Read Vengeance 02 - Trust In Me for Free Online Page B

shortness of the kiss lay with Robert. Surely Lord Trisbane would’ve continued if not for the interruption. Her smile grew, and she smothered a giggle. Her first kiss with the most handsome man she’d ever met. She was lucky indeed.
    Pondering the matter further, she frowned. She hadn’t merely imagined that touch of their lips.
    Had she?
     

Chapter Four
     
    Lord Gerard Perry stirred restlessly, tired and irritated by the continued pain in his shoulder. He sat up in the bed with care, trying not to jar his injury. He had no desire to start the healing process over.
    The jousting tournament had not gone according to plan, but the results were just as satisfying. Crefton’s heir was dead, Crefton was mad with grief, and William de Bremont had been accused of murder. Those were the results he’d hoped for.
    The pain of a broken bone or two was a small price to pay for everything Gerard would soon collect. The first thing he’d take was his cousin, Elizabeth, as his wife. Envisioning that moment brought a smile to his lips.
    He shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position and winced. “Damn but there must be more wrong with me than I thought,” he muttered.
    “Do you need something, my lord?” The maid’s timid voice came from a dark corner of the room, well out of his reach.
    Did she think he didn’t know that she tried to hide from him? No matter. She would come when he ordered her to or suffer the consequences.
    “Nay. I need nothing from you.” A simple maidservant could not bestow upon him what he wanted. No one could. A man had to seize what he desired, what was rightfully his.
    And he had done just that.
    Taking William de Bremont’s place on the lists had been a brilliant idea, the perfect way to kill his cousin, Gregory Crefton, and leave de Bremont to take the blame.
    De Bremont had been readying his horse with not even his squire in sight when Gerard had approached him. A firm blow to the back of his head with the hilt of his sword had knocked him unconscious. He’d dragged him to a nearby tent, tied and gagged him, and donned the garments that boldly displayed de Bremont’s colors, his helm, and mounted his horse.
    Gregory Crefton had proven a more agile opponent on the lists than Gerard had expected.
    Gerard rolled his injured shoulder and groaned at the memory of the painful strike he’d taken on the first pass. The blow had angered him so much that any guilt he’d felt about replacing the blunt tip with a spiked one had been erased.
    The second tilt had struck his cousin, but the cur had remained seated. The third had delivered the death strike; Gerard’s lance had pierced Gregory’s mail. Gerard had ridden over to where Gregory had fallen to be certain the injury was enough to kill him.
    He smiled at the memory. He’d raised his visor just enough to allow Gregory to see his identity. A risky move to be sure, but worth it to see the shock on Gregory’s face before the light left his eyes.
    The situation was unfolding nicely, except for the damned injury and the delay it was costing him. But while his body would soon be healed, he had made certain that William de Bremont’s would not.
    Between the blow to the young knight’s head and the wound Gerard had inflicted on his shoulder, he’d be surprised if de Bremont still lived.
    At any rate, de Bremont’s injury served as evidence of his guilt. Everyone at the tournament had seen the hit to the shoulder and, along with the witnesses Gerard had planted, confirmed de Bremont as the murderer of Gregory Crefton.
    Gerard had escorted Lord Crefton to the tournament to make certain he witnessed his son’s death. Cruel, but necessary to push Crefton over the edge of sanity.
    Truly, it had all worked out for the best. The best for Gerard, that was. He chuckled at the thought and felt the maidservant’s wary gaze upon him.
    As soon as his shoulder healed enough to allow him to move freely, he would make the trip to Amberley to claim all