Innocent's Champion by Meriel Fuller

Author:Meriel Fuller [Fuller, Meriel]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-11-01T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Like a pall of dense grey smoke, cloud clumped on the horizon, then edged across the limpid sky above, obscuring the silver arc of the moon. To the west, brilliant streaks of the dying sun dimmed suddenly, then veiled and, at the bottom of the towering cliffs of the gorge, the light darkened.

‘Matilda, you have to go home,’ Gilan said. A single raindrop touched his face, a cold pinprick. ‘Where Henry is going…where I am going, is no place for a woman.’ Was it his imagination or did he hear the note of resignation in his voice?

‘But—’ Matilda protested, attempting to decipher the contours of his face. All she could see in the growing blackness was the decisive flash of his eyes, the glimmer of his hair.

‘Besides, it’s unheard of, a woman travelling with a group of men who aren’t related to her, or part of her household.’ He cut across her answer, his tone deliberately stern. ‘I told you all this before.’

Edging closer to her horse, she clutched on to the bridle beneath the animal’s chin, as if to give herself the extra strength she needed to argue with him. ‘But, Gilan, I’ll stay dressed as I am!’ As if to emphasise the point, she yanked her hood more securely over the velvet fall of her hair. ‘No one would ever guess I was a woman.’

Somewhere, high above them, an owl hooted, calling to its mate, a haunting, lonely sound.

A jolt of desire scythed through him. I’d know, he thought. The woollen leggings fitted snugly to her shapely calves; the tantalising curve of her bosom pressed against the voluminous tunic. And it wasn’t just her figure beneath the clothes, he thought, it was everything about her: the graceful, efficient way she walked, the fragile curve of her jawline, the exquisite smoothness of her skin peeking out from beneath the hood.

‘They wouldn’t guess, would they?’ she asked.

He would be a fool if he agreed to this. It was wrong, all so wrong. Women weren’t supposed to roam about the countryside dressed as the opposite sex; they were soft, vulnerable creatures who needed to stay within the relative safety of their castle walls. But Matilda’s home wasn’t safe and now she was pursuing the only solution open to her in order to rectify that situation. Most women would have probably resigned themselves to their fate long ago, had they found themselves in a similar position, but not Matilda. She was so different and he could only approve of her tenacity and determination. She had defied him, but strangely, he applauded her defiance, admired her. Her obtuse, stubborn behaviour had burrowed deep within him, sneaking beneath the ironclad coating that surrounded his heart and coaxing it back to life.

He sighed, sticking one foot into his stirrup and swinging up into the saddle, tanned fingers wrapping around the rubbed leather of his reins. ‘No, I suppose they wouldn’t guess,’ he said finally, looking down into her expectant face. This was wrong, all so wrong.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.