They were a quarter mile down the river before he said, “What in God’s name were you doing on the bridge? An idiot could see that was no place to be today.”
Linnet turned around to look at him. This time, with the danger past, his heart did a flip-flop in his chest. In addition to everything else she was, did she have to be so beautiful? It was the curse of his life.
“ ’Tis nice to see you, too, Jamie Rayburn.” She cocked her head and raised an eyebrow. “After all this time, I expected a better greeting.”
He fixed his gaze dead ahead and grunted. God in heaven, how could she be so cool after what happened on the bridge?
When she leaned lightly against him, his chest prickled with sensation. Lust and longing took him like a fever. He should put her on her own horse now. He wanted to pretend she was too distressed to ride alone, but the thought was ridiculous. This one small weakness he would allow himself. It meant nothing.
“I heard you were with Bedford in France,” she said.
“Mmmph.”
“When did you arrive in London?”
“Yesterday.”
After a long pause she said, “Are you going to tell me what you are doing in England?”
“Nay.”
“Or ask why I am here?”
“Nay.”
He felt her sigh against his chest. Against his will, he remembered other sighs, other times…
He had to get rid of her. “I trust your man will make his own way back. Where shall I deliver you?”
“The bishop’s palace,” she said. “I can find someone there to escort me back to my lodgings.”
Good. ’Twas best he not know where she was staying. Not that he would seek her out, but a wise man avoided temptation where Linnet was concerned.
Taking a different route to avoid the mob, he worked his way back to the bishop’s palace. Even over the stink of the city and the river, he could smell the lavender in her hair.
He saw Linnet safely inside the palace and left her.
After that, he was far too busy to dwell on seeing her again. He went to the bishop at once to offer his services to help mediate the dispute with Gloucester. He and the other emissaries traveled back and forth across the river eight times, trying to forge a compromise. It was late in the night before Gloucester and the bishop finally agreed to terms.
Jamie fell into bed exhausted. With the country on the brink of civil war, he had managed to push all thought of Linnet aside while he was awake. But near dawn, he was tormented by a dream of her. Not the annoying, sentimental sort of dream he often had in the early days after he left Paris. Nay, this was a raw, sensual dream of her writhing above him, crying out his name. He awoke gasping for air.
He needed a woman, that much was clear.
But first, duty called. The Duke of Bedford, the eldest surviving brother of their dead and glorious King Henry, had sent him home from France with two tasks. His first assignment was to report on the conflict between Bedford’s brother, Gloucester, and their uncle. Late last night, he had sent his first message to Bedford.
This morning, he must attend to the second task: keeping the young, widowed queen safe in the crisis. This was a duty he owed not just to Bedford, but to his dear dead king. Perhaps he would be able to combine duty with pleasure. If past experience was any judge, one of the ladies at court would be pleased to keep him company.
He started the short six-mile ride to Eltham Palace as soon as he broke his fast. Shortly after he arrived, he was taken to the queen’s private parlor. As he entered, Queen Katherine, a fragile-looking woman of twenty-four, rose to greet him.
“Your Highness,” he said, dropping to one knee.
When he looked up, he caught the flicker of sadness in her eyes and knew she was remembering that awful day at Vincennes, outside Paris. He was one of the knights who had carried the dying king into the castle, where the queen waited for him.
“I am so very pleased you have come, Sir James,” she said, holding her hand out for his kiss. She looked past him and smiled. “As I believe my friend is also, no?”
He turned to follow the queen’s gaze.
Linnet swept past him to stand beside Queen Katherine. With her stubborn jaw and her chin tilted up, she looked more regal than the queen. And here he was on his knees, groveling at her feet once more.
At the queen’s nod, he got up.
“My friend says you would not tell her what brings you back to England,” the queen said with a coquettish smile. “But you dare not refuse me.”
“I have come at the behest of the Duke of Bedford, who is concerned for your comfort and well-being.” He could not tell her of Bedford’s other charge to him.
“He has always been kind to me,” the queen said in a soft voice. She did not need to add, unlike Gloucester.
“I have an errand of my own, as well,” Jamie added, surprising himself. “I have come home to marry.”
Linnet’s quick intake of breath was quite satisfying.
The queen clapped her hands. “How delightful!”
“I have so many tiresome tales of my victories to tell,” he said, “that I really must take a wife.”
The queen laughed, though she could not have understood the jest. Turning to Linnet, she asked, “What sort of lady should we find for our handsome James?”
Linnet looked at him with her direct, ice-blue eyes and said, “I think he should please himself.”
Oblivious to the edge in Linnet’s voice, the queen clasped her hands together and beamed at him. “Tell us, Sir James, what lady would please you?”
“A dull English lady,” Jamie said, turning to meet Linnet’s steady gaze. “The kind who makes a virtuous wife.”
THE DISH
Where authors give you the inside scoop!
From the desk of Susan Kearney
Dear Readers,
I came up with my idea for RION, the second book in the Pendragon Legacy Trilogy, in the usual way. As the sun dipped below the horizon, a time machine landed on the aft deck of my yacht. And another hunky alien, muscles rippling, climbed up the ladder and joined me on the third deck.
Rion.
Damn. How lucky could a girl get? After LUCAN’s story, I was filled with excitement at the prospect of hearing about the next installment in the Pendragon Legacy series.
Rion had even arrived at my favorite time of day. As the sun cast slashes of red and streaks of pink across the Gulf of Mexico, the sunlight kissed Rion’s skin, accenting his sharp cheekbones. And shadowing his eyes—eyes that really got to me. Eyes that were both kind and hard. Eyes that revealed past heartaches and perhaps a newfound sense of peace.
Did I mention the guy was also hot? From his casual jeans to his open shirt that revealed a ripped chest, he looked more like a treasure hunter than a king from the planet Honor. Between his five o’clock shadow, the dark gleam in his eyes, and the bruise at his temple, he could have just stepped off a battlefield.
And as twilight deepened into darkness, as the waves lapped gently against the hull, Rion told me his story.
He spoke in a sexy rumble. “Lucan said that you’re interested in love stories about the future.”
“I am.” Pulse escalating with excitement, I sipped my wine.
“In the future, my planet will be attacked, my people will be enslaved.”
Uh-oh. “But you saved them?” I asked.
“I couldn’t do it alone.”
“You needed the help of a woman?” I guessed, always a romantic at heart.
“A special woman from planet Earth. In fact, she’s Lucan’s twin sister.”
“Marisa?” Oh, this story sounded exciting. Lucan had told me how his sister had given up a job as a reporter to train dragonshapers. How she’d longed for children of her own. And I could envision the feisty woman with this man. They’d have cute babies… “Marisa agreed to help save your world?”
“Not at first.” A smile played over Rion’s lips. “I had to kidnap her.”
Wow. “I’d imagine it took her a while to get over that.” While Rion was quite the catch, still… he’d kidnapped her. I swallowed hard. Maybe it wasn’t so bad. The woman in me told me he’d more than made it up to Marisa. “You mentioned a love story? So she forgave you, right?”
Lucan’s face softened. “Marisa, she didn’t just help me. She helped my people, too.”
“And you made her your queen?”
His eyes sparkled. “First she ran away and almost got herself killed.”
“But you saved her?”
He grinned. “We saved each other.”
If you’d like to read the story Rion told me, the book is in stores now.
You can reach me at www.susankearney.com.
Enjoy!
From the desk of Margaret Mallory
Dear Readers,
I love to catch characters on the cusp of change—on the verge of disaster, falling in love, or just growing up.
At the start of my current release, KNIGHT OF PLEASURE, Sir Stephen Carleton is disillusioned, drinking too much, and going to bed with all the wrong women. I think we have all known someone like that—a bright young man with so much potential that you want to scream or cry when you see him slipping into a downward spiral and wasting all that talent. What Stephen needs, of course, is the right woman. He is at a crossroads—with one foot on the wrong path—when he meets the no-nonsense, strong-minded Isobel. She is just the inspiration Stephen needs to step up and become the man he was meant to be.
If you read my first book, KNIGHT OF DESIRE, you already know Stephen has a hero’s heart beneath all that charm. In that book, he is the hero’s younger brother, an endearing youth of thirteen, full of gallantry and prone to trouble. By the time I finished writing KNIGHT OF DESIRE, I was so attached to Stephen that I simply had to give him his own story.
While I was writing Stephen’s story, KNIGHT OF PLEASURE, the same thing happened with Jamie, Stephen’s fifteen-year-old nephew: Jamie had to have a book. But Linnet, a young French girl, is such a strong character that she fairly jumped off the page, begging for a leading role. It was not until I tried outlining a book for each of them that I realized these two characters were meant to be together. And so they will be, in KNIGHT OF PASSION. Look out, Jamie, because the fiery Linnet has revenge—not marriage—on her mind.
Now, as I write KNIGHT OF PASSION, I am keeping a close watch on the teenagers who seem to pop up of their own accord in my books. I wonder which one will demand a love story of his own… Whoever my next hero and heroine turn out to be, I’m bound to put them on the verge of disaster before I reward them with their happy ending.
I hope you enjoy all three books (so far) in my medieval series, All the King’s Men: KNIGHT OF DESIRE, KNIGHT OF PLEASURE, and KNIGHT OF PASSION.
www.margaretmallory.com
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