Free The Magnificent Rogue by Iris Johansen Page A

innkeeper to fix food?”
    Gavin nodded. “It will be ready shortly.” He thrust a cup of ale into Robert’s hand. “And he has a fine sturdy mare. He’s asking more than she’s worth, but I think I can get him down to a reasonable sum.” He paused. “You still intend to take the piebald?”
    “I said so, didn’t I?” Robert drained his cup. The liquid was warm and comforting, but it didn’t soothe his bad humor. He didn’t even know why he was in such foul temper, only that it had something to do with the way Kate had stood there looking at him, muddy, weary, and yet arrow straight, refusing to surrender to her own weakness. He crossed the room, sat down before the fire, and stretched his legs out before him.
    “May I ask why?” Gavin inquired politely as he followed him across the room and leaned one arm on the mantel.
    “No, you may not.” He was silent a moment before he finally answered, “The girl will give us less trouble if we take the horse.”
    “Oh, I see. And I thought it was because the poor lass had touched your heart.” His eyes twinkled. “Orperhaps your more carnal body parts. I suppose I should have known better.”
    “Aye, you should.” Robert leaned back in the chair. “I have better taste than to wish to couple with a mudlark.”
    “I’d say she’s much too fierce for a mudlark. Besides, you’ve been without a woman for weeks. Considering your somewhat voracious appetites, even a mudlark should look good to you after that time.”
    “Not this mudlark. Even if I was tempted, she’s the one woman I would not bed.”
    Gavin’s brows lifted. “Surely a strange attitude toward your bride.” Then he understood. “Ah, the bairn. If you got her with child, the marriage would become permanent whether you willed it or not.”
    “Exactly.”
    “Of course, some risks are worth taking.”
    “Not that one.”
    Gavin made a face. “It would be difficult, but you could always take precautions.”
    “Why? I have no desire to couple with her.”
    “The poor lass.” Gavin grinned. “In the full spring of youth and not to know the joys of the flesh. Have you told her?”
    “I’ve little time to discuss anything in detail.” Robert paused. “She has no idea what a danger she might pose.”
    “To you?”
    “To me, to James, to everyone.” He was silent a moment and then exploded with unexpected violence. “Christ, she doesn’t
know.”
    “It probably suited Her Majesty to make sure she was kept in blissful ignorance.”
    “Ignorance can lead to mistakes, and mistakes can lead to the block.”
    “She’s scarcely more than a child. You had to realize this was a possibility. Why the sudden concern?”
    He had realized, but he hadn’t let himself think ofanything beyond what he must do to avoid the trap Elizabeth had laid for him. Which was exactly what he must continue to do. The woman upstairs was nothing to him, and Craighdhu was everything. “I’m not concerned. I just think it foolish of the queen not to have had her warned of the—”
    “Please, my lord.”
    Robert turned to see the innkeeper’s daughter standing in the arched doorway.
    The girl’s eyes were wide with fear. “Please, my lord, come quickly. I cannot wake her.”
    “What?” Robert jumped to his feet. “What the hell do you mean, you can’t wake her?”
    “She fell asleep in the tub. That is, I think she is asleep. She may be ill. I shook her, but she only stirred and won’t—”
    “Christ!” Robert was already out of the common room and taking two steps at a time.
    Kate was lying in the hip bath, her head lolled back against the rim, her dark lashes arcs on her thin cheeks.
    “Kate!”
    She didn’t stir. He knelt beside the tub and shook her. “Kate!” Her color seemed good, and he could see the pulse pounding in her throat. Why the hell wouldn’t she wake up? He had heard of instances where men wounded in battle had managed to function perfectly until hostilities ceased and then