The Dragon Lord Read Free Page A

guardsman came riding up to Rose. He brought his horse close to hers, leaned over and whispered something in her ear. She blanched, took an other look at the fierce knight demanding entrance and immediately backed away.
    “Why has the Dragon Lord come to Ayrdale?“she asked Dominic.
    “Raise the portcullis and I will explain.”
    “Nay. I am in charge during my father’s absence and I deny you entrance.”
    Sensing his master’s waning patience, Dominic’s destrier reared but was quickly brought under control with a firm hand. “Open in the name of the king.”
    Rose glanced past Dragon at the party of armed guardsmen riding with him. She was not at all convinced that letting them inside the keep was a good idea.
    “King John is a tyrant,” Rose charged. “He has imprisoned my father in the Tower on flimsy charges.”
    “I bring news of your father,” Dominic countered, then added in an aside to Raj. The woman must be lacking in wits to defy me.”
    Rose lowered the sword. It had become too heavy a weight for her slender wrists, but she would have wielded it and gladly in defense of Ayrdale. She had trained with her father’s knights because she was his firstborn and the closest thing to a son he had. She wasn’t as strong as a man, but she could defend herself should the need arise.
    “How do I know you speak the truth?”
    “Summon someone who can read, and I will show him the king’s seal on the official document I carry.”
    Rose sent him a contemptuous look. “I can read, Lord Dragon.”
    Dominic stared at her, obviously skeptical, then shrugged and removed a scroll from a pouch he carried at his waist. He guided his destrier close to the portcullis, unrolled the scroll partway and held it up for Rose’s inspection. Rose frowned when she noticed that Dragon had exposed the king’s royal seal but left the body of the document concealed. An unsettling sensation twisted her gut. Was he trying to trick her?
    “As you can see,” Dominic said, “the document bears the royal seal.”
    “Lord Dragon speaks the truth, my lady,” the guardsman said. “He is the king’s champion. I have heard tales of his bravery in the Crusade and his skill in the lists. If he says he has news of your father, I am inclined to believe him.”
    “I trust your judgment, Sir Eric,” Rose said. “Order the portcullis raised and inform the guardsmen to keep their wits about them while Lord Dragon and his guardsmen are within the keep.”
    “Immediately, my lady,” Sir Eric said as he wheeled his horse about.
    Rose’s palfrey inched backward as the portcullis was raised by slow degrees; then she turned and motioned for Dragon to follow as she rode past the barbican and through a passageway leading into the outer bailey. The murder holes in the stone ceiling must have made Lord Dragon nervous, Rose reflected when she looked back and saw him flinch and raise his shield.
    “Fear not, my lord,” she tossed over her shoulder. “You are not about to be slain.”
    The architect was a genius,” he replied.
    Rose rode through the outer bailey and paused be fore another portcullis that opened into the inner bailey, waiting for Dragon and his guardsmen to catch up. The portcullis was raised and she rode through.
    Dominic followed, admiring the shapely curve of her bottom outlined beneath her clothing. If she wasn’t such a sharp-tongued witch he might enjoy being wed to her, but taming the woman was bound to be more chore than pleasure.
    Silently he contemplated the young beauty’s peaches-and-cream complexion and golden hair, unfavorably comparing her with his mistress’s striking dark comeliness and ebony tresses. God’s nightgown, why couldn’t John have allowed him to wed Veronica, the lady of his choice? He probably loved Veronica as much as he could love any woman. Marriage to either of the Fairchild women would be a disaster.
    Dominic passed through the gate into the inner bailey and took stock of his new holding