A Knight to Remember by Christina Dodd Read Free Book Online Page A

Over and over she repeated the action. “I noticed you would disappear into the barn every evening, and so I climbed up into the loft with the idea I would drop down on you andsurprise you. Only I was the one surprised. You and Avina put on the most amazing performance. She showed you everything you needed to know to make a woman happy. She showed you many things I never knew.”
    She pretended to listen to him. “I shouldn’t have watched, you say? I should have hid in the back of the loft until you were done? You’re right, of course—you have the look of a man who’s always right. But you see, I couldn’t turn away.” Tilting her head back, she closed her eyes. “You looked so enthralled! You dedicated as much concentration to those lessons as you dedicated to anything that interested you. I watched and watched until…well. I wanted to hate you then. Instead I spent my nights imagining how it would be in your arms. In my mind, I’ve spent years in your arms, and the pleasure you have given me has been…”
    A suction on her fingers stopped her ramblings. She froze, not understanding for a brief moment. Then opening her eyes, she looked down. Hugh’s lips were wrapped around her fingers as he sucked vigorously. And his eyes were open.

4
    His voice sounded like the bleat of a newborn lamb. “If you touch me again, I’m going to rip your heart out with my bare hands.”
    Edlyn swirled in a circle, unaware of the herbs she had scattered in her flurry. Had Hugh spoken? Had last night’s administration of dragon’s blood performed a miracle? Wharton, crouched beside his master and changing his bandage, blocked her view of Hugh’s face, but before she could rush forward, Hugh spoke again.
    “What’s wrong with you?” He snarled in a whisper. “You’re getting me all wet.” His tone changed to one of disgust. “Oh, God’s gloves, Wharton, you’re crying!”
    “Oh, master,” Wharton stammered, his voice quivering through tears. “Oh, master.”
    “You dolt.” Already Hugh’s voice sounded fainter. “I’m going to beat you into dough.”
    Wharton crept backward, groveling like a worm in the face of his master’s displeasure, and Edlyn felt the sharp prick of annoyance. Wharton had proved his devotion to Hugh over the last dreadful days, and now Hugh’s first words were nothing but bombastic threats.“Don’t worry, Wharton,” she said. “He can’t beat you into dough. He can’t even lift his arms.” She walked forward and stood over Hugh. “Can you?”
    Those hazel eyes looked up at her without a sign of recognition, and she almost laughed aloud with relief. He didn’t remember last night. He didn’t remember those mortifying confessions she’d made while under the influence of that fairy juice.
    Not that she wasn’t grateful to the fairies for their remedy. Last night, she’d almost fainted with a combination of joy and dismay when he’d looked up at her, and when she realized his fever had broken, she’d cried as pitifully as Wharton did right now. But why didn’t that silly rhyme tell of the effect of dragon’s blood on the unwary nurse?
    She hadn’t thought of her fascinated scrutiny of Hugh in the throes of passion for years. Seeing him like that had embarrassed her then. The pretending she’d done afterward embarrassed her now, and she found herself saying in an overbearing tone, “We’re awake and cranky, no doubt, but I wager we feel better, don’t we?”
    “You ripped out my guts.”
    He sounded hoarse, and reluctantly she knelt and lifted his head onto her knee. She didn’t like being so close. The weight of his head, his heat, the silk of his hair reminded her too much of last night. Pretending normality, she placed a cup to his lips. “I didn’t rip out your guts. I sewed them back in.”
    He drank greedily and gasped when he finished. “I’m hungry. Why have you been starving me?” he asked.
    Remembering all the times she and Wharton had coaxed broth into