Read Bride of the Isle for Free Online

never witnessed any special intimacy between them.
    Voices in the inn yard below distracted her from these intriguing thoughts, and Cristiane quickly finished lacing her kirtle. She rolled up Adam’s blanket and stuffed it into his saddle pack, then opened the door to leave.
    She drew upshort when she considered what had happened on the stair the previous night. Would it be safe to go downstairs? Unwilling to suffer a repeat of that incident, she turned back and sat down on the bed to wait for Adam to return. Then she heard footsteps approaching.
    “Lady Cristiane.”
    “Aye, Sir Raynauld,” she said, sagging with relief as she recognized the friendly voice. She opened the door to Adam’s knight and he took the pack from her. She could not help but wonder where Adam was.
    “The landlord’s wife has prepared a meal for us,” he told her. “If you’re ready, I’ll take you down and you can break your fast.”
    “Thank you.”
    They walked into the common room, where the landlord was setting bowls on the table. Cristiane glanced around in search of Adam, but he was not in sight.
    With a sigh, she sat down at the table and began to eat.
    Adam returned to the inn, pleased with his purchases. The villagers had been happy to take his coin for their goods, and he’d found a few small novelties to take home to Margaret. He’d also found a woman willing to part with her shoes, since her husband was a tanner skilled in shoe craft.
    These he intended to give to Cristiane before they left for the last stretch of their journey to Bitterlee. He had seen how her lack of shoes humbled her, and when the opportunity to acquire a pair had presented itself, he’d not hesitated.
    He’d kept his mind thoroughly occupied since his hasty departure from Cristiane’s chamber, fully aware that he had to do all in his power to avoid any more intimacies with her. This morning’s interlude had clearly demonstrated how susceptible he was to her charms, and he knew he had no business fostering any further attraction between them.
    For Lady Cristianehad not been oblivious to the heat of the moment, either. He’d seen confusion in her eyes, and embarrassment as well. But underneath it all was the subtle excitement of arousal. And knowing that she felt the same surge of lust made him nearly groan aloud.
    Adam did not think he could endure riding several hours more on horseback with Cristiane’s hips wedged between his legs and her back pressed against his chest. And though it cost a pretty penny, he convinced the landlord to part with an ancient mule in his stable. Cristiane would ride separately the rest of the way to Bitterlee.
    “Good morn, my lord,” Sir Elwin said as Adam strode into the inn yard.
    Adam nodded. “Has Lady Cristiane broken her fast yet?”
    “She has, my lord,” Elwin replied as he continued saddling his horse. “She’s still inside.”
    Adam continued on into the inn, where he found Cristiane alone in the common room. One glance told him it was a mistake to look at her.
    She looked almost ethereal with the morning sunshine glancing off the bright highlights of her hair. She had just stood up from the table and gathered her oddly shaped satchel against her breasts when she looked up and met his eyes. Her lips were parted, her nostrils slightly flared. Neither of them moved for a moment, though Cristiane blushed delightfully.
    She was remembering.
    Even now thatshe was shabbily, but decently, dressed, Adam could not keep his eyes from roving over the length of her, or forget the alluring picture she’d made that morning in their room. At the time, her Scottish blood had not mattered in the least.
    He cleared his throat and set his package on the table.
    “I found these for you,” he said.
    Cristiane looked down at the bundle, then back at Adam with questions in her eyes. “What…?”
    “Just a…” he began, then shrugged. “Open it.”
    She bit her lip and unwrapped the string from the package, then pulled