Master of Desire Read Free Page A

you.”
    Anger darkened his gaze.
    â€œI will have you.” He wound his fist in her veil.
    Emily clenched her teeth in expectation of pain as she jerked out of his hold. The pins that secured the veil to her head tugged at her hair before popping free and allowing her to escape.
    She rushed across the bailey, hoping to reach the crowded donjon before he caught her again.
    She was not so lucky.
    Theodore tossed her veil to the ground and this time grabbed her arm to pull her to a stop.
    Emily winced at the way his fingers dug into her upper arm as she tried to pull away. Scared and angry, she wished her father home. No man ever dared such insolence while looking at his fierce countenance, and wherever Emily went, her father’s watchful gaze always followed.
    â€œI will have a kiss, wench.”
    She would sooner kiss a leprous mule! Panicking, Emily looked about for some way to escape him.
    A flock of chickens rushed out just then, gathering about their feet. As Theodore kicked at them, she was suddenly hit by inspiration.
    She turned to face her pestilence with a charming smile as she recalled Alys’s earlier advice.
    â€œTheodore?” she said in her softest voice.
    It worked. The anger left his face and he released her arm to take her hand. He placed a slimy kiss on her palm.
    â€œAh, Emily, you’ve no idea how many nights I’ve lain abed dreaming of you and your soft sighs. Tell me, how much longer must I wait before I sample the fruit of your succulent thighs?”
    Until the devil’s throne turned into icicles.
    Emily barely caught the words before they escaped. She couldn’t believe her luck, she finally found a man to whisper poetry to her and it was the most offensively obscene poetry she could imagine, and came from a man who was only one step up from a warted troll.
    On second thought, he wasn’t even a full step.
    She forced herself not to let her distaste show on her face as she wrested her hand from his cloying grip.
    She heard horses approach. Assuming they were her men-at-arms returning from patrol, she didn’t even bother to look behind her as they entered the bailey.
    Instead, she coyly wiped her hand off on her skirt. “At last you have won me over, milord.”
    The arrogance on his face was unbelievable as he postured before her like some molting peacock. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist me, milady. No woman ever has.”
    He must make it his habit to stay in the company of women who’d lost their ability to see, their ability to judge, and, most of all, their ability to smell.
    â€œClose your eyes, Theodore, and I shall give you what your tenacity deserves.”
    A sly smile curved his lips as he closed his eyes and leaned forward with what she assumed he thought was a seductive pucker.
    Wrinkling her nose at the awful face he made, she seized one of the red hens at her feet and lifted it to his lips.
    Theodore gave a loud smooch as he kissed its neck.
    Then it must have dawned on him that his lips were against feathers and not flesh, for he opened his eyes and met the curious gaze of the hen.
    His eyes widening, he gave a mighty shriek of surprise.
    The frightened hen squawked back in reprisal. It raised its wings and flapped about in Emily’s hands as it fought for freedom. Emily let go, only to have it launch itself at Theodore, who raised his arm to ward it off as its sister hens joined the fray. The hen pecked at his head, leaving tufts of his thin, greasy hair sticking straight up while the other hens gathered about his feet, tripping him.
    Chickens and man tumbled backward in a cacophony of curses and clucks.
    With a curse to shame all others, Theodore stumbled into a water trough where he landed on his backside. Water splashed up all around him, and Emily had to step back to keep from being doused. The chicken screeched, then shot to the edge of the trough, where it buried its head in its feathers in an effort to