shadow and lace by Teresa Medeiros Read Free Book Online

at the end of the corridor. The water remains from yestereve, but you're welcome to it if you desire."
    Rowena shook her head with maddening complacency. "Nay, sir. There is no need. I bathed only last month."
    Gareth's head jerked up. She struggled not to squirm under his frank scrutiny. Had it been only yesterday she had plunged beneath the chill, tumbling water of a stream and lain in the warmth of the noonday sun until her clothes dried crisp and hot against her skin? This tyrant would not learn of it.
    He mumbled something unintelligible and laced up his leather gauntlets with swift, sure motions before holding out his arms expectantly. Rowena took another step backward, which brought the back of her legs in uncomfortable proximity to the bed frame.
    Gareth cleared his throat. Leather thongs dangled from the burnished gloves. "Would you mind?" he asked, the very picture of pained patience.
    Rowena crept nearer. A proper squire would help him dress, would he not? And that is what she was meant to be, was it not? Her tongue slipped out of the corner of her mouth at the effort of working the slick thongs into a proper knot. Twice she included her thumb in the tidy parcel.
    On the third try, after she had tangled not only her little finger but a large strand of her hair in the endeavor, he snatched his hand back with a growl. "Unless I care to nip your fingers off or snatch you bald, I'd best find another to assist me."
    Rowena shoved her hands behind her back, lacing her fingers together in a protective knot.
    He slipped the woven chain mail on over his head. "Tarry here. I will seek out Blaine and thank him for his hospitality ere we take our leave."
    Rowena remembered a heavy hand clamped between her legs and thought of several ways she would like to thank Blaine for his hospitality—most of them involving the blunt end of a cudgel. She hid her thoughts behind the hand that tucked her tangled hair back into her cap. Gareth left her sitting dutifully on the edge of the bed, hands folded.
    A tiny spark in the pit of her stomach ignited a burning hole. After her sating last night, Rowena recognized the sting as hunger. She had lived with the ache so long it had taken on a certain normalcy.
    She crossed her legs, uncrossed them, and rose to pace the chamber. She drank a bit of water, sloshed the remains out the window, and sat down again. The pit in her gut swelled, threatening to suck her in and swallow her completely.
    She opened the door and peered both ways before creeping out. The hour must be earlier than she thought. Bodies still littered the stairs in various positions of sleep and stupor. She picked her way down the stairs and across the great hall. A man reached for her ankle, but she nimbly skirted his fingers, eliciting a strangled murmur before he curled back into his cloak.
    The table loomed before her, no less beautiful in the harsh light of morning than in the romantic hue of torchlight.
    Rowena whirled around when Gareth came plunging down the steps several moments later. He caught hold of the wall to steady himself. She knew from his expression that he had been to the empty chamber. As she imagined his confusion at her absence, a sparkle of satisfied malice touched her eyes, but it was gone before he could cross the sea of bodies. Rowena took advantage of his concentration on that task by running her palms beneath the table, then rubbing her cheeks, leaving powdery smudges of dirt wherever she touched.
    Gareth opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. His eyes traveled over her from head to foot, narrowing in suspicion as if wondering if the faeries had come in the night and left this pudgy, dirty changeling in place of his lithe captive.
    Rowena smiled brightly. "I grew weary of waiting, milord. I trust I did not anger you."
    "Of course not."
    Rowena knew from his clenched jaw that he was lying. Her smile grew broader. She wished she had gained the time to black out one of her pearly teeth with soot.
    "I