Dragonblade Trilogy - 02 - Island of Glass Read Free Page A

twisted and pulled.
“Let me go, you brute.”
    “What is your name?”
    She pounded at the hand that held
her. “That is none of your business!”
    “I beg to differ.”
    She flew at him, all fists and
feet, but he caught her, turned her around, and trapped her against him. It was
dangerous to have her head near his face where she might head-butt him again.
As it was, the blood from his nose was dripping down onto her hair. She struggled
ferociously as he leaned down.
    “Now,” he growled in her ear.
“You will tell me who you are.”
    “Never!”
    He tightened his grip, squeezing
the air from her. “Name, woman.”
    “N-no!”
    His response was to pick her up,
legs dangling, and carry her in the direction of his charger. The muzzled
animal was attempting to graze a patch of wet grass several feet away. The
woman kicked and struggled. As he passed by a birch tree, she thrust her legs
out, kicked off against the tree, and sent him off balance. Kenneth recovered
and made a mental note not to get close to any more trees.
    They were at the horse and
Kenneth was trying to decide how, exactly, he could maintain his hold on her
and mount the horse at the same time. Pounding thunder in the distance signaled
caught his attention.
    He turned to see Everett
approach. The knight’s brown eyes widened when he saw the woman, the blood.
“Jesus,” he breathed, focused on the struggling woman. “Lady Aubrielle.…”
    Somewhere in the back of
Kenneth’s mind, the name sounded familiar. Everett dismounted his steed.
    “Lady Aubrielle, are you all
right?” he asked.
    Kenneth wasn’t sure what to say.
But he knew he was not going to release the woman lest she attack him again.
“You know this wildcat?” he asked Everett.
    Everett looked rather pale. “I
have forgotten you’ve only been at Kirk a couple of years,” he said. “You’ve
not yet met the earl’s niece, the Lady Aubrielle Grace di Witney.”
    The information sank in. The
earl’s niece . Kenneth released his grip and, true to his fear, the lady swung
around with a fist. He put his hand up, catching her wrist before she could
strike his face. They glared at each other, each one completely unwilling to
bend to the other.
    “Brute,” she hissed at him.
“Fiend!”
    Everett was making a fool out of
himself in his effort to ease the situation. “Can I assist you, my lady? What
are you doing out on the open road?”
    “That is none of your affair,
Everett l’Breaux,” she snapped. “Give me your horse so that I may be on my
way.”
    Everett shook his head. “Alas, I
cannot, my lady. My horse responds only to me. He is far too much for you to
handle.”
    The woman seemed to back off
somewhat, but only by necessity. Kenneth could see it was temporary; she was
simply re-thinking her strategy. Aubrielle Grace di Witney . He had heard
the name before, several times. As Everett mentioned, however, he had never
seen the earl’s only niece. He knew that her father, the earl’s brother-in-law,
had passed away about the time Kenneth had come into the earl’s service and it
was up to the earl to help manage his widowed sister’s estates.  Other than
that, he knew little about her. He’d certainly never heard she was such a
spitfire.
    He would not take his eyes from
her, but there was more to it than the fear that another fist would come flying
at him. As he had observed before, she was unquestionably beautiful; her wide
sea-colored eyes and long lashes were set against a sweet oval face of
porcelain skin and rosebud lips. Her dark hair fell straight and silken to her
waist.  When she reached up to smooth the strands in her face and tuck them
back, he could see that her delicate little ears stuck out ever so slightly. In
truth, it was a delightful feature. He could see nothing unappealing about the
woman other than the fact that she behaved like a wild animal.
    “Then I shall find my mount and
be on my way,” she was trying desperately to stay in control of