Born in Sin Read Free Page A

would see no more of it.
    She kissed the lovable little demon lightly on the brow and rose to her feet. Her stomach knotted with nerves, she led him slowly down the lone corridor toward the spiral stairs that should exit by the rear of the castle.
    At least that was what she’d been told by the maid who had been helping them plot their escape. How she prayed her newfound friend hadn’t lied to her or betrayed her.
    They had to get out of this place. Callie could stand no more. If she had to stomach another Sassenach leering at her or making crude comments about her wild Scottish heritage, she would have his tongue for it.
    But it was what they did to Jamie that truly made her blood boil. The son of a laird, he was equal to the highest-born of the English. And those beasts made him serve them like the lowliest of peasants while they mocked and belittled him. She could stand no more of her brother’s tears; no more of watching the knights rough-handle the young lad and cuff his ears.
    The English were animals!
    Ever since King Henry’s men had killed her guards and captured the two of them as they traveled to visit her sickly aunt, Callie had been trying to find a way for them to escape and make their way home.
    Yet, for all her careful cunning, these wretched English beasts were truly spawns of the devil. No matterwhat she tried, it seemed one of them always saw through her escape and stopped her.
    But this time—this time, she would succeed.
    She knew it.
    Tightening her grip on Jamie’s hand, she paused at the top of the stairs. She pulled back the corner of her linen veil and cocked her head to listen.
    Nothing.
    It appeared no one was about to challenge them. They were free!
    The maid, Aelfa, had promised her that once they left the stairs, the back door opened just a few feet from the postern gate that the servants used during daylight hours to travel from the castle into London. The maid had sworn to her that no one would stop her once she reached it.
    Callie’s heart pounded in sweet expectation. She rushed down the dark spiral steps at a breakneck speed, with Jamie one step behind.
    Freedom!
    She could taste it. She could smell it. She could…
    Callie’s thoughts scattered as she tripped and fell over something on the stairs.
    She felt her body pitch forward and all she could do was extend her arms in hopes of catching herself. But instead of falling, she felt strong arms wrap about her and pull her against a chest as hard as the dark stone walls surrounding her.
    Faster than she could blink, the man released her to stand on the stair above him.
    “God’s blood, woman, watch where you’re going.”
    Jamie opened his mouth to speak.
    Callie quickly covered his mouth with her hand and did her best English accent. “Forgive me, milord.”
    It was only then she dared look at him.
    Being on the tall side, she was used to standing eye level with most men. But where she expected to see his head, she saw only wide, muscular shoulders encased by darkness.
    Her heart pounded. For those were very large shoulders indeed.
    Callie frowned at his black clothes. Never before had she seen a man not of the Church dressed all in black. And this man was definitely no priest.
    His mail, coif and surcoat, which were darker than pitch, bore no markings on them whatsoever.
    How very odd.
    She tried to take a step back, but Jamie on the stair behind her and her narrow perch on the step prevented it.
    She felt trapped all of a sudden, trapped by the knight’s powerful presence, which seemed to seep into her very bones. This was a dangerous man. A deadly one. She felt it with every instinct she possessed.
    She dared to look up his tanned, strong neck, which bore a deep scar, then over his handsome face, to see the eyes of the devil himself. Those midnight-black eyes burned with intelligence and fire. They seared her with an eerie light that made her tremble.
    Callie swallowed.
    Never had she seen such a man. Without a doubt, he was