Three Dog Knight by Phillips Tori

Author:Phillips, Tori [Phillips, Tori]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Historical
ISBN: 9781459261402
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 1998-01-01T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Alicia crossed her fingers for luck under the folds of her skirt. She felt much better now that she had revealed her dangerous secret to Thomas. She prayed that he would not send her away, or put her into a nunnery. She did not think he would turn her over to King Henry’s minions. At least, she could trust the unswerving loyalty of the Cavendishes to her family.

It was a strange experience to name aloud her true father and mother. She herself scarcely had time to assimilate all that the Bramptons had told her before their hasty departure from their shop in Micklegate. She still could not quite believe that she had come from such an ancient, highborn line. She held her silence, and wondered what Thomas would do.

When she finished her story, he stared at her, while his eyes turned bluer by the second. Then, massaging his temples, he paced the floor before the fireplace. In such a small chamber, he crossed the width in four of his long strides.

As the silence lengthened, Alicia steeled herself for his repudiation. What man, newly come into his title and estate, would gamble everything, including his own life, for a tall, willowy girl whom he barely knew? Considering her situation from Thomas’s point of view, she concluded that her hopes for lifelong protection hung by a very slender thread. That she had grown fond of him during her brief time at Wolf Hall was beside the point.

Thomas halted, pried the dagger out of the desktop, then studied the weapon with deep concentration.

Watching him, an icy fear twisted around Alicia’s heart. Sweet Jesu, he is going to kill me! That dreadful solution had never occurred to her before now. She pressed herself against the back of the chair. An unfamiliar panic welled up in her throat He could dispatch her as easily as paring an apple, then toss her remains into the river that flowed past the castle’s walls. If anyone should find her body downstream, no one would know who she was, or who had killed her. Considering how plainly she was dressed, no one would even care.

He stood before her, balancing the knife in his hand. The rays of the afternoon sun glinted along its sharp blade. His massive shoulders stretched the black velvet doublet he wore until the seams looked as if they would burst. The expression in his eyes was unfathomable. His steady gaze impaled her. She clutched the chair’s arms until her knuckles stood out white under her skin. She wanted to ask him to at least give her a decent Christian burial, but her words solidified in her throat. In this final moment of her life, she marveled how handsome her murderer looked.

Without a flicker of an eyelash to give her warning, Thomas dropped to one knee before her. Alicia froze, benumbed in body and soul. Bowing his head, he lifted her dusty hem to his lips, and kissed it with a deep reverence. She lowered her gaze, totally bewildered by his startling behavior.

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