Coulter, Catherine. Rosehaven / Catherine Coulter.

& She eased her hand around his flank and pressed her palm against his

belly. Then lower until she held him in her hand. He turned onto his back, arching up slightly.

He kissed her even as she continued to caress him. He said into her

mouth, “Ah, Marjorie.”

Hastings dropped him, leaned close to his face, and yelled, “You whoreson! You kiss me as I caress you and speak her name? May you rot in hell, Severin!”

She jerked the blankets off him, sending Trist scampering to the foot of the bed, and rolled off the other side. She wrapped herself tightly in the blankets and ran from the bedchamber.

The jongleur was in the great hall, leaning against one of the stone walls, eating MacDear’s fresh black bread, doubtless writing a poem to Lady Marjorie’s exquisite ears. She ordered him to leave Oxborough after he had chewed that last bite of bread. She didn’t believe she could bear seeing him fall again on his knees in front of Marjorie.

She was thinking hard. She must be patient, that’s what Dame Agnes had told her. How could she not do something when he whispered that woman’s name into Hastings’s mouth?

She looked up to see Severin standing at her elbow, looking down at her.

“You pulled the blankets from me and ran away. Why?”

“If I had a sword, I would have sent it through your belly.”

“I have told you before, Hastings, before you had bent your will to mine, that a wife doesn’t threaten her husband.”

“Nay, you did not ever say that.”

“If I did not, then I should have. I will say it now. Never threaten me, Hastings.”

“Even when you whisper another woman’s name into my mouth?”

Severin picked up her goblet and drank the rest of Gilbert the goat’s milk. He set it down and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. He shrugged. He had the gall to just shrug, as if what he had done was nothing at all.

“It makes no matter if I yelled the Virgin Mary’s name. You will not act the shrew again with me. Fetch me bread and cheese. Ah, and some of that beef MacDear made last night. I am hungry.”

90e;

Trist poked his head out of Severin’s tunic, one of the tunics Hastings had made for him. He stuck his paw toward her and Hastings, smiling in spite of herself, shook his paw.

She rose from the trestle table bench. She tightened the blankets around her. She leaned down to pat Edgar the wolfhound’s head. She accepted the lick on her palm. “I do not think so, Severin. However, I will tell one of the women to serve you.”

She began to whistle, though it was difficult to get enough spittle in her mouth. She strolled from the great hall, knowing he was staring at her, wondering if he would yell at her.

He remained silent. Did he feel guilty?

She did not tell any of the women to serve him.

That afternoon, she rode Marella into the village of Oxborough to visit her friend Ellen, baker Thomas’s daughter. As she pulled her palfrey up in a side alley, she heard the veriest whisper of a sound, but it was just strange enough, just loud enough so that she looked up. A huge saddle balanced precariously on a window opening. She had no time. The saddle hurtled down, striking her on her head and shoulder, flinging her into a pile of refuse.

She looked up. She saw no one, save a shadow. She felt the pain swamp her. She called Ellen’s name, then sighed softly and let herself fall into oJaSvion.

2 0 fi

Someone was licking her. No, it wasn’t a someone. It was Alfred. Why was she at the Healer’s cottage?

Hastings forced her eyes to open.

“Ah, finally she is awake,” the Healer said, so close to her face that Hastings’s eyes crossed. “Can you hear me?”

“Aye, I can even see you, Healer.”

“Good. I’m going to lift your head and you will drink. It is not too foul a drink so do not complain.”

Was that a man’s chuckle she heard?

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *