Free Moonstone by Olivia Stocum Page B

gloaming, and the dark winter his land would soon enter.
    Then s he opened her eyes and imagined herself sheltered and safe, like she was before her parents were murdered. Silent tears stung the scratches on her face. Her stomach churned and threatened to heave the wine and oatcakes she’d consumed earlier.
    William reined his horse close r to hers.
    “I am fine,” she bit. 
    “I shouldna have let you ride alone.” His calm tone made her regret her acidic one. “You must be in pain.”
    Rhiannon shrugged. The reins were in her only working hand and she struggled to wipe her eyes on her shoulder.
    “We will break for camp at nightfall. Why do you not ride with me until then?”
    Rhiannon looked at what little she could see of the sun. It was hours before sunset. She glanced around for Alice and spotted her with Connor, curled up in his arms, asleep. Rhiannon groaned. “Alice is not usually like this.”
    William glanced in their direction. “Connor’s a good man, and he earns a descent living from me. He can afford a wife if he wants one.”
    “Wife? Wonderful.”
    “You say it as if ’ tis a crime.”
    “For some it is.”
    “We’ve all had a lot of excitement, but Connor wouldna use her. I know you feel you have no reason to believe me, but he is the kind of man who stands behind his convictions.”
    A man who stood behind his convictions.
    She thought men like that died out when her father was murdered. She looked away, unable to balance her needs against reality. Just because she was able to acknowledge that she was now under William’s protection didn’t mean she was ready to be pursued by him in any way. 
    “I stand by my convictions as well ,” he said. 
    “’Tis not as if it matters.”
    “I told you, I would never force.”
    “You already do.” Her fingers gripped the reins. “And now I am your property.”
    The dapple gray stallion shook out his long mane, metal on the bridle clanking. “You are my responsibility ,” he said. “I’ve no desire to own anyone.”    
    He might be strong enough to stand by his convictions now, but what would happen when she began to round out with Geoffrey’s child? Would he dissolve their union? And then what would she do, once she found herself abandoned in a foreign land? Did she have the courage to leave Alice behind with Connor and seek her own way in the Highlands, all by herself?
    Nay. Curse me, but I do not have the courage for that.
    She only had two options.
    Make William believe that the child was his. He was a smart man, so she would have to consummate their marriage quickly. No doubt he would be more than willing. But she was not.   
    Or she could force a miscarriage. She’d heard about herbs that could see the task through. It was what she’d planned on doing when she and Alice had stolen the horses and run away.
    “Alice would never be far from you.” He continued the previous conversation. “Connor is the captain of my guard, as well as my second cousin.”
    Jeremiah picked his own path over rocky soil while Rhiannon sank into a bog hole of her own making. She would have to take her chances with the herbs. She wondered what it would be like to miscarry. Certainly it could be no more dangerous than what she had already lived through.
    “ Lassie.” There William was, smooth as silk. Lacy webs reaching out for her. Trust me, they said.
    “I do not want to talk to you.”
    “I think we need to.”
    “Do you always talk so much?”
    He f lexed his right shoulder, the skin around his eyes tightening.
    “What happened to your arm?”
    He took so long to answer that Rhiannon assumed he wouldn’t. A horse snorted from somewhere behind them, and a couple of his men laughed as if one had told an amusing story.
    “I was injured in battle,” he said.
    “ Bad then?” 
    “I almost died.”
    The wind picked up and goose bumps broke out over her skin. “Tell me?”
    His face changed, became more guarded. “Another