Read His Enemy's Daughter for Free Online

touched her, but from the way the fear took hold, she knew any control she had would end the first moment he came close.

Chapter Five
    S oren had tried not to think much on the coming night, he just wanted to accomplish as much as possible before the sun set. So, he’d focused his thoughts on how to hold so many prisoners, and how many of his own men had been killed, and how many villeins had fled his approach and how many yet remained to tend the fields, and other matters as weighty as those. It was only as he climbed the steps leading to the second floor of the corner tower of the keep that he realised he’d thought about her more than he wanted to admit…even to himself.
    The scorn and scolding he saw in the gazes of his soldiers who stood guard stopped him in his steps. He was about to address their insubordination when Stephen called out his name. Since the man stopped at the end of the corridor and did not come to him, Soren walked back to hear his concerns.
    â€˜Soren, is this wise?’ Stephen asked in a low voice.
    â€˜What do you speak of?’
    â€˜I know that a man’s blood runs hot after battle, but is this wise?’
    Coming from this man, someone who had learned the hard lesson of misplaced lust after a battle, gave Soren pause. But, this was not of his concern.
    â€˜If I was caught in the throes of bloodlust, you would be lying unconscious on the floor for asking such a thing and I would already be lying between the wench’s thighs halfway to satisfaction,’ he said. Soren glared at his friend. ‘So, ask me not such things and we will both be the better for it.’ Soren turned away, but was stopped by Stephen’s grasp on his arm. He shrugged it off easily.
    â€˜She is your wife now, Soren.’
    â€˜She is Durward’s get.’ The men who fought with him knew, had heard, his plans for any who carried the blood of Durward of Alston and who came under his control. In all the dark and painful detail. The change in her circumstances mattered not.
    â€˜And now your wife. Different than what you had planned on. A different matter completely now.’
    â€˜And my concern alone, Stephen. Do not make me regret accepting you into my service.’
    The warrior looked as though he wanted to argue, but he controlled that urge and nodded. With only one more glance over his shoulder at Soren, Stephen left. Soren continued his path down to the doorway to her chamber. The guards stepped aside and waited for his orders.
    â€˜Stay down there. I will call you if you are needed,’ he said, directing them to the place where he’d just spoken to Stephen. ‘No one comes further until I say so.’
    He noticed the sweat on his palms as he reached for the latch and lifted it. He swore he felt no nervousness,but his heart raced and his chest tightened as he faced the next step in seeking vengeance against the man who had destroyed his life…and his body and soul. Soren pushed open the door and stepped inside.
    Her servants, both the older, stout-figured one and the younger, lithe-bodied one, stood like statues next to the pallet. The wench lay nearly motionless on its surface—motionless but for the quick and shallow rise and fall of her chest and the curling of her fingers as though she tried to take hold of the bedcover and could not find purchase of it.
    â€˜Can she see?’ he asked. The injury to her head did not necessarily mean blindness. ‘When the bandages were removed?’
    With a stiff shake of her head, the older woman confirmed her condition and he let out his breath.
    â€˜I told you to prepare her,’ he said, moving then and making his way slowly across the chamber. ‘Undress her and get out.’
    â€˜My…lord…’ the younger one stuttered, bowing her head now in an unsuccessful attempt to placate him. ’Twas too late for that.
    He hesitated in spite of his intentions and watched as they helped her