Free Montbryce Next Generation 01 - Dark Irish Knight by Anna Markland

Rhonwen was worried. If Ronan and Rhoni were destined to be together, she foresaw problems if the Norman girl came to believe he courted her for political gain.
    Rhodri remained by the hearth, but his expression betrayed his concern.
    Rhonwen stood behind Rhoni and placed her hands on the girl’s nape, pressing her thumbs lightly into the flesh. “What is it? You look bereft.”
    Rhoni let her head fall forward. “That feels good. I suppose I am tired after a long night with Lord Ronan.”
    She looked up at Rhodri abruptly, her face red. “I mean—that’s not what I meant. The words did not come out right.”
    Rhonwen smiled at her husband, then moved her hands to knead Rhoni’s shoulders. “We did not misunderstand. That happens when a person is tired. But he appreciated your care.”
    Rhoni fisted her hands in her lap. “I suppose he did. That’s the first time I have seen him smile.”
    Rhodri coughed into his fist. “Lord Ronan has suffered much, Rhoni. Torture does strange things to a man. His back will heal, his leg will mend, he will become accustomed to having one eye, but the inner scars—the hatred and the thirst for vengeance—they will take longer to exorcise.”
    Rhoni chewed on her bottom lip. “I would help him heal, but he does not like me.”
    Rhonwen barely heard her words, but felt the cold shiver that shook the young Norman’s body. She looked to her husband, hoping to say the right words. They both knew the healing power of love. Should they set her and Lord Ronan on a path that might lead either to a great love or to devastating heartbreak? Would it be wiser to send her home to Ellesmere?
    Rhodri broke the silence. “Do you still want to journey to Cadair Berwyn?”
    Rhonwen stilled her hands on Rhoni’s shoulders and felt some of the tension ebb away.
    Rhoni smiled. “I would like that.”

    “Then we leave in a sennight. You can travel on from there to Ellesmere.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
    Ronan took a deep breath, preparing to take his first steps without the bindings on his leg. Conall stood ready to support his master if needs be, while Rhonwen looked on.
    Ronan walked slowly around the chamber, relearning how to walk. He held his arms out at his sides, like a child taking his first steps. Having one eye did not make it easy. The padding had been removed when the wound finally ceased weeping. He fingered the black leather patch that had replaced the bandage. This was his new reality. The scars on his back and wrists would fade, the leg felt better than he had anticipated, but the eye was gone forever. He had not yet summoned the courage to look at his image in a mirror.
    Women had always been attracted to his courtly manners and his body and face. His smile had charmed many an eager colleen. But he had never ill treated a woman, never used his physical endowments to take advantage.
    Now his handsome appearance was a thing of the past. Women would recoil from him, though Rhoni de Montbryce did not seem repulsed.
    Why he was preoccupied with this was unclear to him. A second marriage was out of the question until he avenged his wife. Mary might not have been the woman he would have chosen, but he had remained faithful to her, despite her discomfort with intimacy. She had wanted to become a nun, but her father would not hear of it.
    In spite of his determination to feel nothing for Rhoni, his manhood reacted of its own accord whenever he looked at her. Nay, he had only to think of her and his arousal spiked.
    What the MacFintains had done angered him, filled him with bitterness, but he would have to put that aside if he was to win Rhoni over to his cause. He needed her father’s support. He resolved, however, not to mislead her. He was not that kind of man. Lorcan and Fothud may have taken his eye and his lands and his wife and child, but he’d be damned if they would steal his honour.
    Much was riding on the strength of his leg. Rhonwen would allow him to go to Cadair Berwyn only if she