Silver Flame. Hannah Howell

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СКАЧАТЬ each possibility mentioned until it rested upon the table, then at her left, which still hovered several inches higher. “The choice is clear,” she said, finally meeting Farthing’s tortured gaze. “’Tis so clear that there really is no choice at all.”

      “I think I must kill this mon.” Farthing’s words came in harsh rasps. His hand went toward his dagger. But Sine Catriona reached across the table and stilled it.

      “Please, Farthing. I willnae be the cause of bloodletting for the life of me. I beg you, leave it be.”

      He released a cry of rage and frustration, then straightened. He could see she intended to go through with it. There was nothing he could do to stop it without seriously endangering them all.

      “I will be right outside the window. Just call and I will be there. I will break down the door, if need be.” Then, with one sweep of his arm he sent the crockery on the table smashing to the floor and strode from the room.

      Sine Catriona instinctively tried to follow him, but Gamel held her until she told her wide-eyed brothers, “Dane, Ree, go with Farthing. Stay with him.”

      For a while she kept her gaze fixed upon the door through which her family had left. When the mess of broken dishes that Farthing had made was cleared away and new drinks set out, she finally looked at Sir Gamel, noticing fleetingly that his three companions seemed less than comfortable with his actions. If Gamel felt the same unease, he was hiding it very well.

      “Ye have hurt Farthing deeply,” she told Gamel in a soft voice. “For that I may have to kill ye.”

      His eyes widening slightly, Gamel replied, “Methinks Farthing plans the same.”

      “Then ye had best seek absolution, for death is nigh. No mon can look two ways at once.”

      It annoyed her when he simply smiled, then draped his arm about her shoulders. She sipped her mead as she strove to remain calm. There was nothing she could do to change what had happened or to escape what would happen now. To tie herself up in emotional knots over it was foolish. That would only make what was to come all the harder to endure.

      What she really feared was neither dishonor nor pain but enjoyment. He moved his hand up and down her arm, and occasionally stroked her neck. At times he rested his long, slim fingers on the increasingly fierce pulse in her throat. He roused such a heat in her she feared she would be scorched from the inside out.

      In a desperate attempt to turn her thoughts from Gamel’s nearness and from his effect upon her, she tried to concentrate on what was going on around her. Her gaze settled on the fair young Ligulf. He blushed in response to the overtures of a buxom brunette. It took her only a moment to know why he should feel so discomforted by what any other man would respond lustily to.

      “Your brother’s first time afairing?” she asked Gamel.

      He slowly nodded, wondering if she meant what they all did when they spoke of afairing. He was not overly concerned with Ligulf’s troubles at the moment. Hoping she could adjust to her situation, he was allowing her to finish her drink. Then he fully intended to drag her to his chambers, something he was painfully impatient to do. The night was going to be far too short.

      “Then he doesnae want Mary,” she said, waving another maid over. “She is too coarse and none too clean.”

      “Do you ken these women weel?” Gamel loathed the thought that she might have something in common with the tavern maids.

      “We often stay here. Most of the women have been here a long time. Janet.” She smiled at the raven-haired woman who stepped up to the table. “A lamb for the shearing.”

      Janet smiled slowly, her gaze settling on Ligulf even as she asked, “Where is Farthing?”

      “In our room most like. Sir Gamel keeps me company for now.”

      Briefly Janet’s gaze met Gamel’s, her eyes widening slightly in a gesture of understanding. “I see.”

      “I thought ye would,” Sine Catriona murmured. “I believe Mary lacks the touch needed here.”

      “Bah, she is a slattern. Here, Mary, MacAdam calls for ye.”

      Mary scowled but moved away from Ligulf. Gamel guessed that the woman dared not try to prove that Janet lied. He almost smiled as Janet quickly sat beside Ligulf, causing the departing Mary to curse.

      After watching his brother and Janet for a moment, Gamel murmured, “It does go better.”

      Sine Catriona nodded. “Aye, Janet has a gentler manner. ’Twill cost him, though.”

      “We have the funds. After all, what can one throw cost?”

      “One throw? Nay, sir. Time must be taken to shear the lamb weel. None takes such care as Janet. If your brother goes to her bed, he willnae be seen again until the morning.”

      “Careful indeed.”

      She shrugged. “Ye seek to make him a mon.”

      “And how is it that ye ken so much about such things?”

      “I am no soft, gentlebred maid kept ignorant and secured in her boudoir until her wedding day.”

      “And yet methinks ye possess a certain innocence.”

      She hastily took a drink. Sir Gamel would all too soon know just how innocent she was. How she would explain that when she was supposed to be Farthing’s wife she did not know. A little desperately she prayed Gamel might not notice that the woman Farthing Magnus claimed as his wife was a virgin.

      “Hurry with your drink, Catriona,” he murmured as he pressed a kiss to her neck.

      “I drink as fast as I can.” She winced at the telltale huskiness that had invaded her voice.

      “Not fast enough.” He moved his lips toward her ear. “God’s teeth, I am sore pressed to take ye now—right here.”

      “There would be a fine sight for MacAdam’s patrons.”

      “That other eyes would be able to look upon ye is all that holds me back. Drink.”

      “Ye willnae change your mind on this?” she asked, knowing it for a foolish question even as she spoke it.

      “Nay. ’Tis not my mind that rules me now.”

      As she raised the gourd to her lips, he traced the shape of her ear with his tongue. Her drink nearly ended up on the floor. She trembled as desire gripped her so tightly she nearly cried out. The deep swallow of mead she took did nothing to dampen that raging fire. The moment she emptied her cup Gamel stood up, yanked her to her feet, and dragged her toward his quarters. She glanced only once at his companions. They still looked displeased, but no one moved to interfere.

      Ligulf watched his brother leave and grumbled, “She has bewitched him.”

      Janet laughed softly. “Aye. She bewitches many. Her spell is all the stronger for she doesnae ken that she casts it.”

      “I cannae understand why he couldnae just leave her be.”

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