Surrender by Sophia Johnson Read Free Book Online Page A

be
squatting to sh…, uh, 'tis a fitting name."
    Elyne snorted. It was fitting, but she
wouldn't admit it.
    When Graemme fed Squat a bit of pigeon pie,
she did not object.
    When he gave him a small slice of sausage,
she kept silent.
    When he scooped out a small spoonful of
leftover porridge, she near jumped out of her chair.
    Squat's long tongue lapped over and around
the spoon before she could stop him. She bumped into Graemme's arm,
hard. She reached down and grabbed the spoon from him before Squat
could put his tongue to it again.
    "Ye are gawkie, Lady?"
    "I am never clumsy. I thought to keep the dog
from chewing the spoon. He is foolish enough to think he can eat
wood."
    "He looks to eat little of anything that
would put meat on his bones." Graemme looked at her from the corner
of his eye. "Does his mistress neglect feeding him because she's so
busy prowlin' around at night to spy on nekid men?"
    "His mistress does not prowl around looking
at men."
    "Aye. She does."
    She snorted and frowned.
    "Did ye forget hidin' in the tree while I
bathed?"
    "I wasna hiding to spy on yer bath!" Her face
heated as if she was standing close to a steaming pot of
porridge.
    "And what of the crone who came into my
room?"
    "So? I dinna know what the crone saw."
    She had an urge to fan her face with her
fingers. For truth, he must be taking wicked delight in her
discomfort.
    "Me. Nekid. On the bed. She stared. I think
she feared she would miss something."
    "I dinna think so. One nekid man is much
alike another."
    She had always thought so. Until last eve.
There had been little light in his bedchamber, but what there was
filtering into the room, she could not miss his splendidly bronzed
skin against the white sheets. Never did she think to see any man
as finely made as he. Why, she had near forgotten what she had gone
there to say. She started to squirm in her seat and planted her
feet so close to each other that she couldn't move. It was a trick
she'd learned when she didn't want her father to know he'd caught
her in a lie.
    "I hope ye will rid yerself of sneaking
around afore we wed. My brother does not take kindly to women who
are loose with their favors."

    Graemme shifted on his seat. His stomach was
beginning to rumble and gurgle much like someone who had not eaten
in days. He cleared his voice, hoping no one else could hear the
disgusting sounds his belly was making. 'Twas harebrained. With all
the people in the room talking near at the same time, you could
hardly hear yourself think, much less hear someone's guts
talking.
    His mouth filled with bitter water rising in
uneasy waves to his throat. He swallowed and needed to swallow
again. Lucifer's tainted breath! He was going to spew!
    Never had he left a table so quickly. His
long strides took him to the door of the keep. From there, he did
not stop running until he reached the privacy of an empty stall far
back in the stable. He soon put two empty buckets to use.

    "I thought you said the old crone's curse was
naught but crazy rambling." Brian's red hair and laughing blue eyes
peered over the top of the stall.
    "'Twas no curse which caused this." Graemme
groaned and wretched into the bucket he clutched to his chest.
    "Hm. Looks like the curse to me. Ye're
sitting on one bucket and hugging another."
    "My dafty bride-to-be tampered with my
food."
    "Did the other diners become ill? What if it
is the curse?" Brian' mouth twitched at the corners. "Have you
checked your cock?"
    Graemme shot him a quelling look. "When did
ye return?"
    "Brian, why are you hanging over an empty
stall?"
    That's all Graemme needed. Another witness to
his plight. Though to be fair, 'twas only Colyne's footfalls coming
toward them.
    "Graemme here didna believe in the crone's
curse. Seems he should have."
    Colyne's brown head joined Brian's. They
stood together, gazing at him as if they'd never seen a man with
griping pains in his gut.
    "Hm. Did your cock...?"
    "Nah, Colyne. Already asked him. He's afeared
to