Master of Desire by Kinley MacGregor Read Free Book Online Page B

a charging black lion came to her mind, for the earl was every bit as wild and unpredictable. Deadly and disconcerting. She held little doubt he could take her in an instant and do anything he wanted with her. She would be powerless to stop him.
    The fact that he didn’t move toward her only added to her curiosity about him. And his appeal to her.
    Seeking to distract herself from him, she stopped and stared at a plain room that would rival a monastery for its spartan quality.
    All her tender thoughts of him evaporated.
    â€œThis will not do at all,” she said, horrified at the very idea of spending a night in this uninviting room.
    â€œYou said you could make do.”
    She looked at him in disbelief. “I assumed you had a home, sirrah, not a dungeon.” Emily regretted the words as soon as they were out, but he showed no sign of anger, or anything else for that matter.
    He just stood in the doorway, reserved. The fading sunlight caught in the reddish highlights of his hair, and reflected in the icy blue of his eyes.
    He kept his spine ramrod stiff, his left hand on his sword hilt, and looked at her as if assessing her mettle. “I’m afraid Henry didn’t give me time to make more suitable preparations for your stay. I shall send Edmond up to change the mattress and fetch new linens.”
    â€œMilord,” she said, knowing she should remain silent on this issue, but too repulsed not to speak out. “I hope you won’t take this the wrong way, but your home is dreadful and hardly fit for human habitation.”
    â€œTell me, milady, is there a right way to take that statement?”
    â€œNay,” she admitted. “But I will not stay here unless changes are made.”
    His gaze hardened. “You will stay here regardless.”
    â€œI most certainly will not.”
    Anger flared in his eyes, so intense that she took an involuntary step back from it. Still, she refused to cower completely.
    â€œYou will do as you are told, lady .”
    Now that got her dander up. She knew her place as a lady, but with that station came certain rights, and this man was quickly violating every one of them. “I am not one of your men to be dictated to, nor am I your wife.”
    â€œTrue, you are my hostage.”
    â€œNay, I am the king’s ward. Is that not what he said?”
    If she didn’t know better, she’d swear she saw a light of humor in those icy depths.
    â€œAnd my father told me the king said anything done to me would be done to him. Is that not correct, also, milord?”
    â€œIt is.”
    â€œThen I ask you, would you expect His Royal Majesty to sleep in this room?”
    Draven didn’t know what surprised him more: that she had the temerity to stand up to him or that she made such sense with her arguments. In truth, he knew his home was nothing more than a fetid sty to be endured. His life revolved around war, not country life.
    He had never been able to stand Ravenswood and would gladly be gone from here forever, or see the donjon fall down in disrepair. ’Twas only his duty to the king that kept him here. Ravenswood was one of the corner pieces of the kingdom. Strategically placed between the north and the south, it needed someone loyal to the king to maintain it.
    Even so, he couldn’t very well expect a well-born lady to suffer in his home. Such things had been his father’s specialty. “Very well, milady. I shall give notice to my steward to approve any accommodations you wish to make.”
    â€œDoes that include a housekeeper?”
    â€œIf it is necessary…”
    â€œIt is.”
    Draven nodded and did his best to ignore the sweet floral scent of her flaxen hair. If memory served, ’twas honeysuckle. It had been more years than he could count since he last stood this close to a lady. But one thing he was sure of: no other woman had ever made him long so much to touch the creamy softness of her