Here Be Dragons - 1 Sharon Penman (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📖

broken wing.""The cat eyes are yours, love, not Senena's.""Will, stop! Listen to me ... please. You must leave me alone, you do not, I'll have no choice but to denounce you, accuse you of ma ing unwelcome advances. Do not make me do that, Will. I do not wa you to come to harm!"Will grinned. "Nor do I, darling!" But as he studied her face/

627srnil6 changed, became softer, more sympathetic. "I wish I could convince you, Joanna, that you're distressing yourself for naught. Why should you care whatSenena suspects as long as you have Llewelyn's trust? But if it will ease your mind, I'll strive for discretion. Now . . . tell0ie quickly whilst we're still alone. Where can we meet. . . and when?"Joanna gave a strained, shaken laugh. "You never hear me, do you? I do not know what else to say to you, how to convince you ..." Shoving her wine cup into his hand, she said, "I do want more wine, after all, Will. Would you mind?" And as soon as he moved away, she turned, crossed the hall to Gwladys."I know you like Will's company no more than I do, but I need you to act in my stead for the rest of the evening. Will you do that for me?"Gwladys gave a mock grimace. "I cannot pretend I'm thrilled at the prospect.But I do owe you a favor. Go along, then; I'll see to the hall and our guests."As Joanna hurriedly departed the hall, Senena came to stand at Gwladys's side."It is rather early for bed, is it not?"Gwladys shrugged. "Joanna does not find it easy, being with a de Braose."Senena laughed; Gwladys did not like the sound of it, and she said with far less friendliness, "I am not asking you to sympathize with her predicament, Senena, merely to understand it.""But I do." Senena was smiling. "I do understand, Gwladys. I understand very well, indeed."ONE of the windows in Joanna's bedchamber was unshuttered, and the sounds of laughter and music carried on the quiet April air. Glynis was dutifully brushing out Joanna's hair, but she kept casting such wistful glances toward the window that Joanna at last relented."Never mind," she said. "You need not braid my hair into a night plait. Would you like to return to the hall?" "Oh, yes, Madame, thank you!""But Glynis ... do take care. Do not pay too much heed to Will de waose's honeyed words. His promises are counterfeit coins; they look genuine until you seek to spend them."Glynis blushed and then grinned impishly. "I know that, Madame, do. But it's like our trips to the Shrewsbury market; I can enjoy looking ^'thout necessarily meaning to buy!"Joanna smiled, waved the girl out. Alone now in the bedchamber, e felt calmer, safe both from temptation and exposure. Talking to Will uld do no good whatsoever. The more she said no, the more in-p*ed he became. She could not trust him, and in all honesty, she was not sure she could trust herself. She and Will must never be alone.

628She must avoid him whenever possible, and if that meant open ness, so be it.She could only hope Davydd would understand. But6 if he could not, that changed nothing. en evenShe took several books and a candle with her to bedand Tfor the spaniel always took shameful advantage of Llewelyn's absen *'abandoning its sleeping basket for its mistress's feather bed. Joann $ moved her bedrobe, gave the dog an indulgent pat, and reached for th books.The first she discarded at once, a romance of the ill-fated love Tristan for his uncle's wife, the beguiling Iseult. There was a perver comfort in attributing adulterous passion to a love potion; Joanna vvrv! wished she could so easily explain away her own infidelity. But she wa in no mood for an object lessonhowever lyricalin the inevitable wages of sin, and she chose instead aFrench translation of a lengthy English poem, The Owl and the Nightingale.Even this selection was not as innocuous as it first seemed. A cynical couplet could have served as John's epitaph: "The dark way he so fully knows, that in the bright he never goes." Other lines struck too close to home. "A woman may sport beneath the sheet, in wedded love or lustful heat." "For sure it is a better thing, for wife to love her husband pure, than wanton with a paramour."Joanna dropped the book into the rushes, blew out the candle.She was almost asleep when Topaz began to whine. The door creaked; she heard the bolt slide into place. Glynis. She pulled the pillow closer. But Topaz continued to whimper. She was rolling over, a drowsy reprimand forming on her lips, when the bed hangings were drawn back. A candle still burned on the table; framed in flickering light, a man was standing by the bed. Llewelyn?Joanna sat up, blinking sleepily. But then he moved, and the candle caught the sheen of flaxen hair. Joanna gasped, grabbed for the sheet. "Will?""Did you think I was not coming? I did not want to be too obvious, love, waited nigh on an hour." He grinned. "And I know what you re going to ask now.But no one saw me; it's full dark." As he was spea ing, he was unfastening his mantle. Tossing it onto a coffer, he beg unbuckling his scabbard and sword."Will, no! My God, you're mad! Someone could come in moment!"at any? Only"Who'd dare enter your private chamber at such an hour. _ Glynis, love, and she's over in the great hall, dallying with my ^ t< Sometimes the more unlikely a trysting place, the safer it actua ) ^Unbelting his tunic, he pulled it over his head, and Joann suddenly gave way to outrage. "You truly think I'd do this to suddenly gave way to outrage.

629I d lay wltn y°u m my husband's own bed7 Get out, get out ere I start to scream'"He dropped the tunic onto the floor, stared at her in surprise