Read Ruby - Book 1 (Daughters of the Dagger Series) for Free Online Page A

you ready to come with me now to
Sheffield?”
    She hugged her arms around her body trying
to protect herself from not only him but also the night chill. “But
’tis getting dark, my lord. And I haven’t a horse, as it seems to
have wandered off.”
    The wolf howled again in the night, and
instinctively she took a step closer to him. She noticed the corner
of his mouth raise in amusement.
    “True,” he said. “And my horse needs rest as
well. We will camp here for the night and head to Sheffield Castle
first thing in the morning instead.”
    “What?” She looked up in surprise, but he
was already removing things from his saddlebag. “We can’t stay
here. ’Tis not safe. There are wolves in these woods.”
    “The wolves aren’t going to hurt you.”
    “How can you be so sure?”
    He threw down a blanket, and gathered up
twigs and branches for a fire, quickly putting them into a
pile.
    “The animal is curious, that’s all. You
leave it alone and it will do the same to you.”
    “I don’t believe it. They are vile beasts
that would rip out your throat as you sleep.”
    He was hunkered down lighting a fire and
looked up slowly at that comment. “Some say the same about me. So
fast to judge are you, when you know naught of either the wolf nor
myself.”
    The firelight lit up his face, his dark
oaken hair gleaming with a soft sheen. His perusing eyes drank her
in, holding within them a secret expression of which she found hard
to decipher. Suddenly, in the soft light of the flickering fire she
saw an odd gentleness she hadn’t noticed before. While she thought
the flames would only make him seem more of the devil she thought
him to be, instead they kissed his skin in a brilliant warmth that
almost made her forget she was alone in the depths of the forest on
a starless night and betrothed to the Lord of Death.
    He got to his feet, towering over her small
frame and brushed past her to retrieve something else from his
saddlebag. She remained silent, licking her dry lips as she saw the
flask made from the stomach of a goat, filled with wine, and the
hunk of bread he brought forth. He noticed her watching him and
looked her way, causing her to lower her lashes, finding interest
in the ground instead of having to meet his gaze. He settled
himself on the blanket and with a nod of his head he motioned for
her to sit beside him.
    She hesitated, and he looked up to her and
raised a questioning brow.
    “Ah, Ruby, I can see you fear me. Now don’t
you think if I wanted you dead, you’d already be?”
    Those words should have comforted her? They
did nothing of the sort. Still, she was cold and hungry, and with
one more nod of his head, she followed his command and sat. He
handed her some bread and she shoved it into her mouth eagerly
until her mouth was full, as she was starving, not having eaten at
all this day.
    He slowed his chewing when he saw her
eating, and his penetrating stare burned through her as if he
hadn’t ever seen anyone eat before.
    “What is it?” she asked. “Why do you look at
me that way? It makes me uncomfortable,” she admitted.
    “You have so much to learn, Ruby, about
being a lady. You are to eat and drink daintily. Do you
understand?” There was a bitter edge of cynicism to his words and
also a demanding tone to his voice.
    “I don’t want to be a lady.”
    “That, my dear is obvious. But you will
become a lady, and ’twill happen soon, as we are about to take our
wedding vows.”
    “Then I see no rush, as I have no intention
of ever saying those vows. She grabbed the wine from him and raised
it to her lips, spilling some in the process, but jerking
backwards, managing not to stain her gown.
    “Egads, you are incorrigible. Have you never
wondered how it felt to be one of the female species?”
    That comment was like a dagger to her heart.
While she had no intention of being a lady, she was indeed a
female! Couldn’t he see that? She pushed the wine toward him and
curled up into a