King of Swords by Lindsay McKenna

Author:Lindsay McKenna
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

The sun had just set, leaving the sky a brilliant rose color as Thorne entered Madrid with Dev. La Paloma Posada, a small but clean inn made of adobe brick, sat on the northern edge of the sprawling city. The patrons were bourgeois, assuring Dev that Thorne would be safe in his absence. He purchased two rooms that adjoined each other. Dev didn’t want Thorne involved in the spying activity that he’d initiate shortly. Separate rooms meant Thorne would not be openly associated with him. Earlier, he’d fed the innkeeper a story that he was a retainer for Thorne, who was to meet the rest of her family in Madrid at a prearranged time. That way, the owner wouldn’t grow suspicious of a young woman in a room by herself. She was delighted with the wrought-iron enclosed balcony that led off her bedroom. After Dev made sure the horses were properly cared for, he joined Thorne on the balcony which faced the city. She sat with lemon water in hand, giving him a welcoming smile.

The day was fading and Thorne felt mellow, wanting to share the feeling with Dev. She roused herself from her reverie and watched as he cleaned the bridles.

“Tell me about your brother, Gavin. You’ve told me of Alyssa. What of him?”

Dev raised his head, drowning in her tender gray eyes. “Gavin is two years younger than me. He’s the baby of our family.”

“Is he a warrior like you?”

Dev grimaced. “Gavin’s the adventurer, and he’s an excellent swordsman. There were times in Ireland when he saved my life. He’s like a cat in many ways,” he went on, “with good night vision, and he has the nine lives of one. Yet when a battle is over, he can relax.”

“And you can’t?” Thorne probed.

“No.” Dev gave a slight laugh. “Gavin is more detached. He lives to fight. He was never a farmer.”

“Like you?”

Dev slowly rubbed the leather and frowned. “I’ve always been a farmer. So has Lys. Gavin was more interested in winning a wager on a horse race, charming the women with his good looks or using that tripping tongue of his to get himself into and out of trouble.”

Thorne smiled. “He sounds playful.”

“He is…was.” Dev scowled, staring out at the darkening sky and the silhouettes of the stucco buildings that surrounded them. “Being in prison five years has probably changed him a great deal. Vaughn Trayhern’s squadron captured him, and that bastard would sooner see us dead than alive,” he gritted out.

“It sounds as if prison life would slowly kill Gavin,” Thorne murmured, unable to soothe Dev’s anguish.

“It would kill anyone.” Dev hesitated, so many old emotions that he had kept at bay surfacing within him. “God, I pray that he’s well. I keep wondering how he’ll look when I see him. I wonder how they’ll bring him to Madrid. Or if they will….”

Thorne looked up at his ravaged face. “My father will move heaven and earth to see to my safety, Dev. If there is any way that Gavin can be freed and brought here, he’ll do it.

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