She Owns the Knight Read Online Free Page A

them, grabbed her arm and lifted her hand. She hit him in the chest with her free fist, but he barely noticed as he studied the ring.
    There could be no doubt. The Corbett coat-of-arms, a raven in flight, glinted bright and clear in the sun. Kellen would know it anywhere, having endured Corbett’s insulting missives of excuse in past months, the raven seal always seeming to mock him.
    He quickly looked about, but saw no other knights, near nor in the distance, only Royce’s. Could Corbett’s men be hiding? He turned to Sir Owen. “Search the trees.”
    Had Corbett simply dumped her here? Was he afraid to face Kellen? Did he truly fear Kellen’s wrath enough to leave his daughter to make her own way to the castle? To leave her vulnerable to attack? It was cowardly and insulting to them both. Kellen had always respected the man in the past, but no more.
    Kellen studied his bride’s face. Edith was her name, if he remembered aright. She was lovely, with blue eyes exotically tilted at the corners and fringed with lashes as dark and thick as any he’d seen before. At least her features were nothing like those of her sister. She was even more beautiful, but in a completely different way. “Come.”
    “Where are we going?” Her eyes widened when he tugged a blanket off his horse and wrapped her in it, noting the cut at her chest and knee, as well as the way her finger was bleeding as if someone had tried to steal the ring from her.
    His anger raised a notch. She’d obviously been abused. It was yet to be determined to what extent. He grabbed her up and lifted her onto his horse before hoisting himself behind her.
    “Do you have a phone I could use?”
    Ignoring her strange request, he wondered just when Royce’s men had arrived. Had they taken her clothes? Defiled her? He could feel his skin heating at the thought.
    He turned to Royce. “If my betrothed has been injured in any way by you, or your men, you will pray for death before I am done. I vow it.”
    In the stunned silence that followed, Kellen turned his horse toward the castle. He ignored Royce’s stammered protests that he’d only just come upon the girl, and took comfort in the realization that the men had all been seated on horses. Only the girl had been upon the ground. With a rising sense of protectiveness and satisfaction, he pressed her stiff body closer to his own. He would guard and defend what was his. And she was his. Indeed, he held his future in his arms.

Chapter Three
     

    What the heck was going on?
    Gillian, stiff and chilled, clutching her backpack, sat in front of the knight, silently scared out of her wits. She wasn’t sure what had just happened, and trying to make sense of everything was giving her a headache.
    First she’d been chased by hoodlums.
    Then they’d suddenly disappeared and she’d been faced by a bunch of different men on horseback. Medieval hoodlums.
    Now she was on a huge horse, sitting across hard muscled thighs, wrapped tight in a knight’s strong arms and . . . and what? He’d saved her? Or claimed her for himself? She wasn’t sure. But if she’d gotten it right, he was the good guy here. Or was that simply wishful thinking on her part?
    Now they were headed toward a village that she knew darn good and well hadn’t been there a moment ago. Was she going crazy?
    Huts with thatched roofs, close and in the distance, dotted the countryside. The buildings hadn’t been there before. She would have seen them. And certainly she would have noticed all the people milling about. There was no way she could have missed them.
    Gillian shivered as the knight’s heat penetrated her back and he held her a bit tighter, like she was a prized possession. She felt claimed and couldn’t help another shiver. She had to stop letting her imagination run away with her. She was going to ask for an explanation, in just a minute, after she wasn’t so intimidated by the scary guy at her back.
    Gillian stared up at the castle beyond the