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Buildings for the town of Mal Verne lay like little studs on the plateau below the castle wall The orange sun had lowered to just above the horizon, and thick gray clouds had begun to fill the sky A distant ruht air, and far off to the north, Madelyne could see a flash of lightning illuminate the belly of a heavy cloud

The hipped up, tossing about her skirt and the hood she&039;d drawn over her head as she looked down frouard Lord Mal Verne had delegated to her, leaned casually against one of thewith another ht watch He stood far enough away that she didn&039;t feel sh that she are she was not free to coe Madelyne clenched her fingers together under her cloak and closed her eyes Innocent of the ways of the political world, she knew she was at a disadvantage in parrying to keep her freedom, to keep herself safe from the hands of her father She would see that writ on the morrow, andplanned to do

A large, wet drop splashed on her face, and thunder cracked more insistently Still, Madelyne saw no reason to take herself within the confines of the keep that had suddenly become her prison Jube looked over at her, his face placid, and when she made no indication that she was ready to move, he returned to his conversation The wind carried a word or two from the men to Madelyne&039;s ears She heard mention of hunt and horses, and knew they discussed purely masculine matters-matters that were unfaht her to that which had been hovering at the back of her : Lord Mal Verne The man was harsh and rude and unfriendly, yet she still had that self-same fascination for hih he snapped and snarled, she saw beyond the hardness of his face and the steely coldness of his eyes to the depths that hinted at , perhaps, or fear

Madelyne shook her head, dishts Mal Verne was a man-a fierce, hard one, not unlike her own father-and &039;twas foolish of her to think that she saw more

She turned to summon Jube, suddenly ready to return to her chahts from her mind, but to her surprise, he and his co thatthe wall as they talked, she found no one Madelyne stepped nearer to the edge of the wall and looked down into the bailey, which had become nearly deserted and quiet in the last hour

Aaround her legs and the hood dropping from her head "Lord Mal Verne"

There was no h the sun had nearly completed its drop beyond the horizon, and the ht fronize the form that shifted from the shadows Tall, with thick, uncut hair that blustered in the swelling wind, he stood before her, his hands folded at the waist of his tunic The reserved pose belied the vitality that ever exuded from him, and Madelyne, as always, felt it

"If you wish to jump, the deed would be better done on the east side of the wall," he co toward her "There, the hill drops away to the cliffs of the sea Rocks and the surf would make certain that the task would be co one a crippled mess"

"I would not ju of her pulse as he came to stand beside her "&039;Tis a mortal sin"

He looked at her for a moment, his plain, sculpted features ht Then, his lips-full, wide and hard-curved into the faintest of set One can wish for death, can court it in battle or elsewhere-but one cannot take matters into one&039;s own hands and expect salvation"

Madelyne did not kno to respond to those words, for she sensed another layer to them-an almost melancholy senti land

Mal Verne stood next to her, unspeaking Yet she was as aware of his every breath as she was of her own pulse beating through her veins His hand rested on the waist-high stone, and she sa long and thick his fingers were, how the veins and tendons and scars sculpted the back of it How solid his wrist looked next to her own dainty one

He broke the silence at last "If you did not cli , as it that pro stor that flashed in the north, closer now, then down again at her own hand resting next to his on the wall Sliers took up barely a third of the width of one stone brick, while his hand covered nearly the whole of one A flash of e of a hand, powerful and wide as Mal Verne&039;s, raised in violence and darkness

The re that she took an involuntary step backward, her hand pulling to her chest to clutch at her cloak He turned his head quickly to look at her, question and so in his eyes "What is it?"

Feeling foolish at her reaction to a mere memory, Madelyne forced a sht beetle that flew in htly "It startled me"

Mal Verne looked at her curiously for a mo stare when he turned to look back toward the storm "May I escort you below to your cha draws near and you are at risk at this height"

Madelyne arched one brow but continued to look out over the land "And what happened to uard, Jube? Is that not his duty,him to take his place out side of your chamber door" Mal Verne&039;s voice ru in the distance "If you had planned to end your life thus, I preferred to be the one to witness it-as you are under " The stress on those last words was not lost on Madelyne In that moment, she realized she believed hi&039;s name

And, she also knew the odd disappointment that &039;twas not his desire to seek her company that had led Mal Verne to find her on the wall "Very well, then, my lord" She turned abruptly to take his arm and found his stare fixed on her in such a way that caused her breath to hitch in her throat For aand she halted, confused and riddled with an odd heaviness in her limbs

The ed through the clouds, the sh and hard beneath her fingers-as he reached to touch her His hand hovered in mid-air for a second, as if he hesitated, then rested warers s over one thick braid, and slid along the heavy tresses that were tucked under her cloak

Madelyne hardly dared breathe No one had touched her that wayever Certainly not a e Her heart thumped madly, but for all of thatnay, she was not truly alarruff man?

"You have beautiful hair," he murmured in the same low, rumbly voice he&039;d used a mo Madelyne like a cape She felt the wall behind her and looked up into his eyes, inscrutable in the dimness Her heart thundered in her chest and herthrough her

Then, suddenly, it was as if so to his side, and the urgency gone froaze "&039;Twould have been a sin had you cut it" His words were fact of thevoice "Now, lady, may I take you belohere you will be protected fro, and her face ith the flush ofhis proffered ar a handful of skirt, started toward the stairs

&039;Twas just as well that he did not sleep well that night, Gavin would realize later with soht back in his own chambers should have been one of comfort and rest For the first ti pallet onto cold, hard ground, or to sleep on a lumpy, hay-filled pallet in a cha, snuffling men

Rosa had bathed him and would have serviced hi only his own company He stood at theslit, clad in his chausses with loosed cross garters, watching the lightning brighten the sky as if it were ers shuddered as thunder crashed above

Mayhap he should have availed himself of Rosa&039;s offer, else he would not have made such a fool of himself upon the ith Lady Madelyneand likely he would be sleeping soundly instead of watching the rain trail off fro downpour

Clean wetness filled the air, tingeing his nostrils and cooling his bare chest as he leaned on the bottom of the arrow slit and looked out over his domain Yet, in the darkness, he could see only the perfect oval of the nun&039;s fair face, upturned to hiht shadows And her lipsJesuthey were full and wide-ht in one absurd moment before he&039;d remembered who she was

Even now, his own hter of his dearest eneious life She could have no idea that her innocent beauty was enough to make a man hot with desireeven a man who had not touched a wo wench for seven years

Gavin pushed himself away fro to the fireplace to stoke up the s blaze The sooner he turned the woman over to Henry, the better off he would be

He poked at the charred logs that gloith orange eues of flaht and his chamber had become chill, yet he was not yet ready to seek the warmth of his bed