Free Taken and Seduced by Julia Latham

here today,” Adam said.
    Ah, it was good to no longer be treated as a captive, she thought with anticipation.
    Michael nodded. “Robert and I will keep watch over the horses and purchase our supplies.”
    “But do you not want to eat with us?” Florrie asked, feeling sorry for them.
    Adam gave her an impassive glance, and she realized that this was not a pleasant jaunt for them; they’d probably been hired for this task.
    “Never mind,” she said ruefully, giving the two men an apologetic look.
    Robert only laughed and shook his head, while Michael appeared uninterested. Perhaps a public inn in a nondescript village was nothing to them, but to Florrie, it was another chance to see—and do—something new.
    Adam helped her dismount, then took her arm to lead the way inside. She did her best to appear simply tired and subdued, but she could not help looking everywhere as they passed through an entry room where a man—the innkeeper?—stood behind a counter. The public room was off to the right, and at midday, the tables were mostly occupied with men. A huge fireplace dominated one end of the room, and although it was stacked with logs, it was not lit on this fine summer’s day.
    “If we were here tonight,” Adam said quietly near her ear, “this would be a much more boisterous room.”
    “This is a tavern where men come to drink?” she asked.
    “’Tis the best place to gather. A man can learn much here, as drunken tongues wag foolishly.”
    A man in a leather apron and cap came to lead them to a table, and soon they were eating steaming lamb pie. Florrie chewed slowly, enjoying the rare treat after so many days traveling. She watched Adam, whose his eyes were constantly scanning the nearby tables, the windows, the door. She knew he was concerned about being confronted.
    “So you come to such places often?” she asked.
    His eyes met hers again. “Nay.”
    “Oh, but I thought…” Her words died.
    “I have come on occasion, but that is all. I, too, did not travel in my youth.”
    Then he put a spoonful in his mouth, as if he regretted those words.
    “So that is why ’tis Michael who guides our journey.”
    He nodded.
    “Why did you not travel?”
    He seemed to chew his food even more slowly, before saying at last, “I was not permitted to. My brothers and I were well guarded.”
    “Why?”
    “I cannot speak of it.”
    She resisted the urge to sigh loudly. “How many more brothers do you have?”
    “One. He is my youngest brother by three years, named Paul.”
    “Why is he not serving at your side?”
    “He left us before we undertook this mission.”
    ‘ “Undertook this mission’? You sound like this was an assignment from your lord.”
    He frowned. “You mistake me.”
    “Then why say it in such a way?”
    “’Tis the only way I know.”
    He was such a mystery! What young man was not permitted to travel in his youth? Boys were usually given much more freedom than girls. But she sensed a direct approach with questions would not work.
    “Where did Paul go?”
    At last this seemed to reach him, for pain flared briefly in his eyes. “I know not. He wanted tomake his own way in the world, and I could not gainsay him.”
    “Do you miss him?” she asked softly.
    “I spent my life taking care of him, and without him at my side, nothing seems right. But surely you understand that. Two of your sisters are married with their own homes.”
    “You know much of me,” she said dryly. “And the third, Matilda, is married to Father’s heir, but they live with us,” she added with a sigh.
    “You do not sound pleased.”
    She used her spoon to break open more of her pie. “I must confess, I am not as close to my sisters as you are with your brothers.”
    “But…I thought women were naturally bound together with love and support. We were taught—”
    He broke off and quickly took another bite of his pie, but Florrie wasn’t fooled. He’d revealed something he hadn’t meant to say. He’d