Scarlet Angel by Thornton Elizabeth

Author:Thornton, Elizabeth [Thornton, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, General, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9780821777138
Publisher: Zebra
Published: 2005-09-15T07:00:00+00:00

Escape. It was all she could think of. To be sure, the thought of striking out on her own terrified her. But the thought of remaining at Dunraeden as his captive terrified her even more. If only, she thought with something close to hysteria, she had quashed that insane curiosity that had led to her present predicament. She was sorry, now, that she had ever toyed with the idea of becoming a real woman, and was even more sorry that she had not been born a boy. Then the Englishman would not have kissed her. And that hungry look that she surprised more and more frequently in his half-hooded expression would be directed toward a different lady. She was sure she could not comprehend what perversity in her nature recoiled at the thought of the Englishman kissing another lady. Sainte Vierge, what was the matter with her?

Gabrielle adjusted the length of rope at her shoulder and pulled on a pair of stout leather gauntlets before climbing over the windowsill in her chamber. The blunt carving knife she regretfully left behind. It had almost slipped from the waistband of her breeches on her last practice, and she could not take the chance, now that she was escaping in earnest, of a repeat performance. Besides, as a weapon or a tool, the knife was a useless article. It had not even sawed half through the length of rope when she had attempted to shorten it. The rope was bulky and made her progress along the west wall more perilous than necessary.

Step by slow step, Gabrielle edged her way along the stone pediment, her back pressed to the wall. It was now or never. The Englishman was gone for the night. Lord Lansing had bid her a fond farewell some days since. The vigilance of the servants was more relaxed than it had ever been. She would never be handed a better opportunity than the present to escape her captors. And she was in the peak of physical condition. Then what the devil ailed her? How was she to account for this incomprehensible reluctance to leave behind the grim fortress that had been her prison?

The tides, she thought. That must be it. Naturally, she was reluctant to step outside the safety of Dunraeden’s invincible stone walls where the treacherous tides threatened to sweep all before them. She’d been making a study, and knew to the minute how rapidly the incoming tide raced landward to dash at the very walls of the castle, turning Dunraeden into a veritable island amid the churning brine. The bore at Caudebec was not more alarming, in her opinion.

The pediment ended a good number of feet above the lower tier of the west tower. Like the athlete she was, Gabrielle dropped down lightly on the balls of her feet, finding her balance unerringly. She quickly knotted the length of hemp around one of the abutments and was soon lowering herself, hand over fist, to the rocks below. Not a twinge of pain or discomfort slowed her progress.

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