Read Wild Roses for Free Online

harsh events had brought her to Longford Castle.
    Duncan cursed at that thought and strode for the outer
chamber, any hope now for a peaceful night shattered.
    Was this some form of trickery on Adele's part, the
wench a chieftain's daughter who'd been wrested from her home and brought to
his bed as a ploy to force him to wed her? That his half sister might have
contrived such a thing just to secure him a wife—indeed, if he'd taken the
wench as he'd damned well come very close to doing, believing she was Flanna .
. .
    Pulling open the door, Duncan felt a hard stirring in
his loins that did nothing but further stoke his fury, the memory of the
wench's silken, heated flesh parting beneath his fingers foremost on his mind
as he roared down the stairs.
    "Faustis!"

     

     

 
    Chapter 4

     
    Duncan wasn't surprised at how quickly the squat
steward came running, and he realized then that what Faustis had tried to tell
him earlier must have something to do with the strange woman he had found in
his bed.
    "Forgive me . . . my lord." Out of breath as
he neared the top of the stairs, Faustis leaned on a wall and mopped his brow.
"I wanted to tell—"
    "Where is Flanna?"
    "In the servingwomen's quarters, my lord, and in a
terrible temper. Lady Adele forbade her to leave until morning."
    So Adele was at the heart of this mess as he had
suspected. Glancing over his shoulder into his apartment to see the wench
standing and more securely wrapping the blanket around herself ,
Duncan was wondering again what ill treatment she had endured when she
staggered and sank back into the chair. He met Faustis's eyes, the man clearly
paling at his expression.
    "Summon Lady Adele. Tell her I want to see her at
once."
    "Y-yes, my lord, of course. At once." The
steward turned to oblige him, but Duncan wasn't done with him yet.
    "The wench, Faustis. Did she kick and struggle as
they brought her to my apartment?"
    "No, my lord, not at all. She was senseless. I
asked after her, thinking to call Clement to tend to the poor girl, but Lady
Adele would have none of it. Forgive me, my lord, but she said rest, and your
attentions, would rouse the wench quickly enough. And that I wasn't to say a
word to you—yet when I saw you ready to retire . . . Ah, such a night. Such a
night!"
    Dismissing his overwhelmed steward with a nod, Duncan
couldn't have agreed more. And this latest news didn't please him. If the wench
hadn't injured herself under his roof, then she must have done so during her
abduction and hopefully she had suffered no worse from that lecherous rabble of
knights Adele had brought with her. And if she wasn't returned to her father a
virgin, then he might very well find himself shackled to an unwanted bride . .
.
    Duncan strode back into his bedchamber, the wench
twisting around in the chair to watch him anxiously. And this time he cared not
if she recoiled from him. He would have some answers. Surely she had a tongue
to speak, rather than just lungs to scream. He took only a brief moment to
stoke the fire, light flooding the bedchamber as dying logs crackled and sprang
to life. Then he sank to his haunches in front of her and braced his hands on
the arms of the chair, his voice low but stern.
    "Who is your father, woman? I can imagine well
that you'd like nothing more than to be returned to your home, but I can't help
you unless you tell me his name."
    Her father? Maire's confusion as intense as the renewed
pounding in her head, she felt as if she were trapped
in a nightmare and could not wake. Yet one thing was becoming clear, that the
Norman had been as surprised as she to find her in his bed—in truth, had
thought her another woman altogether. Now that she'd had a few moments to
think, he had called her Flanna—
    "Woman, have you no tongue? Answer me!"
    She jumped when he pounded a fist upon the chair, tears
leaping to her eyes. She had never cried so much or so often as that day, but
it seemed she could not stop. Yet almost at once she could