Carnal Gift Read Free Page B

could make out the dark shadow of a creek’s bank. He felt Hermes’s stride shift, bent low. The horse soared over the water as if on wings.
    The sound of hooves approached from behind.
    The hooves faltered, stopped.
    Jamie grinned.
    The air was sharp with the sound of Sheff’s curses and splashing as Sheff’s mount waded across the stream.
    Jamie rode over hedgerows and through islands of forest for what seemed the briefest time, but which might have been ten minutes or more. The stag was seeking shelter, trying to go to ground. Jamie knew it would be allowed no such reprieve. He rode just behind the hounds now, Hermes at a comfortable gallop. The dogs disappeared into a dark growth of forest just ahead, and Jamie ducked to avoid overhanging branches. Women and children screamed.
    Men shouted, cursed.
    Hounds growled.
    Jamie urged Hermes forward. He broke through the trees into a clearing and reined the stallion to an abrupt stop.
    There before him, huddled together in the shelter of an ancient, gnarled oak, stood a group of frightened peasants—men, women, and children. Some of the peasant men gestured excitedly toward the south, the direction they said the stag had gone. But most stood as if frozen, a mix of dread and loathing in their eyes. Standing in front, arms spread as if to shelter the rest, stood an old man clad in black.
    A Catholic priest. On a crude table beside him sat a wooden goblet, a basket, and a tiny, wooden coffin.
    Some of the hounds had closed in on the little crowd and growled menacingly. The rest meandered through the clearing, noses to the ground, sniffing. Through it all rode Edward, Sheff s man, shouting angrily at people and dogs alike.
    Jamie had just enough time to take in the scene when Sheff rode up behind him.
    “I was about to tell Edward to call off the dogs,” Jamie shouted over the clamor.
    Sheff’s face was pinched with rage. “Call off the dogs? They’re bloody fortunate I don’t command the dogs to rip them to pieces! They’ve interfered with the hunt.”
    “Not intentionally, I’m sure. It appears our hunt has ridden into them and interrupted a funeral mass.” Sheff glanced coldly at the priest. “So much the worse for them.”
    That’s when Jamie saw her.
    Chapter Two
    She stood not far from the priest, clad in a gray, woolen cloak, her arms wrapped protectively around the shoulders of a frightened, red-haired boy. Though her head was partly covered by a hood, a single dark braid as thick as a man’s wrist fell out of her cloak and hung nearly to her waist. Her skin was as fair as cream, except for the rosy pink of her cheeks. Her features were those of a porcelain doll, delicate with high cheekbones, her lips full and red as if swollen from a man’s kisses. Even from a distance, Jamie could see her eyes were a deep blue. She leaned down and spoke in the child’s ear, and Jamie found himself wanting to reassure them both they would come to no harm.
    What was her name?
    Before he’d realized what he was doing, he had urged Hermes in her direction.
    She looked up.
    Their gazes collided.
    Her eyes burned with contempt.
    Stung by the venom in her gaze and the stupidity of his own actions, Jamie stayed the stallion, jerked his attention back to Sheff.
    Sheff was shouting directions to Edward and the other servants, who by then had gathered most of the hounds and were leading them to the south side of the clearing in search of the stag’s scent. Then he turned to the priest. “You’ve made a grave mistake, old man.” Sheff walked his mount toward the priest, slowly, menacingly. “Not only have you and your flock interfered with the hunt, itself a crime, but your presence here is treasonous. Papist priests have long been banished, or hadn’t you heard?” The old man, arms still spread protectively before the frightened crowd, craned his neck to meet Sheff s gaze. His wrinkled face wavered between defiance and dismay. “We... we meant no harm, my lord. We’re