Delight by Jillian Hunter Read Free Book Online Page B

came here without thinking, " he said, shaking his head. "Of course ' tis the chapel. Silly me. The solar is to the left. "
    "I see. " Rowena looked a little embarrassed for him. " May I ask what it is that you need pray about with such passion, or is it a private matter? "
    " I pray for my brother's recovery. " he said. That it may be long.
    "As I will, " Rowena said sincerely.
    An unfamiliar envy overcame him. She would pray for his brother. An intimacy with a woman beyond sex that Douglas had never experienced. Nor desired to. Why, a year ago he would have fallen overboard laughing his head off at the notion.
    How naive they were, Sir Matthew and his princess. Douglas couldn't remember a day in his life when he'd felt even a twinge of faith, when he had thought of himself as innocent. He had been bone-deep bad from the beginning.
    He studied her oval-shaped face, seeking darker motives. " You and Matthew are more than friends? "
    Her swift response stung. " I trust him with my life. "
    And her heart? He could not ask. A pall of awkwardness settled around the unsettled question.
    "He speaks of you with great affection, " Rowena said stoutly, as if she sensed the lack of fraternal loyalty on his part, and disapproved.
    "Matthew? "
    "You sound surprised, my lord. "
    "Well, he and I did not grow up together, " he said evasively.
    "I see." But clearly she did not. " Surely you come here to pray for other matters beside Matthew? "
    She had changed the subject in the apparent hope that spirituality would bring them back to common ground. A praying pirate. If only she knew. Douglas suppressed a grin of irony at the preposterous image.
    "I pray for my soul, naturally, " he said, feeling a surprising twinge of guilt as his gaze drifted to the unlit candles on the altar. "And I pray that my village will be spared further raids and suffering. "
    That part at least was true. Douglas might not have come to Dunmoral with any personal attachment to the handful of Highlanders who depended on him, but he had always protected what was his.
    " Raids? " Rowena said in dismay. " But I thought your civil war was over. "
    " ' Tis over. " Douglas turned his back on the altar and the pangs of conscience it stirred in him. "But since the war ended, the English soldiers stationed here to keep the peace have been withdrawn. Often in the aftermath of war, there are wolves who prey on the weak and wounded. "
    "Wolves? "
    "The human kind, Your Highness, although we still have a few genuine wolves and wildcats in our uninhabited hills. "
    " The human kind are the worst, " Rowena said with understanding. " However, I don't imagine 'twill take a man like you long to subdue them. " Douglas controlled an unholy urge to pull her into his arms and kiss her for that compliment. Her faith in him was touching if unfounded.
    " ' Tis my goal, " he said soberly.
    " I will add your beleaguered village to my prayers, " Rowena murmured as they left the chapel. " And you, of course, my lord. "
    Douglas said nothing.
    Let the princess pray.
    Perhaps her innocent intercession would move the Almighty where the prayers of a young ne glected boy had failed. Hell, it couldn ' t hurt, even if Douglas knew in his heart of hearts that heaven had given him up as a lost cause the day he was bo rn .
     

 
     
    7
     
     
    D ouglas slowed the ponies, craning ms neck to see beyond the utter darkness of the hills. A pipistrelle bat fluttered from the thin stand of trees that edged the precariously carved track. The cart leaned around a curve. Several rocks scattered down an unseen ravine. The princess was sipping hot chocolate at this very moment.
    "What happened to the damn light?" he demanded.
    "Baldwin dropped the lantern, " Gemma said from the tail of the cart.
    "I couldna help it," Baldwin said unhappily, walking ahead as a guide. " I tripped like a rigwiddie-nag right over a boulder. The men who made this path were half-brained as well as damned inconsiderate."
    " They were