A Knight's Reward by Catherine Kean Read Free Book Online Page B

beyond, some of whom likely knew Ryle. Never must she let down her caution.
    They approached the market’s outskirts. The bear trainer stood chatting with a group of men. Children scrambled in the dirt, chasing one another, while vendors, shouting encouragement to buy their wares, loaded more items onto their stall tables.
    Dominic skirted the bear trainer and led her into the crowd between the rows of merchant tables.
    With a sharp stab of fear, she saw they neared the baker’s table. Had he returned to his stall? Would he recognize her? She squeezed Dominic’s hand in silent warning. When he looked at her, she tipped her head, indicating the space between two nearby vendors; she and Dominic could slip through into the other section of the market.
    Before she started in that direction, Dominic tugged her forward, forcing her to walk at his side, his body between her and the row of stalls, including the baker’s. Dominic’s arm settled around her waist. Drawing her near, bending his head close to hers, he propelled her onward.
    To anyone watching, they’d appear to be a couple in love, the besotted man whispering endearments to his beloved while they shopped.
    Confusion rushed through Gisela, even as his breath warmed her brow. The brush of his body against hers wreaked havoc with every emotional boundary she had established for herself. Desire, regret, the torment of their parting tangled up inside her. Her emotions unraveled, like a skein of thread tumbling from a table onto the floorboards and rolling across the planks.
    Nay! Never could she yield to fickle emotion. ’Twould make her careless. She couldn’t afford one mistake when Ewan’s safety—indeed, his life—depended on her.
    Her spine rigid, she tried to step out of Dominic’s embrace.
    His arm tightened, curtailing her freedom. “Pretend you care for me, Gisela,” he whispered against her ear.
    Hot-cold tingles shivered down her neck. “Dominic—” How could he ask that of her? How, when he no doubt loved another woman? A lady?
    “Pretend as ’twas between us before,” he coaxed with a hint of regret. “Believe, for this moment, that we were never apart. Please.”
    His regret burrowed inside her, an echo of every lonely day she’d missed him. She tried to swallow, but her mouth had become painfully dry. The dust stirred up by other market goers stung her eyes.
    “’Tis difficult to pretend?” he said, his tone teasing. Yet, she discerned dismay, too.
    “’Tis a game I have forgotten how to play,” she answered, reaching up to sweep an escaping lock of hair back inside her hood. A game of love I have not played since I lost you .
    “A pity, for a woman with eyes as blue as the summer sky.”
    A flush stole into her face. “Cease.”
    “—and lips as pink as the fleeting blush of sunset.”
    Her startled gaze flew to his. “Dominic!”
    He grinned in a most gallant way before he kissed her brow. “And teeth as white as meadow daisies.”
    Daisies . Fighting a flood of anguish, she looked away, to catch the bemused smiles of the farmers standing nearby. They clearly saw her and Dominic as a couple in love—an illusion she must stop right now. God help her if Ryle or one of his cohorts saw her with Dominic. Ryle’s fury would be . . . murderous.
    She pushed aside Dominic’s arm. Still walking, she said, “You should not have said such.”
    “You do not like to be wooed? Or, were my compliments not fanciful enough for a woman of your extraordinary beauty?”
    Bystanders chuckled. Gisela’s face flamed. How mortifying for others to be listening to their conversation. She quickened her pace, almost tripping on her cloak. Exhaling an overly dramatic sigh—which elicited more laughter—Dominic followed.
    Skirting three dogs scrabbling over a chunk of bread dropped by a child, she wondered if he remembered the afternoons they’d spent lying in the lush meadow, or the daisy chains she’d draped around his neck as though he were