Free Margaret Moore - [Maiden & Her Knight 03] by All My Desire

voice to a whisper that the grunting, sweating Norsemen couldn’t hear. “I’m going to keep watch tonight. I don’t trust Osburn, or these Norsemen. I wouldn’t put it past them to kill us and sell her, if they thought they could get away with it.”
    “But Lord Oswald has paid them well, I’m sure.”
    “I hope he has paid them enough.”
    Denis gravely nodded. “With the amount of wine he has drunk, Osburn will probably pass out, but I think you are wise about the Norsemen, especially now that they have seen her … like that.”
    “Yes, I think Ingar was very serious about her worth as a slave.”
    “And he is right. Mon Dieu! Such beauty and such spirit! I swear, my friend, that if she were to produce a sword and try to take command of the ship, I would not be shocked.”
    Alexander sighed as he moved his belt and scabbard close beside him. “Neither would I, although she has given me her word she will not try to escape again.”
    Denis’s eyes widened, and he sat up straighter. “Truly? Her word?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then maybe she will not. Normans hold their honor very dear, or so I have been told.”
    “I suppose.”
    Denis hugged his knees. “Why do you not rest now, and I will let you take the second watch? You must be very tired after chasing her all over the riverbank.”
    Alexander gratefully slid lower, so that his head was resting against the furled sail as he closed his eyes. “Thank you, Denis.”
    Something pushed against Alexander’s back. He was on his feet in an instant, his scabbard in his left hand and the hilt of his sword in his right. The weapon was half out of the scabbard before he was even fully awake.
    Several of the Norsemen were staring at him, as surprised as he was, in the breaking daylight.
    “There is no need for alarm. We are just in the way,” Denis quickly explained from where he stood off to the steering board side. “They want to raise the mast and set the sail.”
    “Oh.” His heartbeat still as rapid as a wren’s wings in flight, Alexander shoved his sword back into the scabbard, then joined his friend. His prize huddled near the prow, cloaked in the blanket, watching the Norsemen set about their task. Also in the bow were two of the Norsemen. They held a stay attached to the top of the mast, ready to help haul it upright. They were so close to her that she was as good as guarded.
    Loose and tousled, her hair made him think that she, too, had just awakened. Her eyes were a little puffy from sleep, yet they shone with a sharp awareness of where she was and what had happened to her.
    She met his gaze with undisguised hostility, but all Alexander could think about was the fact that beneath that blanket she was very nearly naked, clad only in that gossamer-thin silk shift that hid so very little, especially when it was damp. Aided by the memory of the kiss last night, his desire burst instantly, vibrantly to life.
    Trying to subdue his unwanted craving, he forced his attention to Osburn, who lay near her, the wineskin at his feet. It looked as if he slept where he’d fallen.
    “Oui,” Denis said as he straddled one of the vacated sea chests. “He has not moved. A drooling man, even one so delightfully attired, is not a pretty sight, is it?”
    Alexander gave his friend a sardonic little smile of agreement as he sat astride the sea chest to his friend’s right. “You didn’t wake me to take the second watch.”
    “You were sleeping as peacefully as a newborn babe, and I said to myself, ‘Denis, he has earned a good rest, and you can sleep later.’ She did not awaken until the Norsemen ordered her out of the way, too. Otherwise, nobody went near her.” Denis’s dimples appeared. “They were whispering about her all night, though. They think that although she is beautiful and they wouldn’t mind making love with her, they agree with Ingar. She is not worth the fight she will surely put up.”
    “I didn’t know you could understand them.”
    Denis