Master of Desire Read Free Page B

smooth the damage Theodore had done.
    As Theodore came sputtering up from the water, the chicken moved to rest upon his head.
    Emily burst into laughter.
    â€œThe gentlest maid on earth? Hugh, your lies know no bounds.”
    That deep, resonate baritone was not the voice of one of her men-at-arms. Her laughter dying in her throat, Emily turned about to see her father in a company of fifteen men.
    By his face, she could tell the depth of her father’s displeasure.
    Still, relief overwhelmed her at his presence. At last she would have to tolerate Theodore no more.
    As she took a step in his direction, her gaze went to the left of her father. On the back of the whitest stallion she had ever seen sat a knight wearing a bloodred surcoat emblazoned with a black raven. Even though she couldn’t see the man’s face, she could feel his gaze upon her like a blistering touch.
    She stopped dead in her tracks.
    Never had she seen his like. He sat tall in the saddle as if he and the horse were one creature united in power and in form.
    His mail armor draped most sinuously over a body rock hard from years of training, and he wore his armor with the ease of a second skin. His broad shoulders were thrown back with pride, and the mail only emphasized the breadth of them.
    The huge, powerful charger shifted nervously, but he brought it instantly under control with a squeeze from his powerful thighs and one taut jerk at the reins.
    Still she felt his gaze on her, hot, powerful.
    Disturbing.
    This was a man who commanded attention. A man used to control and authority. It bled from every part of him.
    And as she watched him, her gaze unwavering, he reached up and removed his great helm.
    Her heart stopped beating an instant before it began to pound furiously. Never in her life had she seen a man so handsome. Eyes so light a blue they seemed to glow stared out from a chiseled face surrounded by his silver chain mail coif. The black brows that slashed above his eyes told her his hair must be the color of a raven’s wing.
    There was something mesmerizing in his gaze. Deep intelligence shone there along with a guarded look that kept his emotions well hidden. She had the impression that nothing escaped his attention. Ever.
    For all his handsomeness, though, there was a hardness to his sculpted features that told her a smile was all but alien to those lips.
    He raked her with a bold, assessing stare that set fire to her blood as he cradled his helm beneath his arm. She couldn’t tell what he thought of her, but as his gaze paused over her bosom, she felt her breasts tighten in response to the searing heat of his stare.
    â€œWhat goes here?” her father demanded as he dismounted and moved to her side.
    She jumped at his thundering tone, grateful for the distraction from the strange things the knight’s gaze had done to her.
    Theodore shooed the chicken from his head and climbed out of the trough while trying to look dignified.
    He failed miserably.
    â€œI think you should ask your daughter if it is always her habit to attack any man who annoys her with a chicken,” the handsome knight said with a hint of amusement in his voice. His face, however, showed nothing.
    â€œSilence, Ravenswood,” her father snarled. “You know nothing of my daughter, or her habits.”
    â€œThat will change soon enough.”
    Emily cocked a brow at the comment. Whatever did he mean by that?
    She wouldn’t have thought it possible, but her father’s face turned even redder, his eyes darker. It was only then she caught the handsome knight’s name.
    Surely he wasn’t the Draven de Montague, earl of Ravenswood; the man her father had gone to the king to have Henry censure?
    Why on earth would they be riding together? Given her father’s hatred of the earl, she couldn’t imagine it.
    Something odd was afoot here, and she couldn’t wait to get her father alone to find out just what was going on.
    Her