Free Aleksey's Kingdom by John Wiltshire Page B

put a hand out and very gently helped her to dress, which was a decided improvement, if you ask me. Then as he assisted her to stand, he asked quietly, “Why are you lying? I was sitting up there on the bank the whole time and saw and heard everything.”
    She flicked her gaze up to him and wrenched her arm out of his hand. “Perhaps you were too focused yourself on my body, sir, to know rightly what you saw or heard.”
    Aleksey nodded as if this might be an explanation but rejoined, still in his quiet voice (I had much cause to fear this tone, so was very glad it was not directed at me for once), “No, I have slept with princesses and queens, you must remember, so your body held no attraction for me at all. So, I repeat, why are you lying?” She slapped his face very hard, pushed past him, and began to run back to the camp.
    We were silent for a while. I toed the ground and observed without looking at him, “You were not on the bank.”
    “No. I saw nothing until I came around the bush, looking for you.”
    “You found me.”
    “I did.”
    “And?”
    He chuckled, and I looked up to find him smirking in his wickedness. “I rescued you. I think I was just in time.”
    I had to laugh. “I was entirely confounded, I do admit.”
    “You were lucky it was not one of the other men who discovered you so. I think her story would then have been believed more readily.”
    I pursed my lips, slightly annoyed by his implication. “I could have been ravishing her. I am not… incapable.”
    He laughed again. “Oh, trust me, I am very aware of that.” He sobered then. “That was very strange, though, do you not think? Why would she do that?”
    I shrugged. “She tried to seduce me, and when she saw it had failed, she got angry and took her opportunity for revenge?”
    “Yes, I got that . But what good wife decides to seduce a man she has known for less than a day when her husband is mere feet away?” I liked the way he added this, as if the proximity of her husband should make a difference to a good wife’s seduction plans. I smiled, despite the situation. He then added quite seriously, “I suppose you are the most beautiful of all of us, and even the most godly would not resist you.” He glanced behind to ensure we were still alone and pulled me into his arms for a kiss. He had called me beautiful, so I was very willing to indulge him for a while. But I knew Aleksey only too well and saw he would now have something else to worry at and discuss and enjoy gossiping about. Only too soon, he pulled away and asked, “Do you think we should warn the other men? Imagine if it had been Owen and not you she picked on…. What an odd woman.”
    I made a noncommittal reply and began to walk back toward the camp. We were too exposed to risk more than a kiss, and if we continued, I would need a great deal more, and that is always hard to hide when you are a man. I told him we should keep our knowledge about Mrs. Mary Wright to ourselves (which I now know was a very bad error on my part). I did not do it out of any gentlemanly motives but more because I needed to think privately upon her. When she had removed my shirt, she had been completely naked. I had seen a great deal, most of which did not interest me at all. The marks of an old, severe lashing upon her back did, however. Godly wives, in my experience, did not get lashed like common whores.
    “What?” Aleksey had caught at my arm. “What is wrong?”
    I debated keeping this new knowledge to myself, but then reflected I had too many lies with Aleksey just then—in my experience it was easier to only have a few, and thus I could keep them straight in my mind and more believable. Besides, this was not my secret but hers, and I didn’t like her and saw no reason to keep it for her.
    I told him what I had seen. He seemed surprised, as well he might, and began to say what I had first thought—that it indicated she was not the good woman she pretended to be. Suddenly his eyes