Free By Arrangement by Madeline Hunter Page A

Southwark, across the Thames from London, was a town apart and close to lawless.
    He looked at Oliver's wiry thin body and long black hair. They had known each other since boyhood, when they had played and scrapped in the streets and alleys together. On occasion during those carefree days, they had met danger side by side. But then Oliver's poor family had moved up to Hull and David had been plucked from those alleys and sent to school and into trade.
    They had met again when Oliver returned to London several years ago. David had recognized at once that he had found a man whom he could trust. Like Sieg, Oliver might do a criminal's deeds sometimes, but he lived by a code of loyalty and fairness that would put most knights to shame. Since then, they had again on occasion met danger side by side.
    The decision for Anne to become a prostitute had simply been the easiest of several choices available to them when they had come back to London. Anne had already decided that the winter nights were too long when he had met them a short while later. Still, she probably earned three times as much on her back than she and Oliver could together through honest labor. The odd jobs Oliver did for him and others helped some.
    He wondered how he was going to explain Oliver and Anne to Christiana. Sieg's story would be strange enough when she finally realized that he wasn't a typical servant.
    “Has he spoken to you?” Oliver asked.
    “Twice. The last time just this morning.”
    “I have followed him like you said. He spoke to a ship's master yesterday. I think that he will sail back soon.”
    “He will need to. I expect that he will seek me out one more time, though, and delay his trip until I will talk to him at length. He has only felt me out so far, and has not achieved what he came for.”
    “You think that it is set, then?”
    “I think so. I refused him, but I left the door open.”
    Oliver shook his head. “I am not convinced. His actions have been very normal. He goes to merchants and other places of business. That is all.”
    “His offer to me has been subtle so far but unmistakable. He appears to be a merchant because he is one. Except for the letter for Edward and his mission with me, he is here for trade. It is the whole point. WheneverI go to France or Flanders, I go for trade, too.” He stretched out his legs beneath the table. “Speaking of which, tell Albin that I will need to go over in about a week or so.”
    “Running from your duel?” Oliver asked with a grin.
    “Before that. After he talks with me but before my wedding. I want to sail along the coast.”
    “You are pushing things, my friend,” Oliver said, laughing. “Wait until after you marry this princess. Tempt fate and you might find yourself caught in bad seas for a week and miss the ceremony. That will take some explaining, I'll warrant.”
    David looked away. Sieg had been right. It was a bad time to be getting married. Oliver was right, too. He should wait until after the wedding to sail the coast. But it needed to be done soon, and he had no intention of leaving Christiana for a while after she came to him. This girl, and the growing desire he felt for her, were complicating things.
    Her eyes were faceted jewels full of bright reflections. A man could lose his soul in eyes like that.
    For one thing, he had begun to lose interest in these subtle and dangerous plans that he had laid and in which Oliver played a role. He had finally admitted that to himself as he rode over here today, and had been astonished to discover it. After all, he had been slowly planting this particular field for almost two years. A piece of information here, a deliberate slip there. It had worked because people like himself were quick to notice mistakes and weakness and potential advantage, and he knew that he dealt with a man very much like himself. In fact, matching wits with him should be a pleasure in itself, and the final justice much more satisfying than the rather