Flame by May McGoldrick Read Free Book Online Page B

could slip through the panel,
the sleeping giant kicked restlessly at the blankets, and Joanna’s
heart stopped.
    She looked. She blushed. She fled.
     
    ***
     
    At the sound of the angry laird’s roar, the
long benches of the trestle tables cleared in an instant.
    Motionless on the dais, the three warriors
watched Gavin Kerr stomp into the Great Hall. His blazing, black
eyes locked on them.
    “Cowards,” Peter whispered under his breath
as the men who had been at their morning meal moved en masse toward the door...and out of striking distance of their raging
warrior chief.
    “What have you done now, Peter?” Edmund asked
quietly, frowning at the burly man beside him. “Tell us now so we
can think of an answer.”
    “Nothing!” he replied, with a quick glance of
entreaty at Edmund and Andrew. “Nothing that should get him so
riled. I only...”
    “So you three have decided to play the
fools!” Gavin roared, lifting one of long heavy benches as if it
were a twig, and charging toward the stunned trio.
    Holding the bench across his body, the laird
drove the warriors over the food-laden table with the force of an
enraged bull, sending food and drink in every direction and pinning
all three on their backs on the far side.
    “So you think I am in the mood for jesting!”
None of the three dared even to breathe, but only stared at the man
sitting on their chests. “So you blackguards have nothing better to
do than trifle with me!”
    “Trifle, m’lord?” Edmund flinched as Gavin
suddenly turned on him.
    “Aye, trifle! And I will twist those thick
necks of yours with my own two hands unless one of you returns it
to me this instant.”
    The three Lowlanders stared in confusion at
their master, and Gavin’s piercing gaze moved from one to the
next.
    “ It , m’lord?” Peter asked finally.
    “So, ‘twas you!” the laird shouted, reaching
down and grabbing Peter by the neck. “Nimble of mind and as quick
to start trouble. I should have known. Bored already, no doubt. Any
excitement to liven things up, I expect. I’ll liven things up for
you. We’ll draw and quarter you and nail your tongue to the castle
gate.”
    Gavin shifted his full weight onto Peter and
tightened the grip on the warrior’s neck as the other two scrambled
from beneath the bench.
    “I’ll give you one last chance, you thieving
bulldog. Where the devil have you put it?”
    Andrew, of the three the closest to Gavin in
size, was the one who was able to pry the warrior chief’s grip from
Peter’s.
    “M’lord,” he rumbled, leaping back as his
master’s head whipped in his direction.
    Gavin glared at him for a moment.
    “I believe,” Andrew continued. “I believe
that not one of us have any idea what you are missing.”
    The three men nodded in unison.
    “No idea, m’lord,” Peter added quickly. “I am
guilty of no wrongdoing!”
    “ No wrong?” Gavin drawled, suspicion
etched in his features as he looked down at his man.
    “Well, in jest I might have said...” Peter
flushed crimson. “Well, m’lord, I...I did...well, my tongue did
flap a wee bit last night about the fact that...that you were
spending a night in Mistress Joanna’s company...”
    “Only a jest about the portrait. ‘Twas just
the ale talking,” Edmund put in. “And everyone...I mean, no one
laughed, m’lord.”
    “Aye, almost no one,” Andrew agreed solemnly.
“He meant no more disrespect than usual, m’lord.”
    Gavin took hold of Peter’s chin. “And ‘twas
the ale, I suppose, that let you into my chamber?”
    The three shook their heads in denial.
    “Nay, m’lord,” Peter responded.
    “‘Twas the ale that took the painting.” Gavin
glared into the man’s perplexed face. “Do not try to deny it,
Peter. It had to be you!”
    “And you, Edmund,” the laird said, rising
from the burly man’s chest and taking a step toward the tall,
red-haired warrior. Edmund retreated at once, and Peter quickly
clambered to his feet. “Too bad you