Margaret Moore - [Maiden & Her Knight 03] by All My Desire

one. There was likely only the one outer wall, and perhaps a dry moat on the landward side. All the buildings would be inside that single barricade. Unfortunately, a small courtyard would be easy to watch from the surrounding wall walks.
    She did not have to be told this was where they intended to imprison her. A more lonely, desolate and isolated place she could scarcely imagine. Gulls wheeled above the bluffs and the ruins, their mournful cries adding to her feeling that she would never be able to escape this place.
    She might as well be a million miles away from home. She could not swim back, and a journey overland, even supposing she could escape and had any idea of the route back to Bellevoire, would surely take days.
    How could Connor and his men ever find her here, even if they surmised she had been abducted? They would have no idea what had happened to her, and the thought of her sister’s fear and misery added to her own.
    And what if Allis was so upset and worried that she lost the baby?
    Someone came up behind her. Steeling herself, she did not turn to see who it was, because she did not want to have anything to do with anyone on this ship, not even the Gascon.
    DeFrouchette came around to face her, his warrior’s body blocking out the sight of the ruins. He had something made of cloth in his hands, which he held out to her. “Put this on. You need to be wearing more than that shift and a blanket.”
    Once again controlling her fear, she curled her lip and regarded him with scorn. “How kind of you to think of my modesty.”
    “It is not your modesty that concerns me. It is your safety.”
    “If you were truly so concerned with my safety, you should have left me safely at home.”
    He took a step closer and glare met glare, his bright blue gleaming like sapphires in torchlight. “Don’t argue with me about this, my lady. The men who guard this place are not known for their restraint.”
    She refused to be cowed. “Unlike you?”
    “I am as gentle as a sparrow compared to them.”
    “You are a lustful lout who could never have been a chivalrous knight.”
    “Even a knight has desires, my lady, as you should know. Did not desire for you compel your husband to forget his vow of chivalry? He wooed and loved another man’s betrothed.”
    “I may have agreed to wed your father,” she replied, answering as she was sure Allis would, “but he didn’t care for me, except that I was to be the means for him to gain control of my family’s estate and sate his base desires. So I chose another.”
    DeFrouchette’s face reddened. “I think you are wrong, my lady. He did care for you. He didn’t care for my mother or me, but you … why else did my father wait for your hand in marriage all those years?”
    “It would have been better for me and my family if he had not,” she retorted, flushing, “and whatever was between your father and me, that did not give you leave to kiss me.”
    DeFrouchette’s face resumed its normal stoic calm, and he tilted his head in a mocking little bow. “I humbly beg your forgiveness.”
    “Humble is one of the last things I would ever call you.”
    His lips curved up into a little smile that filled her with annoyance. “What would be the first?”
    “Tempting though it may be, I am too much of a lady to use the words that would best express what I think of you.”
    Challenge flashed in his sapphire orbs. “Try.”
    Challenge was infinitely better than condescension, but she was in no humor to bandy insults. “I will not bring myself down to your level.”
    “Giving up?”
    “You bloody bastard!” she hissed so that only he would hear.
    His infuriating smile grew. “Oh, come, surely you can do better than that and call me worse. The boys of my village could, and they were much younger than you.”
    She snatched the tunic from him, then waited for him to leave. He didn’t. “Do you intend to stand there and watch me dress?”
    Again, their gazes met, stare for