Free Rogue Knight (Medieval Warriors Book 2) by Regan Walker Page A

clothes.”
    “Your guards are not so discerning as you,” she said dismissively.
“And mayhap not so sober.”
    “Where is that great beast that usually follows at your
heels?”
    “I left him at home. I feared he might be speared by one of
your French swords.”
    “And so he might have been. As might you.” It concerned him
that she had been so foolish. “Why did you come?”
    “To seek your help in saving the life of a man taken
prisoner. But when I saw the knight called Eude, I could think of nothing else
but to kill him for what he has done.” When he raised his brows, she explained,
“He raped my friend, Inga, the daughter of Feigr, the sword-maker. When her
father tried to protect her, Eude’s companions beat him and took him prisoner.
I assumed they brought him here. I would free him and see Eude dead.”
    “And your life would be lost in the process had you been
successful with the mercenary.”
    “My anger has cooled but only just,” she said, setting down
the goblet and turning to pace. “The man deserves to die!”
    “Aye, likely he does. I would not put rape past him. I like
him not.”
    She paused in her pacing to gaze at him. “Inga was young,
untouched,” she explained, her distress showing on her face. “Feigr’s only
child and much loved.”
    “What would you have me do?”
    Her beautiful, tear-filled eyes fixed on him, desperation in
their depths. “Find Feigr, save him, protect him, as I will now protect Inga.”
    Seeing her tears, he could deny her nothing. “All right. But
you must stay here until I locate him.”
    “My family will worry. Ottar is still recovering and now I
have Inga to see to.”
    “I will send my squire to tell them you are safe. Latch the
door after I leave. When I return, listen for three knocks. I myself will take
you home.”
    He went first to Mathieu to dispatch him to Emma’s house, to
tell her servants she was safe. Once that was done, he went looking for the
sword-maker. He found him with the other prisoners who had been taken that day,
now sequestered in a building in the outer bailey.
     
    * * *
     
    Emma paced in Sir Geoffroi’s small chamber, keenly aware she
was confined inside the Norman castle where the French knights gathered like
wasps around a hive.
    The smell of metal, leather and horses filled the room, a
masculine smell she recognized as belonging to the blond knight from when he
had carried her home from the clearing earlier in the day. The candles set
about the chamber made it seem somehow intimate and, because it was the abode
of a Norman knight, more threatening. Could she trust him to find Feigr and
bring him to safety? Did she have a choice? She could not very well leave on
her own now that the creature Eude knew she was here. To approach him had been
a mistake. She would not have succeeded in killing him. Sir Geoffroi was right
to scold her. Surely if she had killed Eude, the other knights would have
killed her. But the mad impulse had seized her when she recognized the monster
who had raped her friend.
    She touched her fingers to her lips, still swollen with Sir
Geoffroi’s kiss. Since his reason for kissing her had been to protect her, she
did not resent it. But she had not expected to like it so well. His mouth had
been gentle on hers and his tongue… Oh God . The memory of his seductive
tongue exploring her mouth made her tremble even now. Had it only been for
show? Mayhap he had kissed many women. The thought did not please her.
    When he had taken her into his arms, she had felt protected,
not threatened. It disturbed her that she should find a Norman so desirable.
She did not like that her reaction to him seemed to steal away the hatred that
gave her the strength to fight. She did not like the way her body still craved
his touch.
    Her pacing stopped. Would he help her to take vengeance on
the one called Sir Eude? She suspected the answer was no. But if she could
leave with Feigr, if he were still alive, then she would have