The Jewel's Embrace: A Medieval Romance Novella by Le Veque Kathryn

Author:Le Veque, Kathryn
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Romance, Medieval, Fiction
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2020-04-01T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

River was nearly to the main road when he caught sight of the sheep herd again.

In the distance, he could see the big, gray dog, the one that had been at the shepherdess’ side. That meant she was around there, somewhere, and although he should have pushed on to the road and far away from the women who would soon be in pursuit of him, he couldn’t quite bring himself to do it. Something was pushing him towards that shepherdess, wherever she may be.

Something told him that he had to find her.

Following the flock and the barking dog, he ended up in another meadow, southwest of the road. He’d passed through groups of trees to get there and through an open gate, and the expansive landscape with a brook meandering through it appeared.

But no shepherdess.

Surely, she had to be around somewhere. He slowed his pace, plodding through the meadow, pushing sheep aside in his search. The dog found him. It was a big hairy thing and followed along. He eyed the animal.

“Where is yer mistress?”

The dog simply looked up at him, wagging its tail, and River continued through the meadow, finally circling it, thinking he surely must have missed the shepherdess. She was here, somewhere.

And then he smelled it – smoke.

As the dog went back to mind the flock, River followed the trail of smoke and ended up just inside the tree line to the south, where the smoke grew stronger. He finally spied the source – a small cooking fire in the shelter of the trees and a figure crouched down beside it.

The shepherdess.

Quickly, he made his way over to her.

“Ye saw those women coming for me,” he said as he reined his horse to a halt a few feet away. “Why didn’t ye warn me?”

The young woman didn’t seem startled by his appearance. She glanced up at him casually as she stirred a small pot of something bubbling over the fire.

“I tried to,” she said. “Ye were too busy convincing me that I would make a fine countess. So ye escaped them, did ye? Ye’re cleverer than I thought.”

He dismounted. “That statement tells me that ye know that bunch.”

“I do.”

“Neighbors?”

“Sisters.”

River looked at her in shock. “Those are yer sisters?” he gasped. “Do ye jest with me?”

She shook her head, focused on her cooking meal. “Not in the least. They are my older sisters.”

River was taken aback. Coming over to the fire, he crouched down, looking at her across the smoke and flame.

“But…,” he said. “But ye look nothing like them. They’re much larger than ye are, to begin with. And much more aggressive.”

“I know.”

She wasn’t very forthcoming with information, which puzzled him. “But why are ye out here in the middle of the fields, watching over the flock?” he asked. “Why are ye not with them?”

She smiled faintly, glancing up at him. “Because they don’t want me with them,” she said. “Ye’re right; I look nothing like them. They are all older than I am and when they realized that men look at me long before they look at them, they banished me.

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