Dream of Me/Believe in Me Read Free Page A

from shaking.
    “I will return in the morning,” she said, waiting until he acknowledged this with a nod. The moment she stepped back outside the cell, the guards leaped forward and slammed the door.
    The clang of the metal bar falling back into place still echoed off the stone walls as Cymbra said, “Sir Derward, I would not care to learn that these men have been harmed during the night. I would be most displeased. Do you understand?”
    The knight took a breath, fists clenched at his sides. “Aye, milady.”
    Rooster-brained he was but still not so great a fool as to tempt himself beyond endurance. Scarcely had the Lady Cymbra vanished up the steps than Sir Derward did the same. He left only a pair of guards to slump back against the wall, eyeing their prisoners glumly.
    No one moved in the cell until, after several moments, Wolf gestured to the basket. “We may as well eat.”
    The men gathered around, finding bread still warm from the ovens, rounds of golden cheese, plump apples, and several roasted hens. Better yet, the ewer held good ale, plenty for all of them.
    “A feast,” exclaimed Magnus, the youngest of the group. He helped himself to a crisp-skinned leg and sat back with a sigh of pure contentment. With his mouth full, he said, “This is amazing, isn't it? Did you
see
her?”
    Swallowing a hunk of cheese, one-eyed Olaf grinned. “That's not a woman. That's a goddess come down to earth.”
    That did it. Everyone had to comment then.
    “Those eyes …”
    “That hair …”
    “That mouth …”
    “That body—”
    Silence suddenly descended and quick glances were cast at Wolf. He tore off a piece of bread and shrugged. “We go as planned.”
    No one disagreed but he saw the flickering looks that passed man to man, the silent thought expressed that perhaps the Lady Cymbra—as kind as she was beautiful— did not deserve the fate the Wolf intended for her. It made no difference. His will would be done.
    His will. What was that now? He had come wanting vengeance, believing it fully deserved. Now …
    Now he wasn't sure. She was vastly different fromanything he had expected. She surprised him. She made him feel uncertain. No one had made him feel like that in a very long time. He didn't care for the experience.
    He had promised not to harm her.
    Aye, that was a complication. Of course, the lady's idea of what was harm could be very different from his own. He'd just have to persuade her to see things his way.
    Sharp teeth tore at the soft, warm, fragrant bread. A wolf's smile flashed in the dim light of the cell.

Chapter TWO

    C YMBRA LEANED BACK, RESTING HER HEAD against the rim of the leather tub, and sighed deeply. Warm water lapped at her limbs. The scent of herbs sprinkled in the bath teased gently at her nostrils. The soft crackle of the fire and Miriam's quiet movements were the only sounds in the chamber. For the first time in far too many hours she could relax and, just perhaps, gather her thoughts.
    What thoughts they were! She knew very little of Vikings except that they seemed to be of two types—merchants and raiders. Despite her claim to Sir Derward, she didn't really suppose that the difference was questionable. The prisoners didn't look like the sort who would want to sell her a few lengths of cloth. Yet neither had they behaved as the brutal killers and despoilers that Derward had branded them.
    Authority was very weak in parts of England, with the result that the Danes had seized control over broad swaths of land. They were poised to seize even more, and might if men like her brother didn't succeed in stopping them.
    Which made these Vikings … what? Even as she told herself it wasn't her problem to solve, her mind could not resist turning over the puzzle. Nor could it keep from drifting irresistibly to the leader, the tall, heavily muscled man with the midnight-black hair and the icy gray eyes.
    No, that wasn't quite true. His eyes weren't always icy. There had been times when they