The Leopard Unleashed by Elizabeth Chadwick Read Free Book Online Page B

she said. ‘What am I to do? Soon I shall be unable to dance, or take men into my body to slake their lust and earn my living.’ She felt a twinge of triumph as she saw him flinch. ‘In two days’ time you are leaving for ever. How will I make my living when I have a huge belly? Will it disturb your conscienceto know that while you lie in your marriage bed with your new wife, I am begging in the gutters of Antioch? Will it prey on your soul when you look at your heir swaddled in fine linen and rocked in a carved cradle that somewhere else a child of your siring is starving in the gutter?’
    Renard seized her wrist and dragged her against him. His grip pressed the edges of her bangles painfully into her flesh. She did not fight him, but drew in close to his body instead.
    ‘You use words like you use a knife too!’ he snarled.
    She saw the anger in his eyes, felt the tension shuddering in his body and was excited by it. She was playing with fire, caressing it, shaping it to the dreams she desired, aware that if she made a mistake she woud be burned to death. ‘Take me back to England with you,’ she whispered, stroking him gently with the downward pressure of the heel of her free hand. ‘I am carrying your child … your son.’
    Renard closed his eyes and swallowed, struggling for the control he no longer seemed to possess. Her skin and hair smelt like a lemon grove in the midday sun. He was aware of the expert persuasion of her fingers and his eager response. ‘Olwen, I am not just going home to take responsibility for my father’s lands. I’ll be getting married as fast as the priest can utter the vows!’
    ‘But it is a business arrangement, yes?’ Her lips brushed his throat. ‘Your wife doesn’t have to know.’
    ‘She would soon find out,’ Renard said wryly and retained enough sense to break away before it was too late. ‘Women always do.’
    ‘It would be none of her concern.’
    ‘I could arrange to give you money now if you stayed in Antioch.’
    ‘I don’t want to stay here.’ Her eyes flashed. ‘Here, I ama dancing girl, a high-class whore. In England I can invent my own past – a crusader’s widow, a wealthy pilgrim travelling with an armed group for safety. Why,’ she added mockingly, ‘you could even find me a rich husband if we both tell the right kind of lies.’
    ‘I suppose I could.’ His tone parodied hers. He wondered how Elene would react to the existence of this predatory lioness of a woman in his life if he chose to bring her with him. He needed time to think away from the disturbing closeness of her body.
    ‘Besides, I want to see my father’s homeland,’ she added on a less challenging note.
    ‘Renard, have you … oh.’
    Adam de Lacey paused, and clearing his throat, made to retreat.
    ‘No, it’s all right. I wanted a word with you anyway.’
    ‘Oh?’ He gave Olwen a thoughtful look.
    ‘We’ll talk later about this.’ Renard kissed her again, with dismissal.
    ‘It is very simple,’ she said. ‘If you leave me behind, you might as well put a dagger through my body now and throw me in the Orontes.’ Turning on her heel she stalked out.
    Renard stared after her. Adam uttered a low whistle. ‘Woman trouble?’ he enquired, and picked up Renard’s sword to scrutinise the oiled edges.
    ‘She’s with child,’ Renard said.
    Adam sighted along the fuller with one eye closed. ‘She knows it for certain?’
    ‘So she claims.’
    ‘Yours?’
    Renard flashed him a startled glance. ‘You think she’s foisting a cuckoo on me?’
    ‘I didn’t say that.’ Adam put down the sword and after a pause for consideration said, ‘I think that more than likely it is yours, and more than likely it is deliberate. Women of her trade know how to avoid such trouble. Even now there are potions she could drink if she so willed.’
    ‘You’re very knowledgeable for one who’s lived so pure a life,’ Renard growled.
    Adam gave him a rueful smile. ‘I am married to your