Knight Defender (Knight Chronicles) by Rue Allyn Read Free Book Online Page B

as she wished. All she had to do was be certain Baron Raeb MacKai thought himself well rid of her when she left.
    The thought cheered her, for having friends would lighten the duration of her stay. She turned back to the girls still babbling before her. “Ladies, ladies. I will be happy to talk with you, but let us take our conversation to my chamber.”
    She stood and looked meaningfully at the hand Raeb still held. “I’m certain your brother has no interest in women’s concerns.”
    “You are right.” Tight-lipped, Raeb released her then turned to his sisters. “I will allow you to occupy Lady Du Grace for this evening only. Dinna tire her for I will demand all her attention tomorrow, beginning with a ride in the morning.”
    With that, he left the dais, gesturing for his men to accompany him.
    As they disappeared to the courtyard, the clan’s women lingered in small groups at the lower tables.
    Jessamyn had no desire to spend any more moments with Raeb MacKai than necessary, but a ride would be welcome, despite his ill-mannered failure to ask if she wished to go with him.
    “Come, Lady Du Grace. We have much to talk about, and Raeb allows us only a short time,” said Maeve.
    “Right, but please call me Jessamyn.” She descended the steps leading from the dais. As she passed the groups of women seated below the salt, she invited them to join the conversation in her chamber. Given what she now suspected of her betrothed, she felt certain she was on the right course. She would charm every female in clan MacKai, and when she left, those women would blame their baron for chasing her away. He’d be hard put to find peace from their scowls for quite some time.

CHAPTER FOUR
    Later that night, standing in the center of the stable with Dougal near to hand, Raeb studied the three horses he owned. Several others, the dainty white palfrey included, occupied the stalls, but those steeds belonged to the MacKai knights and his betrothed. He’d given up his own destrier years ago—the animal had been too expensive to care for and fetched a price high enough to keep the other Dungarob horses in feed through four winters. The only decent horse he’d kept was Artis’s dappled gray courser,
Aingeal-ceo
. She was greatly attached to the animal, and he’d not had the heart to sell it. Since he couldn’t do his duty to his people and his holding without a sturdy mount, he’d made his use of the stallion a condition of its keeping and for not gelding the beast. As for the other two horses, not one had borne a saddle in close to a year, and neither would be an easy mount for a lady. ’Twas the only reason he was glad Lady Du Grace had brought her own steed.
    Pulling an apple from the barrel where they were kept, he walked over to the mare. Dougal followed.
    There’d been a time when the MacKai stables had been famous for the strength and stamina of the steeds bred and trained at Dungarob and filled with fine horses. But that had been before his parents were murdered and the breeding stock stolen, when he’d been young as he had not been since.
    “She’s small, but she’s verra pretty, and good natured, according to Angus,” Dougal said.
    “But is she strong enough? Despite what my master of horse thinks, this mare looks too fragile to handle our steep pathways.”
    Dougal shrugged. “Who can tell until she tries?”
    “Aye. Makes me wonder if her owner has any real riding skill or if she expects to be led ’round in a circle by a servant long enough to get bored.”
    “I’ve no gotten the impression Lady Du Grace does anything that would cause her boredom.”
    “You’re probably right.” Raeb banished the image of her deep, sea-green eyes and curvaceous form before he could become distracted. “What was I thinking, Dougal? What will I do with that woman for an entire day?”
Other than suffer the tortures of the damned, given her effect on me.
    “Aye, that’s a question for some concern. ’Tis no like you