shadow and lace by Teresa Medeiros Read Free Book Online Page B

overtunic and laid it in his hands. The tattered garment followed the food to the dogs.
    She could not hide her crestfallen expression as she watched her succulent treasures disappear into their yawning maws. How Little Freddie would have savored the cinnamon and honey flavoring the raisins! Rowena shivered in her thin shirte. This knight was more than cruel; he was a monster.
    Gareth unlatched a woven basket from his bridle, and dropped it at Rowena's feet. He tilted her chin upward with one finger. Her eyes were dry, but her lips were set in a bitter line.
    "Did you think I would starve you?"
    Her silence was reply enough. A thin layer of dust coated his fingertip where he had touched her chin. He swept back the lid of the basket to reveal two loaves of steaming bread, a crock of creamy yellow butter and three swollen strings of fresh sausage. He heard the teasing growl of Rowena's stomach before she felt it.
    She slammed the lid with her foot and sat down on top of the basket. She clutched his leg, her eyes as blue and earnest as the brightening sky.
    "You won't give it to the dogs, will you? You mustn't. Say you won't."
    Her reaction mystified Gareth. He squatted beside her, convinced if he dared toss the basket to the dogs, he would have to toss her, too. Her arms were smooth and fair, unmarred by the dirt streaking her cheeks.
    He spoke slowly and patiently. "I packed the food for our morning repast. I thought it might be more pleasant to partake of it away from the stench of yestereve's merriment."
    She stood as abruptly as she had sat down. She handed the basket to Gareth, marveling anew at its weight. "Of course. A grand idea. To break the fast of the night. Some days at Revelwood we do not break the fast until nightfall. We are simply too busy and the delay heightens our anticipation and whets our appetites." Rowena was chattering because she knew if her appetite was whetted any more, she might gobble up Gareth where he stood, basket and all.
    He hefted the basket to its rope. "Are you hungry?" She poked the dirt with her toe and shrugged. From beneath downcast lashes, she watched him open the basket and tear off a hunk of bread so fresh that butter still dripped from it. Hardly daring to breathe, she waited for him to eat the bread and throw her the crust. Her hands almost didn't react when he tossed the entire hunk to her.
    Gareth mounted the stallion without a word. Clutching the miracle of flour and yeast between her fingers, Rowena dragged herself astride the nag and followed him over an arched bridge into the pocket of cool air hanging over the misty lake.
    As Gareth had promised, they picnicked in a sunny meadow at midmorning. He ate little, seemingly content to recline in the grass a few feet away and watch Rowena polish off both strings of sausage and a creamy hunk of cheese. Sir Blaine's keep of Ardendonne crowned a distant hill, giving Rowena a shining view of the grandeur she had only guessed at in the night. Sunlight spilled over the tiled roof of the donjon, casting shadows behind the rounded tower. Rowena sighed at its beauty and gently sucked the sausage grease from each of her fingers with dreamy satisfaction.
    She glanced up to find Gareth staring at her lips with hypnotic intensity. His gaze flicked guiltily to her eyes. He sprang to his feet, barking a command that she mount.
    They left the meadows for a tangled forest thick with the bracken of late summer. The pit in Rowena's stomach had been soothed to a warm glow. Lulled by her sated senses and the melancholy rhythm of the nag's laggard pace, she began to hum absently. The words of Mortimer's ballad rose from her throat in a sweet, off-key alto before she even realized she remembered them:
     
    The fair Elayne,
    Unfairly slain
—
    Gareth moved with such speed that the nag was still walking when he snatched Rowena down by the scruff of her sleeveless shirte. He drove her backward until she felt the rough bark of a tree slam into her shoulders.