Free Defy Not the Heart by Johanna Lindsey Page B

his land. Ranulf had had to work for what he wanted because his mother had been no more than a village wench, whereas his brother’s mother had been a lady—not wed to their father, but a lady nonetheless. For that and that alone, her son, a bastard as Ranulf was, younger man Ranulf was, had been named their father’s heir, had been raised with all the privileges accorded a precious heir.
    No, Ranulf could not afford to feel anything for this lady sleeping so innocently in her chaste bed. There were little enough ways for a man to earn the kind of money he needed without stealing it, so he could not pick and choose as his conscience might dictate. And she was just another heiress to be fought over and won by the stronger man, Rothwell being that man because he had hired Ranulf. She was no more than a job to him, hopefully the last. So being, he hesitated no longer.
    Her eyes opened the instant Ranulf’s hand slid across her mouth, colorless in the dark, wide and fearful. The softness of her lips registered, but only for a second, for he had to apply more pressure when her small hand came up to push against his arm. He leaned across her to keep her other arm trapped beneath the cover whilst he exchanged his hand for a gag and quickly secured it with a strip of cloth. Her free hand was ineffective in stopping him, useless no matter how she pushed or pulled.
    She moaned, for no other reason than he had pulled her hair in tying off the gag, but Ranulf stiffened, not knowing what caused it, and immediately leaned away from her. He had thought his mind hardened against her, but that soft sound pricked him on the raw, enough to make him furious with himself, with her, with life in general.
    “Kenric!” The boy instantly poked his head through the curtain. “Get her hands and feet tied.” But the boy did not move, and Ranulf swore under his breath when he looked down to see that the cover had moved enough to reveal the lady was naked beneath it. “Hold her down.”
    Ranulf angrily left the bed to rummage in the chest he had seen. He returned and thrust a sleeveless shift through the curtain.
    “You want me to put it on her?” he heard Kenric squeak in horror.
    Ranulf gritted his teeth. “Just do it and be quick about it.”
    Kenric gave Reina an apologetic look before he slipped the shift over her head. But that was as far as he got. She had both hands loose now, and it was all he could do just to keep her in the bed. He was not Ranulf.
    “She will not let me!” Kenric called out desperately.
    “She will let you, or she will be carried out of here naked.”
    No more was heard from behind the curtain afterthat. Ranulf waited several moments more for the lady to be clothed, then threw the curtain wide to swipe the cover off the bed. While Kenric struggled to bind her wrists with the cloth strips they had brought along for that purpose, Ranulf spread the cover on the floor.
    “You are not finished yet?”
    “She does not want to make this easy,” Kenric hissed in answer.
    With a low growl of irritation, Ranulf returned to the bed and grabbed Reina’s hands to hold them together whilst Kenric finished wrapping the cloth around her wrists. He did the same with her feet, ignoring the furious looks he was now getting from her. That done, he lifted her off the bed.
    “Secure the boy now,” Ranulf told Kenric before laying Reina down on the cover. One hand on her chest, just below her breasts, held her there. “Be easy, lady,” he unbent enough to tell her. “We do not take you to harm you.” There was a spate of garbled mumbling from behind the gag, loud enough to make him lean closer to add, “Do you go quietly, no one will be harmed. Do you draw attention to yourself, make no mistake, there will be killing aplenty. Think you your men, such as they are, can stop me?”
    He was satisfied to hear no more noises from her, and she stopped squirming beneath his hand as well. In a moment Kenric returned to kneel beside