shadow and lace Read Free Page B

note from his voice. "Show me some mercy, won't you?"
    The knight snorted. "Mercy? What have you ever known of mercy, Fordyce? I've come to teach you of justice."
    Papa mustered his courage and banged with force on the arm of the chair. "I will not allow it."
    The stranger's hand went to the hilt of the massive sword sheathed at his waist. The muscles in his arms rippled with the slight gesture. "You choose to fight?" he asked softly.
    Lindsey Fordyce hesitated the merest moment. "Rowena, you must accompany this nice man."
    Rowena blinked stupidly, thrown off guard by her father's abrupt surrender.
    Little Freddie charged forward, an iron pot wielded over his head like a bludgeon. The knight turned with sword drawn. Rowena lunged for his arm, but Papa sailed past both of them and knocked the boy to the ground with a brutal uppercut. Freddie glared at his father, blood trickling from his mouth and nose.
    "Don't be an idiot," Papa spat. "He will only kill you, and then he will kill me."
    Still wielding his sword, the stranger faced the row of grumbling boys. "If anyone cares to challenge my right to their sister, I would be more than happy to defend it."
    The broad blade gleamed in the firelight. Big Freddie returned the man's stare for a long moment, his callused hands clenched into fists before turning away to rest his forehead against the warm stones of the hearth.
    The stranger's eyes widened as Irwin stepped forward, trumpet still clutched in hand. Papa took one step toward Irwin, who then plopped his ample bottom on the hearth and studied the trumpet as if seeing it for the first time. The knight sheathed his sword.
    "A wager is a wager." Papa ran his thumbs along the worn gilt of his tattered surcoat. "As you well know, I am a baron myself—an honorable man."
    He sighed as if the burden of his honor was too much for him
to
bear. The short laugh uttered by the knight was not a pleasant sound.
    Papa gently took Rowena's face between his moist palms. "Go with him, Rowena." He swallowed with difficulty. "He will not harm you."
    The stranger watched the exchange in cryptic silence, his arms crossed over his chest.
    Rowena searched her father's face, blindly hoping for a burst of laughter to explain away the knight's intrusion as a cruel jest. The hope that flickered within her sputtered and died, smothered by the bleakness in the cornflower-blue eyes that were a pale, rheumy echo of her own.
    "I shall go with him, Papa, if you say I should."
    The man moved forward, unlooping the rope at his waist. Papa stepped back to keep a healthy sword's distance away from the imposing figure.
    Rowena shoved her hands behind her back. "There is no need to bind me."
    The man retrieved her hands. Rowena tried not to flinch as he bound her wrists in front of her none too gently.
    Her soft tone belied her anger. "If Papa says I am to go with you, then I will go."
    The dark head remained bowed as he tightened the knot with a stiff jerk. Coiling the free end of the rope around his wrist, he led her to the door without a word. She slowed to scoop up her cap. Feeling the sudden tautness in the rope, the man tugged. Rowena dug her heels into the flagstones, resisting his pull. Their eyes met in a silent battle of wills. Without warning, he yanked the rope, causing Rowena to stumble. She straightened, her eyes shining with angry tears for an instant. Then their blue depths cleared and she purposefully followed him through the door, cap clutched in bound hands.
    The boys shuffled after them like the undead in a grim processional. Papa meandered behind. Little Freddie was gripped between two of his brothers, a fierce scowl darkening his fair brow.
    Night had fallen. A full moon cast its beams through the scant trees, suffusing the muted landscape with the eerie glow of a bogus daylight. Big Freddie gave a low, admiring whistle as a white stallion seemed to rise from the thin shroud of mist that cloaked the ground. The creature pranced nervously at the