The Guardian Mist Read Free Page B

wine.”
    Theodosia was interested in such a life; men and women who worked the land had always fascinated her. To be so useful, she thought. She had no idea what it truly meant to be useful, just as she had no idea what it truly meant to run away from her father’s home. Already, they had faced some hunger and hardship. She was frightened. But she also felt strangely free.
    “Do you do well at the market?” she asked, genuinely curious. “That is to say, are you able to do well enough to feed yourself and your family?”
    When he caught her looking at him, he smiled and his eyes crinkled. “I do well enough,” he told her. “But it is just my father and me. There are only two mouths to feed.”
    “No wife?”
    “I was married, once, but she died giving birth to my son, who also died.”
    Theodosia sobered. “I am sorry,” she said. “I did not mean to pry.”
    The man shook his head. “You did not,” he said, eyeing her now with more interest than curiosity. “My name is Gaius, by the way.”
    “I am Theodosia. This is my daughter, Lucia.”
    “Where are you going, Theodosia? To see your family?”
    Theodosia shook her head and looked away. “Nay.”
    “Your husband, perhaps?”
    Again, she shook her head. “My husband is dead.”
    “And you are running from his cruel family who beats you daily and forces you into slavery?”
    Theodosia grinned in spite of her herself. “Nay,” she said. “I have been living with my family. My husband’s family is all dead.”
    Gaius was an extraordinarily intelligent man for being a farmer; in fact he had been schooled in his youth and spent several years in the Roman army, but an ill father and a failing farm had caused him to return home.
    Bright as he was, he knew there was much more to Theodosia than she was telling him. She was a stunningly beautiful woman with soft white hands and smooth skin and if he could guess about her, he would say she was a noblewoman. She just had that look about her, regal and elegant. But she was running from something, or someone, and the protective male in him seemed to be taking great interest in her. It probably wasn’t healthy for him, for he’d never had good fortune with women, but he couldn’t help himself. Something about Theodosia drew him to her.
    But she obviously didn’t feel the same way about him. She had refused to answer his questions about where she was going so he was coming to suspect that perhaps she didn’t even know. She appeared very tired and hungry, and her little girl was exhausted. He was more than likely a fool for being sympathetic to her, but he was.
    “If your destination is too far away, my farm is only an hour ahead,” he told her casually. “It is getting late. If you would like to rest the night, as our guest, we would be happy to have you and your daughter. In fact, my dog just had a litter of puppies your daughter might like to play with. Otherwise, they will be very lonely puppies.”
    Theodosia looked at the man, shocked by his offer. Do not agree! She told herself, suspicious of the Gaius’ ulterior motive. But the truth was that a night in a safe home with a warm fire was too good to resist. Perhaps it would be the most foolish thing she ever did in her life to accept his invitation, but she found herself quite willing to do it. For her daughter’s sake, she had to.
    “Well,” she said, pretending to be reluctant. “I suppose we could, just for the night, of course. We would be gone by sunrise.”
    Gaius nodded. “As you wish,” he said, eyeing her. “If… if you perhaps need to earn some money for your trip, there are chores about the farm that need to be done. I would pay you for them.”
    Theodosia looked at him in surprise. “Chores?” she repeated, both disgusted and intrigued. “Like what?”
    Gaius grinned at the dismay in her tone, which only proved his theory that she was a noblewoman who did not do manual work. “Milking the goats,” he told her. “Sweeping.