Knight and the Witch 02 - A Summer Bewitchment by Lindsay Townsend Read Free Book Online

Rowena was meant to hand her over and he has not, does that mean Lady Astrid wants our help after all?”
    Magnus patted her rump. “I sense the lady is seeking her everywhere, by every method. We are just one of many.”
    “A famous one of many,” Elfrida felt compelled to add. She wondered how she could discuss this sensibly, when what she longed to do was caress her husband, love him.
    “Perhaps. I sense a hasty plan, poorly thought out and acted out at speed. I suspect Rowena’s parents and close kin died suddenly and Lady Astrid is seeking to take advantage.”
    How have they died? Elfrida sent her silent question out into the ether. She waited, but received nothing back from the spirit world. Sometimes the spirits do not want to tell or share . “Perhaps they sickened.”
    “Does Rowena even know, poor lass?” Considering, Magnus paused in his brushing of her back and bottom. Elfrida almost protested, but forced herself to make a coherent reply.
    “She may have suspected something, hence her signal to Tancred. But if Tancred knows that Rowena’s people are dead, why did he not say?”
    “Because he does not trust us fully yet.”
    “It seems none of them do.”
    “Those are nobles for you,” Magnus agreed. “But I do not like the bad planning of this whole matter, Elfrida. Bad, hasty planning and carelessness! Look how this pair in our great bed are concerned with their comforts first, when they should be thinking of how best to recover Rowena. Speed and carelessness breed panic and mistakes, fatal ones.”
    “Perhaps they cannot decide if they want her found or not. Yet, Magnus, if they did arrange for her abduction, why not use their own men? That is simpler and surer.”
    “They do not trust their own men with this.” The instant Magnus spoke, Elfrida knew it was true.
    “Then, for all these reasons, we must find Rowena and her captor before Lady Astrid does.” Elfrida scowled. “Now you have won,” she complained. My witch instincts are mistaken.
    “How so, elfling?” Magnus resumed his caress.
    Elfrida bit hard on the inside of her lip, using pain as a focus against his tender pleasuring. If Magnus can reason while we are embracing, so can I. “We cannot afford for Astrid and the priest to be with you when you do trace Rowena. We need time to plan and consider how to best help her, without their knowledge.”
    Magnus did not smile in his victory, which she took as a serious sign. Again his hand paused. “I am sorry, Elfrida. I like you with me, and you questing with me. I thought you had argued your way onto my horse tomorrow, but now I discover you and I have argued you off it again.”
    He sounded so downcast she hugged him. “No matter. You can tell me everything tomorrow evening. You will…” She stopped herself suggesting that if any of Lady Astrid’s men rode with Magnus tomorrow, they should also be watched. If Rowena was found, such men might need to be kept apart from their lady while Rowena’s safety and best interest was determined. Magnus knows this already. He will know what to do .
    “I shall strive to learn more from the Lady Astrid here at the house,” she finished firmly instead.
    “If any can, my heart, it will be you.”
    “Even so, I wish— Magnusss…” Her breath hissed out as his fingers now skimmed over her breasts. She forgot the rest of what she was saying.
    He turned her to her side, rippled his fingers up her skirt and brushed her intimate curls. Desire, banked and waiting inside her, stoked into sudden, urgent longing. Clumsy in her explosive need, she tugged savagely at his braies, keen to stroke and touch him in return, to whisper love words and praise.
    “What?” She was startled when he pitched her gently onto her belly, pressing her to the rushes. Checking she was ready for him, he smoothly and surely eased into her from behind in the manner of a beast, tonguing her ear and kissing her mouth.
    For the second time that night, being pinned by