Once Upon a Castle - Jill Gregory [40]
“Insolent child, I’ve just saved you from a fate worse than any other, unless I mistook the intent of your friend back there in the stables. I thought you might wish to thank me by providing me with some useful information.”
“I am not a child.” Arianne surprised him again by focusing on the first portion of his speech. She saw his eyebrows go up, then his features quickly took on an iron impassivity, and she could read nothing more there but a hint of harshness and of anger kept rigidly in check.
“Very well, my lady,” he responded coolly, his tone flirting with mockery. She remembered with a shock that he had no idea who she was. No doubt from her dull brown homespun gown and thin, plain cloak he thought her only what she had been pretending all these months to be: a simple tavern wench who had hidden from the soldiers out of fear, who was no doubt eager to go home to her own family and bed.
“So you are not a child, but you are behaving like one.” He advanced on her and gripped her by the arms so firmly that she gasped.
“Now, I have done you a good turn, my girl. It is incumbent upon you to do one for me.” He scowled suddenly, noting how her delicate cheeks were still red from the cold, how thoroughly she was shivering.
“You’ll sit before the fire and have a sip of wine. When you have answered my questions—and it shall not take long—you will be free to go. But,” he continued, his eyes piercing her in warning, “you will tell no one of this place. Or that you have seen me. Do not speak of it. Is that clear?”
“Perfectly clear, my lord Nicholas.” She spoke slowly, clearly, almost sweetly. But anger flashed in her eyes as he stared down at her in shock upon hearing his name.
“As clear as your own cowardice in having stayed away for lo these many months while your people were enslaved!” she rushed on, her voice throbbing now with growing fury. “As clear as your indifference to the suffering of one you professed to love as a brother!”
His grip tightened. The look he gave her could have sliced through a stone. “What nonsense is this?”
“Nonsense? I speak the truth. Can you deny it—Nicholas?”
He let her go. His expression turned so cold, so darkly dangerous, that Arianne involuntarily stepped back a pace.
“I don’t deny who I am,” he muttered. “But, by God, it’s high time you did me the honor of gracing me with your name, my lady—and with how you know of me.”
Quickly, with shaking fingers, she reached up and yanked the strings of her cloak. As the hood fell back and the cloak slid from her shoulders, she stared fixedly into Nicholas’s swarthy face.
“I am Arianne of Galeron,” she said with contempt. “I am the one who summoned you to the aid of your friend—my brother. Behold, my lord. At last, when it is nearly too late, you have come.”
For a moment there was dead silence in the cottage, except for the hiss and crackle of the logs. The sound of the moaning wind soughing through the trees of the Great Forest faintly reached her ears, as if from far, far away. Fingers of heat, of rich amber light, flickered across the faces of the tall, dark man and the slender, flame-haired woman who confronted one another with anger and distrust in that small space lit by fire and shadow.
Nicholas spoke first. “You…are Arianne? That little mouse who scurried after Marcus and me…that pest who would not cease annoying us?”
He looked so amazed that she flushed. Deep rose color burned her cheeks, turning them nearly the hue of her lips.
“How you flatter me, my lord. Take care you don’t turn my head.”
He smiled suddenly, a smile that broke through the grimness of his face and momentarily softened his features. “If it’s flattery you want, Arianne, I can give it to you. Heartily and sincerely.” His gaze contemplated her lush, sweet mouth, then shifted lower to appraise the slender form and feminine curves revealed by her simple gown. “You’ve grown into a lovely woman now, an entrancing woman…”
She stepped forward and slapped him. “I don’t want your damned flattery!”
Dark fury blazed in his eyes. He caught her wrist, and Arianne felt mortal