The Boleyn King by Laura Andersen Read Free Book Online Page A

and looked at him. “What did you say?”
    He repeated himself, his expression a mix of satisfaction and condescension. “Our betrothal. It’s all but done.”
    Her bewilderment turned to fear. “Betrothal? No one’s said anything to me.”
    “Well, they wouldn’t, would they? My father spoke to the queen about it some time since, and it awaits only final approval by the king and council.”
    “But …” She tried to think, to ignore the stab of betrayal that William was arranging a marriage for her without her knowledge. The hurt made her less than gracious. “But I don’t want to marry you.”
    Giles gripped her arm with surprising force. “Your fortune is small. If it weren’t for your personal ties to the royal family, you’d be of no use to my father. The Howards are the closest thing you have to family. It’s time you make it worth our while.”
    Minuette tried to free her arm while retaining her dignity, but she was beginning to feel a faint sense of panic. The stairway was dark and empty, and Giles’s eyes were glittering strangely. He not only ignored her efforts to free herself but wrapped his other arm around her back and pulled her close.
    “There’s really no need to wait for the formalities. I’ve a mind to see just how spirited you are.”
    At that point she would gladly have thrown off her dignity and screamed, but his mouth was on hers so quickly that she nearly choked on her own breath. Then she nearly choked on his, thick and rancid in her throat. She struggled for all she was worth, but it served only to arouse him further.
    And then, with a suddenness that made her lose her balance and sit down hard on the ground, Giles was off her and she could breathe. Angry to feel herself shaking, she inhaled deeply several times, though it would take more than that to cleanse her mouth of the taste of him.
    She stared up to where Giles stood perfectly still, his right arm twisted sharply behind his back and the point of Dominic’s dagger pricking the underside of his chin.
    Dominic’s voice was a purr that raised the hair on the back of her neck. “Did you not listen to me earlier? That was a mistake.”
    Giles gurgled, and Minuette swallowed a laugh of pure hysteria. The dagger moved slightly, and she saw a pinprick of blood slide down its blade.
    “Don’t,” she said.
    Dominic turned his face to her, though she wasn’t sure he could see anything through the haze of fury in his eyes.
    From behind Dominic, a voice of undoubted authority rang out. “Let him go, Dom.” William strode into view, flanked by two of his guards. He extended a hand to help Minuette up without taking his eyes off the two men locked together in a threat of violence.
    At first it seemed that Dominic would not obey. When he did release Giles, it was with a shove that sent him staggering. In an instinct of violence, Giles raised a fist, but William’s voice stopped him cold. “I shouldn’t do that if I were you.”
    Giles wasn’t so pompous that he didn’t recognize the danger in his sovereign’s voice. Mumbling halfhearted curses, he retreated down the corridor with less grace than speed.
    William touched his hand to her cheek. “Are you all right?”
    Minuette was staring at Dominic, who sheathed his dagger with an energetic thrust that frightened her—as if he imagined it to be Giles’s body. “I’m all right.”
    William let his hand drop, and Minuette seized it impulsively. “He told me … he said that you’re arranging a betrothal between us.”
    His lips tightened. “You needn’t worry. He’ll not come near you again.”
    “But you were considering it?”
    Shifting from one foot to the other, William said cautiously, “It had been mentioned. But it hadn’t gone any further than talk. I would have told you if it had.”
    “Then you won’t—I won’t have to marry him?”
    “No.”
    Dominic had turned away as if she weren’t even there. Trying to focus on the matter at hand, Minuette