Jennifer Horseman by GnomeWonderland Read Free Book Online Page A

will go better if you tell us — "
    Outside, Garrett and Leif rode up at a gallop, reining to a quick stop. Garrett motioned to the girl. "A maid by the looks of her," Gayle told him, watching as he took a cask Jordan handed him.
    After a long drought, Garrett leaned casually forward in the saddle, appearing disinterested, even bored, by the chaos around him now. "Aye, a lady's maid. Who's your mistress, girl?
    She did not speak at first, a convincing part of her act. "Come now," Gayle whispered, "tell him what he wants and you'll see no harm."
    "Miss Clarissa Stoddard," came in a rush of sound.
    "And where would the precious Miss Clarissa Stoddard be right now?"
    He said her name with a hate that crossed the distance between them, and Missy felt her first shiver of fear. "I won't say!"
    Garrett only smiled at the show of bravado. "What should we do to make her talk?" He did not have to mention many ideas before the poor chit was babbling away in terror. "What?" he interrupted, certain the girl was lying to save her doomed mistress. "You have less than three min- utes to convince me your lady is not in the house. Picnick- ing down by the riverbank there, you say? Hah!"
    "Oh, but she is! She is! She be meetin' a young man therein secret!"
    Garrett needed no more words to convince him. The interesting fact was too specific to be a lie and it fit too perfectly what he knew of Clarissa Stoddard's slutting character. Still, he would take no chance. He snapped the order, just as his men returned empty-handed from searching the house, two terrified servants in tow.
    Heart spoke first. "The house is empty as far as we can tell, but old houses like this have as many places to hide as they have rats in nests. The maid claims the lady is out for the day, but-"
    Garrett raised his hand with a motion to Missy. "Take that girl with us until we find her." He turned his mount toward the river and rode off.
    Missy screamed as Gayle lifted her onto Heart's mount. The first genuine part of her act.
    Moving cautiously through the wood, Juliet finally reached the spot, their spot, the only place on earth that gave her happiness. At the riverbank about a mile from Fair woods tall grass grew where the trees cleared. Billowing willow trees shaded the area and created the illusion of isolation, as if she and Tomas were the only two people left of earth. As she emerged from the woods she saw him sitting there, waiting. Emotion surged through her heart and she cried his name in a whisper as she ran to him, "Tomas!"
    The handsome boy turned to see her, rising as he did so and opening his arms. His arms came around her slender form and she clung to his neck desperately, not minding the stinging pain from her back. Joy sprang in her eyes as she heard him say, "Juliet, Juliet, I've waited all night and morning, worrying you could not get away. Oh my love, I would have waited all week. Here, let me kiss you so I know I'm not dreaming."
    He pulled back a bit, and as they were of nearly the same height, Tbmas but two inches taller, she stared into the gentle eyes until the moment his lips softly met her mouth. Their lips did not part, and while Tomas often dreamt of parting her lips, he never dared, while Juliet had not the experience to know that a kiss might be different. Still, the kiss was a physical manifestation of her love and it filled her with warmth and happiness and joy.
    He pulled back a bit to shower her face with tender kisses and then just to stare at how lovely she was. Lord, she was lovely, but, "Juliet, what happened to you? Is that. . . why, yes it is, a bruise covered with powder?"
    A more sensitive man might have seen the anxiety and fear in the large blue eyes as she searched his face. She hid it quickly though, wanting a few moments peace just to look at him, as if she, too, need the reassurance he was not a dream. He looked unchanged, exactly as she had first seen him on the way to church some four years ago. He was so handsome to her,