The Temptation by Claudia Dain

Author:Claudia Dain
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: 0
Published: 2011-04-12T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

"Denise, I do not need any aid," Elsbeth said as she gathered food from the kitchens.

"Lord Hugh told me that you did, or would, or might, and so I am here," Denise said. "I am to stay with you."

Elsbeth reached down a hand and brushed it over the girl's shining hair. Well, there were worse things than the company of a small and very earnest companion. Her own fostering had been slipshod. Isabel of Dornei had a kind heart, but a wayward will, and her instruction had been... inconsistent. She would not wish such on Denise; her success as a lady of a great holding would depend upon her skills. It did not matter so much for Elsbeth, as Ardeth had taught her early and taught her well all that a lady of this world must know to thrive. She had learned well, listened well.

She knew how to pray and how to sew, how to manage a house and how to discipline a servant, how to submit and how to survive. She was very adept at submission. All who knew her said as much and more. Even Hugh would come to say the same, and from there, it was a small step to gaining his permission to enter the convent. A small step, but so perilous. It looked less likely by the hour that he would disavow her, but would he let her run to Sunnandune without a husband at her side? He seemed to want her most desperately.

Nay, she was being foolish. Hugh was a charming, carefree man, given to smiles when other men were given to anger. He would release her. He needed only to understand that she would make an unfit wife. And he would see that. She would make him see that.

She would make him see that before her blood deserted her. That was very important. She must not and would not be breached, no matter what her father counseled. Or perhaps because he counseled it. To have him encourage her to open her legs to Hugh made her clench them together all the tighter. She did not want to give him what he wanted, though his arguments had been all of her and how she could best achieve her goals. No matter. There had to be a way of achieving her ends without the opening of her thighs and the breaching of her maidenhead.

There had to be.

"Where are we going?" Denise asked, picking at a crumb on the table and popping it into her mouth.

Elsbeth corralled her thoughts and pinned them on the duty at hand. "We are going to the village to see who might need an extra crust or a wedge of cheese. Perhaps there is a child who sits untended at the edge of a toft or by a cold hearth who would be thankful for a small bite."

"Shall I hold the basket with you?'

"Nay, you carry the sack of apples; I shall carry the basket."

"But the cook will not like that his apples are gone missing.

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