Read Margaret Moore - [Warrior 14] for Free Online Page B

Power? Control? She would let no man use her for his own purpose, whatever that might be.
    She shoved him back. “Is this your idea of honorable conduct, sir knight?” she demanded. “Do you think that because I’m crippled and homely I must be desperate and so easily, willingly, seduced?”
    “God’s wounds, no!” he said as he regained his balance. “I swear to you, my lady—”
    “Swear all you want, but kissing me seems an odd way to woo Laelia. Or am I a means to practice your technique?”
    Sir Blaidd stiffened, his back as rigid as a lance. “I had no intention of kissing you when I came here, and I’m not in the habit of seducing my host’s daughters, however tempting they may be.”
    “Then what was that kiss about?”
    “If you don’t know, then it was a stupid mistake,and one I won’t make again,” he retorted, his deep voice fiercely angry.
    Good. Angry men she was used to and could handle. Men who tried to seduce her, however… “I wouldn’t try seducing Laelia, either,” she warned. “First, I’m onto your game. Second, Laelia may look and sound a bit dim, but I assure you, when it comes to men and their tricks, she’s seen them all.”
    Sir Blaidd sidled closer, seeming taller, more menacing, every inch the fierce warrior and champion of tournaments. “If it’s impossible for me to seduce either of you—supposing that was my despicable plan—then your warnings are quite unnecessary, aren’t they? And I must say that kiss was rather amazing for a modest young maiden of limited experience, which leads me to wonder what exactly you were doing here at this time of night. You don’t strike me as devout, so a sudden urge to pray seems unlikely.” He ran a haughty, impertinent gaze over her body. “Did I interrupt something? Were you waiting for somebody else?”
    “How dare you suggest such a thing!”
    “How dare you suggest that my motives are dishonorable?”
    “You kissed me!”
    “You kissed me back!”
    “I had no choice.”
    “Of course you did. You could have stopped me at any time. But you didn’t, and what’s more, you enjoyed it.”
    “Oh, you are an expert on women’s feelings, are you?”
    “Expert or not, I know when a woman’s desire matches or exceeds my own.”
    “ Exceeds? Of all the arrogant, pompous, self-righteous—”
    “Yes, you certainly are.”
    “You…you base, loathsome blackguard!” she cried, wrenching open the door, determined to get away from him. “Don’t you ever come near me again!”
    She limped off into the night.
    “Trust me, I won’t!” Blaidd muttered as the chapel door creaked to a close.
    Every Welsh curse he knew tumbled out of his mouth in a low rumble of frustration and anger. How dare she call his honor into question? Granted, kissing her had been a little…well, a lot…
    Well, he shouldn’t have.
    He let out his breath slowly. God save him, he’d been an idiot. An idiot totally overwhelmed with desire. An idiot so overwhelmed with desire that he’d forgotten that he was here because King Henry himself had sent him to verify if Lord Throckton was plotting treason or not.
    He wouldn’t be able to do that if Lord Throckton sent him packing the day after he’d arrived because he’d presumed to kiss the man’s daughter. He should have been able to control himself, no matter what the circumstances or how tempting the lady. After all, hewas no youth anxious to experience love, like Trevelyan.
    “Fool,” Blaidd mumbled under his breath as he left the chapel and headed toward the apartments.
    He reached the chamber he and Trev were sharing and cautiously opened the door, which didn’t squeak like the one in the chapel. He quietly crept into the comfortable room with its two beds. A brazier stood nearby, along with a chest for their baggage, and a small table bearing a ewer and basin for washing. There were no tapestries or carpet, or even a stool to sit on, but Blaidd had slept in worse places.
    Someone was in one