Seduced by Sophia Johnson Page A

closed
and latched it. Fearing it would not be enough should the beast
become enraged, he placed a heavy board in the braces at either
side of the gate. They used it to keep unruly destrier's from
kicking it open, so surely it would contain the beast.
    o0o
    Raik paced his chamber. Hearing someone
approach, he stormed over to the door, his muscles tensing. When it
opened, he expected Lady Letia coming to check his wounds. Instead,
Maud appeared, walking with a crisp, no-foolishness manner.
    "Where is yer lady?" His arms, folded across
his chest, twitched as he strained to appear relaxed and keep them
clasped there.
    "Do you think Lady Letia has naught else to
do but care for your ills?"
    "Ha! I know too well your lady spends her
time doing things that rightly only a man should." He lost his
fight with his arms as he threw up his hands in disgusted
irritation.
    "Sit." She pointed to the chair with a
demanding finger. "If you go about waving your arms enough to
create a wind, you'll ruin the lady's fine stitching."
    He sat.
    His forced his face to relax and softened his
tone. "Once ye are done, I must have words with Baron de
Burgh."
    "The baron has retired. Leofwan is outside if
ye require man talk."
    "I dinna want Leofwan and I dinna want man
talk!"
    Maud rolled her eyes at him and frowned.
    "Shush!"
    Raik's eyes widened. She shushed him like he
was a Halfling! Not since he was a boy half grown had anyone dared
to do so. To his surprise, he pressed his lips together and stifled
an angry retort.
    He tried to make eye contact with her when
she questioned him about his wound.
    "Does this pain you?" She softly prodded the
swollen flesh on either side of the stitches.
    He held his answer so she would look up at
him to see why. He would hold her gaze when she did.
    She didn't. She shrugged and kept her eyes on
her hands as she changed his dressing and bandaged his shoulder.
Huh? Had she heard tales about him? She stood and gathered her
things.
    "'Tis good you are saving your words. Likely
your throat hurts from screaming and throwing a fit like Thomas
when he dropped his sweet tart in mud this noon," she said.
    On her way out the door, she muttered about
men having the temper of unruly boys.
    Raik's face heated. After the noon meal, he
had watched the children jumping in and out of puddles. One small
boy, holding a pasty in his fist, fell on his arse. The tart flew
out of his hand and landed in the mud. The lad threw himself on his
back, kicking and screaming, splattering the other children who had
circled around him to watch the display.
    Raik ground his teeth together.
    No doubt, that had been Thomas.

CHAPTER 13
    In her solar, Letia rested her neck against a
drying cloth folded on the back edge of the wooden bathing tub.
Maud had placed it there so she could brush Letia's hair afore
washing it. She was more tired than usual this eve. She had no need
to think on why. The hot water relaxed sore muscles that made her
flush with shame on knowing why they ached.
    These last two nights with Raik were more
reason than riding his great horse astride. Storm was much like his
master. Headstrong and determined against a woman's control. She
had ridden him before in the far pasture where Raik could not see
them from his window.
    No doubt, if he had witnessed the time and
struggle it had taken her to gain control over the horse, he would
have leaped from the window and throttled her with his big
hands.
    Well, Hades. Why did she have to go and think
of Raik's hands? To look at them, one expected they would be hard.
Cruel. Not so when they caressed her shoulders, her breasts. Not
even when he held her hips, forcing her to keep to a slow rhythm
last eve when she fought him to gain her release.
    She blinked, hard, squeezing her eyes tight
to keep from picturing it. Was it the heat of the water or her
thoughts that made her pulsate below?
    "Why do you groan, lovey? Did you cause
yourself an injury when tending that devil dog?" Maud's hands
stilled