The Modest and the Bold by Leelou Cervant Read Free Book Online

of
beer. His back to the men at the central table, he handed his
allotment jug to the assistant. His attention seemingly focused
upon the boy as he opened the tap to let the beer flow, his ears
listened to all.
    “ I’d not mind a tumble
with the Lady Constance,” stated Sir Arnold, another seasoned
knight who was friends with Sir Walter. “Always did appreciate big
tits and lovely round hips. And those succulent lips!”
    There was a sudden, loud
scrapping upon the stone floor as someone bounded to their feet.
Fulke glanced over his shoulder to see that it was a livid Sir
Walter.
    “ Shut your filthy trap,
you! I’ll not stand for such conceptions of her ladyship! Do you
heed? ” When Arnold exploded into laughter,
others joining him, Sir Walter left the hall in disgust.
    Like everyone else, Fulke
knew that Sir Walter’s temper would die down and he would be back
to his usual convivial self in no time. So, it was not alarm for
the man’s angst in which Fulke departed the little hall but
disquiet over his words. From the day he’d been introduced to the
Lady Constance, Fulke had ever held her in high regard. It had been
this vast esteem for her that had stimulated his anxiety over
Adele’s outrageous whim to have the lady take part in their
intimate meeting. And even after his baser instincts had obliged
him to partake of what the lady had been so willing to give, he’d
returned to the castle with a heavy conscience. Subsequently, when
he’d taken her in silent rage against Adele’s decision to persist
with her wanton behavior, he’d shoved his scruples to the back of
his mind. Now, following Sir Walter’s rant, they slammed to the
fore.
    Back in his chamber, he
set his full jug down upon the small trestle table there and sat
down. Being the head knight, his chamber was one of the few that
had a fireplace. As it was summer, there was no reason for a blaze.
On balmy evenings as these, an oil lamp was enough. In troubled
stints such as this, he preferred the dark.
    Damnable bastard! You
should’ve never dared to lay your hands upon her in the
first.
    Sighing, he poured himself
a drink. He’d always understood that women like Lady Constance were
too high for such as him, a bastard born. No matter that he’d
achieved the position he currently held, he should have never
permitted himself to touch such a treasure. Never!
    Believing there was
nothing else he could do save terminate this thing that had sprang
up between him and Sir Richard’s sister, disappointment, unlike any
other he’d ever experienced, swathed him. There’s nothing else to be done, he
reasoned again, as if to convince himself. You must do it. You must!
    It was in this saddened,
but determined, state of mind that Fulke heard the door of his
chamber open and close hours later. He shifted round in his chair
to find Adele sashaying towards him. When she sat in his lap and
wrapped her arms about his neck he simply sat there, despairing
over his decision regarding Lady Constance, repulsed by Adele’s
presence.
    “ You were missed at
supper, sir.”
    Fulke’s skin crawled when
she nibbled upon his ear. Pulling his head free of her unwanted
touch, he asked in a hard, flat tenor, “Did not your cousin furnish
you with enough of what you sought?” Shock registered in Adele’s
mien, halting her in whatever she’d been about to say next. Knowing
of her character as he did, he was positive she was about to try to
use his awareness of her true reason for visiting Burlefurd to her
advantage.
    Sure enough, she snuggled
closer to him, purring, “Since meeting you, Symond will never again
be enough to satisfy me, sir.”
    At her openly
acknowledging her lasting carnal relationship with her cousin,
Fulke jumped to his feet, pitching Adele down to the floor in a
heap of blue skirts.
    Her anger engaged, she
stumbled to her feet, scoffing, “Why this treatment, Fulke?
I—”
    Grabbing hold of her arms,
Fulke shook her. “ Why this treatment ? Did you