If Love Dares Enough by Anna Markland Read Free Book Online

more light on what has happened here? I’ll go out to check on Velox.”
    “I’ll come with you. Just in case.”
    They found three of Renouf’s men-at-arms taunting the old man, shoving him from one to the other, Boden straining furiously, tethered to a stall, barking madly.
    “Leave him be!” Hugh shouted.
    “Who are you to order me about?” one of the men challenged.
    “I am Lord Hugh de Montbryce, overlord of this manor on the authority of the king.”
    The men let go of the elderly servant, shoving him to the ground, and skulked off to the other end of the large stables. Hugh proffered a hand but it was shrugged away and the old man struggled to his feet. Without a word of thanks, he made to go to the dog.
    “A moment,” Hugh said. The Saxon stopped, raised his hand to quieten Boden and looked directly into Hugh’s eyes.
    This man is no servant.
    “What’s your name?”
    “Gerwint,” the man ground out, spitting phlegm into the straw.
    “You’re surly for a servant,” Antoine remarked.
    “I am no—” Gerwint looked around apprehensively, then lowered his voice. “I’m not a servant. I am Sir Gerwint Melton, once thane of King Edward the Confessor, now the pawn of a Norman brute like you. My deepest regret is I was deemed too old to fight at Hastings where I might have slain more of your kind.”
    Antoine bristled. “Not all Normans are brutes, Sir Gerwint.”
    “This has not been my experience, Norman. Go, or my granddaughter will be punished for any transgression I may be thought to have committed.”
    “You refer to Lady Devona?” Hugh asked. “Has Renouf wed her?”
    Gerwint nodded, his eyes dark. “Aye, five years gone. Alas, that it has come to this.”
    “Are Bemia and Aediva also your granddaughters?”
    Gerwint’s shoulders drooped. “Aye.”
    “And the woman slumped against the wall?”
    The Saxon exhaled loudly. “Their mother. Now go! Leave us be. I’ve seen to your mounts. You’ll make it worse for us. At least we’re not cast out to starve, and we’re together. Go!”
    He strode away, and the Montbryce brothers reluctantly left the stables to walk across the courtyard. Renouf was leaning against the doorpost, blocking the entry. “Seeing to your horses, mes seigneurs ?” he asked with some belligerence.
    “Montbryces are known for our dedication to our steeds,” Antoine replied, his tone light. “We fight as mounted knights and our lives often depend on our horses, as was the case at Hastings. Were you in the cavalry there?”
    Renouf seemed to hesitate for a moment. “ Non , I wasn’t in the cavalry, I mean—not the Norman cavalry. I fought with the Bretons.”
    Antoine stood directly in front of Renouf. “But you’re a Norman, aren’t you? May we pass into the house by the way, Sir Renouf, it’s chilly out here.”
    Renouf gave way.
    Hugh turned to face him squarely. “If you fought with the Breton cavalry you were lucky to cheat death. You had a tough time on the right flank.”
    Renouf looked at his feet. “ Oui —I was lucky—as you say—now, I bid you bonsoir!”
    “ Bonsoir, lying snake!” Hugh hissed under his breath to Renouf’s retreating back. “This man didn’t fight at Hastings. Anyone who was there knows the Bretons fought on the left flank.”
    They climbed the stairs to their chamber, stripped, washed and climbed into bed.
    “Five years she’s been married to that brute.” Hugh could barely grind out the words.
    “Strange, isn’t it, there are no children?” Antoine mused. “Perhaps she’s barren?”
    Hugh found it difficult to sleep. He tossed and turned, tormented by the image of a slender green-eyed woman with beautiful breasts lying beneath him, smiling. But the nebulous image changed and somehow the woman was dead. Had he killed her, overwhelmed by his need, his lust?
    “ Dieu!” he cried out as he woke sweating, his hand on his throbbing manhood, the scent of marigold in his nostrils.
    Antoine sat up, rubbing one eye