*****
Krista was somewhat taken aback by the intense stare of the man in the study with Sebastian. She was used to being stared at, but this was different. He wasn’t giving her the visual go over that said he was imagining her with her clothes off, but instead his intense gaze on her seemed to be grounded out of some deeper meaning.
Many of the people Sebastian dealt with were unsavory, but maybe this one was more decent than some. In the safety of her master’s study his silent gaze upon her was unsettling, as was the woodsy masculine smell of him.
Trying not to show how unnerving the stranger’s stare was, she met Sebastian’s eyes and silently asked what was going on. Sebastian looked surprised by the stranger’s reaction to her, but he masked it well.
“Krista, this is my nephew, Roric, but knowledge of that doesn’t leave this room. This beautiful young lady is Zarsha. Could you take care of her and see that she gets plenty to eat?”
Krista noticed the little girl by the tall man’s side for the first time. She held out her hand and smiled genuinely down at the girl.
“It’s late, but I happen to know that the cook is baking doughnuts for tomorrow’s breakfast. Want to see if any of them are done?” Krista asked leadingly.
Zarsha looked up at her guardian hopefully, her tummy rumbling loudly.
“Go ahead little monkey, but don’t eat all of them.”
Krista watched the interchange between the man and the girl and relaxed inwardly. There were all kinds of sick depravity in bountiful supply in the world, but the relationship she witnessed was that of the innocence between a father and his daughter. Zarsha took her hand and Krista turned and left the room with the little girl by her side, as she grappled with the fact that the unnerving stranger was a close relation of Sebastian’s.
A Warrior's Redemption Page 37
