Read The Protector for Free Online Page B

this
man
, to understand. “Only the place my husband let me have. A woman's place, serving him. I would rather serve God.”
    “If you want freedom, there is little of that in the abbey.”
    “More than you think. For a married noblewoman there is none. The villeins in the fields and the merchant's daughter in town have more. My nature is not suited for such a life and I will not turn myself into something I am not to please a husband.”
    He appeared to study the draughts very closely. “Will you not miss things?”
    He glanced up at her, his eyes as fiery as they had been when she'd left him in the evening. For a moment she felt mesmerized by that gaze. A peculiar excitement coursed through her. The sensation wasn't unpleasant.
    “I will have to give up the horse and the hunt again. Someday I may regret not having children. Besides that, what is there to miss?”
    His wonderful eyes sparkled. He smiled slowly. “I think,” he said, “that you do not know what you are talking about.”
    She felt trapped by his attention. That exhilarating sensation shot through her again. A power emanated from him. It was strong and willful and very male. Her own will and strength retreated from it, leaving her vulnerable and exposed.
    Instinctively, she knew that she had to leave. Now.
    She rose abruptly. “It is very late and I have much to do on the morrow. More important is that you rest.”
    Her cloak lay on his cot. He stood with it in his handsand came over to her. She barely resisted the urge to back away.
    He draped the cloak around her shoulders and fastened the brooch under her neck. She became uncomfortably aware of his closeness as she submitted to his slow actions.
    That strange sensation shook her again.
    He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked at her, his eyes sparkling like dark jewels.
    He lowered his mouth to her lips in a soft kiss.
    A tremor shot through her like a physical scream.
    His gaze captured her again. She realized that she was staring back like a stunned animal, and shook off the effect. The eyes of a dark angel, Catherine had said. Or maybe just the beginning of a fever. The nurse in her placed her palm on his jaw to check.
    He grabbed her wrist and held her hand on his face.
    “I would have you stay,” he said, kissing her palm, sending chills up her arm. She gasped at the intensity of her reaction.
    Suddenly, she understood. It was so unexpected, so
preposterous
, that she froze in amazement. It had not been unusual during the plague for men to decide that they would await their fate on top of a woman, but she had certainly never been the woman whom they had in mind. It wasn't just her status protecting her. She simply wasn't the kind of woman whom men desired. But this knight probably thought that she was the only one available.
    She gently extricated her hand. “I cannot.” She walked away, feeling strange and shaky. She was not insulted, just surprised. She knew that men had this need and that there were times when it would not be denied. His had to be very great if he was approaching one such as her.
    At the threshold to the shelter, she paused. He joined her, and his presence warmed her shoulder and side. The air around them weighed heavily with their raw awareness of each other. Looking out into the night, she spoke. “In the town there is a woman who is forever free of the disease and does not fear it. I could send for her. She would come.”
    She could tell that he was watching her. Perhaps he was shocked that she would offer such a thing.
    “I have no interest in the whore.”
    That confused her. Had she misunderstood? She touched his arm lightly to acknowledge what had passed between them, and stepped away.
    A strong hand grabbed her arm, stopping her. With breathless astonishment she felt herself pulled back and turned. The face that she met looked severe in the faint light from the distant hearth. He held her upper arms as if he would lift her from the ground.
    “You do