Warrior's Deception. Diana Hall

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ he deduced to himself. He winced when his troubled mistress, lost in thought, once more paced through the dirt, destroying his morning’s work.

      “There’s only one answer for this, your ladyship,” Tom announced in a loud voice. Her worried eyes broke from their trance. He shuffled toward the back of the stable. Hoof stomps and angry snorts cracked the silence.

      Lenora heard several grunted curses before Tom reappeared moments later with a prancing dapple-gray stallion, tacked with her father’s saddle. Shoving the reins into her hands, he commanded, “Ride him.”

      “You want me to ride Father’s stallion, Jupiter? Astride?” The horse pawed the smooth dirt floor of the stable, irritated with Tom’s restraining hands. The stallion jerked his head, almost dislodging the reins from her hands.

      “Aye, lass. I know ye can handle him and he needs the workout. With the lord ailin’, Jupiter here is sorely in need of his daily gallop.”

      “But Father has always been with me when I rode him. I don’t know if I should.”

      Tom’s twinkling eye squinted and studied her. “You’re needin’ to ride your worries away, a ride that’ll make ye one with the wind. Ye can’t do that perched on a saddle like a pet bird. Ye gotta dig your talons into the saddle, hold on and outride the devils that are a-plaguing ye so. Jupiter is the horse that can outride any demon ye’ve got tagging after ye.”

      The truth of his words hit home. She paused a moment, then lifted the back of her grass-stained work dress and tucked it into the front of her girdle. Tom tossed her a coarse woolen hood from a peg. She stuffed her thick auburn braid into the loose hat. In her makeshift braes, she mounted Jupiter. The long, well-oiled reins cut into her hands as the stallion strained to break free. A quick nod of her head to her old friend and she clicked her tongue against her teeth.

      Tom dropped his hand from the bridle and watched the girl he loved like a daughter—and the horse he cursed like the devil—walk out of the stable toward the outer bailey and the open fields beyond the castle gate. “Don’t worry, Lady Lenora, there are those of us here a-watchin’, out for ye,” he whispered to himself, and then retrieved his twig broom.

      Lenora’s fingers curled tight around the reins to keep the powerful stallion at a bouncy walk. She maneuvered her impatient mount among the working villeins and freemen of Woodshadow. Once past the smithy, she entered the more open space of the outer bailey courtyard.

      Her attention gravitated toward managing her excited horse. Jupiter’s muscles contracted and he arched his neck, impatient for the signal from his rider to break into a more taxing gait. When she reached the marshal’s tower at the castle gate, the dewy rolling hills of the meadow became visible. New spring grass sprinkled with just-opened multicolored wildflowers swayed in the still-cool air, beckoning horse and rider.

      She leaned forward and whispered into the stallion’s ear, “Let’s see if we can outrun that nagging Roen de Galliard.” The horse sprang forward, almost unseating her. Her fingers wove into the gray black mane, and a breeze of refreshing air blew the hair from her eyes. The rhythmic beat of Jupiter’s hooves on the dirt road became hypnotic.

      Tender shoots of grass blurred with the darker green of hedges and trees. She swept past peasants toiling in the black soil of recently furrowed fields, past huddled flocks of woolly, bleating sheep and grazing cattle. The tension pulled away, left behind in the dust of the stallion’s thundering hoofbeats. Her anxiety tumbled away from the force of the wind. She smiled, then laughed. To her right, she spied a low hedge. A quick move of the reins guided the galloping horse toward the emerald hedges.

      “Come on! Let’s do it!” Horse and rider concentrated on the obstacle ahead. The hedge seemed to grow in height as they approached it. ‘Twas not a low-lying wild brush but a natural fence, grown to keep out deer and roving cattle. Jupiter sensed the challenge ahead of him, and she felt the horse’s hard muscles contract as he prepared for the jump. The hedge loomed before them.

      Her heart pounded against her chest. Even to her own ears, her breath sounded ragged. Her conscience berated this latest folly but ‘twas too late to change course now.

      Two strides from the hedge, Lenora laced her fingers into the flying mane, leaned forward in the saddle and gave the stallion his head. She felt the surge of strength course through Jupiter’s body, a lurch, then she was airborne. Her body transcended the confines of the earth and she became weightless, suspended in midair. Air whipped around her and tore the hood from her head. Her waist-length braid came unbound and streamed about her. Pleasure, excitement, complete freedom sprouted within her. Too soon, she saw Jupiter’s long legs reach the fast-approaching ground. The hard impact jarred her backbone and jerked her back in the saddle.

      Exhilaration made her giddy. Another hedge lay a short distance away. Laughter bubbled from her. Lenora pushed her long tresses from her face and pivoted Jupiter toward the next jump. Thoughts of the bad-tempered knight cleared from her mind.

      She dug her heels into Jupiter’s flanks, and the pounding of horse’s hooves drummed in her ears. She prepared for the jump, mentally picturing when she would need to ease off the bit to give the stallion his head. Just a few more strides, five more, three more, “Now!” She loosened her hold on the reins, grabbed the flying mane, and leaned forward in the saddle. From the corner of her eye, a shadow swooped down on her. A huge mail-covered hand appeared out of nowhere, yanking her from Jupiter’s back just as the horse sprang. Jupiter cleared the hedge as her back hit against a hard wall of metal. The blow knocked the air from her lungs. Stunned, she found herself breathless and dumped into the lap of an armor-clad knight.

      “Let…go…of…me.” The words came in several wheezes while she attempted to fill her empty lungs with air. She kicked and thrashed her legs, trying to free herself. “Who are you?” She twisted in her captor’s grasp and her eyes traveled up to the knight’s face.

      A wide nosepiece on his helmet obscured his face. Only his eyes were visible. The hard-won air she had strived for escaped her lungs in a low, desperate sigh. “Nay, it cannot be!” The knight’s dark blue gray eyes glowered at her, and a current of fear whorled through her.

      “I’ve come to settle our bet, Lady Lenora.” Roen de Galliard removed his helmet, tucked it under his arm and shook his head like a mighty golden lion. “Among other things.” He wrapped his viselike arm around her waist and pulled her tightly toward him. His deep musky smell filled her nostrils. The hard steel links of his chain hauberk bit like metal teeth into her back. Pain shot through her shoulders and festered her outrage.

      “I had no need of rescue, Galliard. I was in control of my mount. I demand you release me immediately!” Hot blood rushed to her face. The heat of her ire changed to humiliation when Roen moved his mount toward a group of knights and squires. The wind carried hoots and cackles from the men.

      “’Tis not you I’m worried about,” Roen retorted calmly. “My concern is for the horse. I don’t want your stupidity to risk hurting a good mount.”

      “Oh!” Lenora floundered for a sarcastic reply, but her mind was frozen, like a pond in midwinter. Instead, she shot him an icy look, crossed her arms and retreated into an angry silence. She was forced to look either ahead at the jeering men or down at Roen’s thick muscular arm, imprisoning her. The tension of the past few days returned and her will weakened. She chose to look down, centering all her fury on the ironlike arm that held her captive.

      Roen rejoined his men at a leisurely gait and savored the feel of the woman against his chest. He chuckled to himself, amused by her silence and angry indignation. The faint hint of lavender mixed with the familiar scent СКАЧАТЬ