Page 36 of The Mercenary

“You aren’t curious as to how I came to own such a text?”

Her only response was to make that same face.

Guy laughed.

“Very well.”

He ignored the appreciative glance of the serving girl, who’d walked by them yet again, and peered outside, just to be certain Burge was indeed gone.

“I could not have hoped to best all four of them if they’d attacked at once, which is why my objective was to ensure they did not do so. And as for the text . . .” He shrugged. “That you would willingly marry a man you obviously hated convinced me such a bribe may be necessary.”

Sabine shook her head. “But . . . how did you know . . . how could you have guessed . . . ?”

How indeed.

He waited, but she never finished the thought.

“I have coin to pay you for it.”

“Keep your coin,” he said between bites. “But we should leave as soon as you are finished, my lady.”

She did not look like she would eat, but thankfully, Sabine must have realized it would be many hours before their next meal.

He watched her take a bite of the bread and wondered how such a simple act had never filled him with desire before. But every time she opened her mouth, Guy wondered what it would be like to taste her, to touch her without any clothing between them. Reminded of the miserable night before, he nearly groaned aloud in frustration.

She watched him watching her.

“I do not dislike you.”

He bit the inside of his cheek.

“I may have disliked the need to be rescued. And believed you were overly assured of yourself. But I did not hate you. Nor could I ever feel that way now, after everything you have done for me.”

His wife did not hate him. What a fine way to begin a marriage, though he kept that thought to himself.

“I do not hate you either, my lady wife.”

And when she smiled, Guy’s stomach twisted into knots, for the very opposite feeling of hate was beginning to haunt him, as uncontrollable as the premonitions that sometimes intruded on him.

Perhaps she had the right of it. The few moments of pleasure he thought to have with her on this journey would be sweet indeed. But freedom was sweeter still. And he would do well to remember that.

Chapter 17

After two more days and nights of torture, Sabine was near ready to break. The tension between her and Guy could be felt every waking moment. Riding throughout the day, he often looked over from his position alongside her. During meals, they spoke of their childhoods, Sabine learning more and more about this man who was nothing like what she’d expected.

Although his mercenary father had raised him, Guy had been on his own for a long, long time. She’d asked why the two had parted ways, but something told her it was a sensitive topic. He told her they’d split over a difference of opinions but did not elaborate.

On the final day of their journey, they stopped midmorning to give their horses a rest. Guy bent down to the stream, and although Sabine could not see what he was doing from her vantage point, she could see his backside quite clearly. When he stood, she turned away quickly, not wanting him to know she’d looked.

Gripping the leather strips of her girdle that hung down from her waist, she twirled them idly through her fingers, thinking of Guy touching her hair in much the same way. It seemed to soothe him, and so she allowed it, but the gesture had become too frequent, too intimate. Sabine was no fool. Each day she and her husband grew closer, which would make their eventual parting more difficult, whether they enjoyed any intimacies or not.

Just the evening before she’d almost begged him to touch her. But his words had stopped her. She’d asked what Guy planned to do next if the order’s mission was successful, and though he’d been hesitant to answer, he ultimately admitted he would like to create his own company of mercenaries. To move from place to place, mission to mission, but on his terms.

A life that clearly did not include a wife.

And so she remained silent. Ignored the looks he gave her by the firelight. Ignored her body’s response to his not-so-subtle suggestions. They would arrive at Noreham Castle by nightfall, or so he’d said. None too soon for her. Of course, they would not be welcomed as guests.

They would stay in the town, and Guy would privately seek out a meeting with Aceline de Chabannes, the leader of the Bande de Valeur. She would be accompanying him, of course.