ral’s best men rode beside him out of the castle. Dressed in a simple velvet tunic of midnightblue beneath her cloak, Caryn rode the little gray palfry, and even Richard had been convinced to come along.
Ral had also brought his favorite hawk, Caesar. Hooded and regal, it perched atop the leather-covered shoulder of his squire. As they passed through a meadow leading into the mountains, Ral chanced a look at Caryn, whose smile looked even brighter than it had when they’d left the castle.
“Thank you, my lord,” she said.
A corner of his mouth curved up. “The day will be a long one. You may yet wish you had stayed behind.”
“Never, my lord.”
By late that morning, her joy still unfaded, Ral believed she meant it. She might be small, but she was a game little wench with plenty of heart—as he was soon to find out.
***
“’Tis a lovely day, is it not?” With Ral off scouting ahead, Caryn rode beside Odo.
“’Tis a bit chill and damp,” he said sullenly.
Caryn looked around her, seeing naught but the beauty of the forest, recalling the rich black soil of the high fertile valley they had just crossed, hearing the purr of a bog. The wind made a sighing sound as it passed through the tall green grasses alive with squirrels and birds.
“I would spend each of my days like this,” she said, “did I have a choice. Surrounded by alder, beech, and yew, the blue sky for my ceiling, fern and heather at my feet.”
Odo made a rude sound in his throat.
“Look there”—she pointed toward a shallow babbling stream—“beaver have dammed the brook. They make their home beneath that dome of branches and twigs. See there, one finds its way to the shore.”
“They stop the flow of water to the farmlands,” Odogrumbled. “I will send a villein to tear down the dam and let the water resume its flow.”
“’Tis nature’s way. Surely there is good that comes of it.”
When Odo just scowled, Caryn eyed him thoughtfully. “You do not like me, do you?”
