Velvet Song (Montgomery/Taggert 4)

Raine shrugged. “Who can unde

rstand women? She’s always been concerned with money and estates.”

“And I take it you know her well,” Alyx said, rubbing her jaw, aware of the touch of Raine’s hand on her mouth.

“Her father once proposed that I marry her.”

That made Alyx halt. “And you decided not to, or did she turn you down?”

He grinned crookedly, making one dimple show. “She accepted me in every way I asked but I did not ask her to marry me. She wavers from one moment to the next. She cannot even decide which dress to wear each day. I’m sure she would not like being a faithful wife, and I dislike beating women.”

“You dislike . . .” Alyx sputtered.

“Now,” he said, moving forward from the tree he’d been leaning against, “if we are through with your education about women for today, I’d like to do something about this leg of mine.”

At that she glanced downward and for the first time saw the dark stain of blood soaking Raine’s hose.

Chapter Seven

YOU ARE WOUNDED,” she said in a voice that sounded as if she meant he were dead.

“I don’t think it’s bad, but perhaps we should see to it.”

Running to him, her arm about his waist, she leaned into him. “Sit down. I will fetch Rosamund and—”

“Alyx,” he said, amused. “It isn’t a mortal wound, and I can well ride back to camp. You know, you are the worst squire I have ever had.”

“Worst!” she gasped as he sat down heavily on a tree stump. “You are an ungrateful—”

“What took you so long with the horse? I was fighting for my life and I could hear you in the woods singing. Were you hoping to entertain the enemy?”

Never, never was she going to speak to him again, she decided, as she turned her back on him and went for the horse. Hearing him chuckle behind her only made her lift her chin higher.

Even when he struggled to rise, she refused to help him and turned away so she could not see him.

“Alyx, I must mount on the opposite side and the horse will not like it. You must hold him steady. I don’t wish to jar this leg more than I must.”

At that she took the horse’s head in her hands, looked it in the eye and began to sing, controlling it with her voice. Raine seemed to sit on the horse’s back for some time before he spoke to her and offered her his hand to help her mount.

All the way back to camp, she held onto the saddle and watched Raine’s blood seep down his thigh. The horse, smelling blood, began to prance, and, as a reflex, Raine clutched with his knees to control the animal. Alyx felt him stiffen at the pain that caused.

“Perhaps you could calm him with your songs,” he said quietly.

“With my noise, don’t you mean?” she answered, still hurt by his words.

“As you wish,” he said stiffly.

Alyx had never heard this tone before, but she recognized it as a voice covering pain. He said his wound wasn’t bad, but it showed no sign of ceasing to bleed. Now was no time to be angry. She began to sing and the horse calmed.

“I will have to show you to my brothers,” he murmured. “They won’t believe this unless they see it.”

As they approached the camp, several people, sensing something was wrong, came out to greet them.

“It would be better if they did not see that I was wounded,” Raine said to her. “They’re hard enough to control and I need no new problems now.”

Quickly, she slipped off the horse and went to stand at Raine’s side, her body blocking the people’s view of his leg.

“We heard there was a fight,” a black-toothed man said, his eyes greedy.