And that she had defended a horse without fear forherself.
And let the one in whom heconfides,
lead a killer to hisside.
The recollection of the djinn’s words chilled Rolfe to hismarrow.
He could not trusther.
He dared not trusther.
Rolfe took a step back from the enticing beauty in her bath. He could not risk sharing his name with this maiden. He should not let her see his face, not until the curse wasbroken.
The loving he needed to dissolve the curse must be accomplished as soon as possible. Somehow he would have to wed the lady before she could reconsider the wisdom of her choice, and he had to consummate the match this verynight.
On the morrow, Rolfe could explain everything to her, if indeed the lady was even remotely interested in the tale. What would happen to the palace when the curse was broken? He might have as little as he had had when Rosalinde had spurned him. She might insist upon anannulment.
Rolfe would not think of it. He had to break thiscurse.
He would come to her in the darkness and do whatever was necessary to earn his salvation. He would love her untildawn.
Rolfe’s pulse began to thunder at theprospect.
But she had to know that his intentions were honorable. Rolfe pulled the heavy ring his mother had given him when he departed for Outremer from within his tabard. A cabochon garnet reposed in the gold setting and winked in the candlelight, still secure on itschain.
It was the only piece of jewelry he owned and his mother had declared it to be a talisman of luck. Rolfe did not believe in luck, but he had to admit that nothing ill had befallen him in the East. He had feared the ring lost when the djinn cursed him, but had found it inside the palace when he became a man the next night. He had secured it on the chain then, not wanting to count on it being returned again as a manifestation of hiswill.
A bride had need of a ring and Rolfe chose to give his bride this one. It was a token of his family, after all, and an indication that he had need of all the good fortune he couldfind.
He removed the ring from its chain, but lost his grip before he could decide how to offer it to her without revealing himself. The gem danced on his fingertips as he struggled to catch it, then fell. Rolfe watched in horror as it fell into the lady’sbath.
It landed below her throat, then rolled between her breasts and disappeared into thewater.
The lady’s eyelashes fluttered and Rolfe’s heartleaped.
As much as he wanted to know the hue of her eyes, she could not see his face, notyet.
He pivoted and raced from the chamber, his heart in histhroat.
