Lady Thief - By Rizzo Rosko Page 0,96

earlier threat that 'twas solely because he did not wish to be seen wearing nothing but the ragged blanket she gave him for cover.

His scowl deepened until crooked hills lined his forehead as they came up the road that led to the gate. Serfs and other men and women who tended the fields halted with their tools in hand as they passed. They stared openly, some pointing their fingers.

Elizabeth waited for Blaise to call out a command for them to return to their duties, but he remained silent and angry. Likely because he wished to draw no further attention to himself.

Elizabeth longed to do something to rescue him from this humiliation, perhaps then he would treat her with a little more gratitude.

No solution came to her. Elizabeth remained silent as they walked until they finally stepped up to the gatehouse. The drawbridge was down, but the portcullis was lowered. It allowed her to see the inside of the courtyard but denied them entrance.

Blaise raised his head and bellowed, "James!"

A knight of a similar age stuck his head between the battlements. His eyes squinted, then widened at the sight of his lord, without a horse, wearing a strange garb, and the woman with him.

"Lord Blaise! What ha—"

"Let us in! I shall explain when I am properly dressed!"

James's head ducked back behind the battlements. He shouted an order, and with the sound of heavy chains clanging, the portcullis was lifted from the ground and Elizabeth and Blaise were allowed entrance.

Elizabeth walked with uncertainty under the holes in the stone above her. Fear embraced her as visions of the men above locking her in the gatehouse, shooting her, then pouring boiling water over her dying body came to her.

No such measures were taken against her. She breathed a heavy sigh when she and Blaise appeared on the other side of the gates unharmed.

James and other knights rushed down from their positions above and around the castle to gape at their lord. "Milord, were you attacked?" Asked James, who continually sent Elizabeth cautious stares.

How did he intend to answer the question without revealing his humiliating defeat at the hands of street thieves. None of her expectations prepared her for his arm around her waist, pulling her close until her body was firmly against his.

"I am in the company of a beautiful woman and wearing only a blanket. Do I look like a man who has suffered a defeat?"

There was a pause, then most of the knights laughed at the meaning behind his words. Elizabeth flushed and ducked her head. How dare he make her out to be some common whore! She would shriek his ear of later, lord or no lord!

James was the only man in the group who showed no mirth. His eyes trailed up and down Elizabeth's filthy gown, her muddy face and hair, to the blanket Blaise had draped over his shoulders and wrapped around his midsection. "Lord Blaise, your horse—"

"Ah, yes.” Blaise’s blue eyes returned to Elizabeth. Her shock tripled as he stared at her with something akin to admiration. “While no man can best me in a match I am ashamed to admit that 'twas all too easy for them to sneak off with my belongings while I was with a woman such as this."

Elizabeth's face heated with anger as the men laughed again, shrugging off the fact that their lord was robbed as long as it was done while he was apparently bedding a woman.

Although she was the more filthy of the two of them, he was the swine!

"And as you can see, the gown she wears is for travel." Blaise said, pulling the skin packaging open so the men could see the fine green gown and bodice beneath, leaving them no room to think that their lord was traveling with some meager peasant.

Eager to stamp on any misconceptions before the men in front of her took her to be a whore eager to be the plaything of any man among them, she spoke without thinking. "Aye, as your betrothed 'twas easy for me to enjoy your attentions, lord Blaise."

The knights stopped laughing. They all stared at Elizabeth with round eyes, including Blaise. He righted his features before the other men, squeezing her tighter to his side. "That is was, my sweet Eliza." He hissed her name as though it were cursed.

Elizabeth instantly regretted her mistake in presuming she could insinuate something like that and get away with it. Whatever punishment or humiliation was available for her words,