Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 106398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
He smiled. “I would say it was you who made the fool of Owen since you escaped him and freed me.”
Her chin went up. “I certainly did.”
“And now that you know more about men and love, the choice of who to love will be yours.”
“No, no,” she argued shaking her head. “I do not know near enough about men or love. You must teach me.” She nodded. “That is what we will do while waiting to return home. You will teach me about men and love.”
Torr burst out laughing. “Princess, you do not truly want to know about men. And love? I need to learn about that myself.”
Wintra took hold of his hand and squeezed it. “But I do want to know about men. I never want to be that vulnerable to a man again. You have been good to me. Honorable. You want nothing from me. I trust you, so who better to teach me? And love? Perhaps we can figure it out together.”
Torr yanked his hand away, stood, and walked around to the other side of the table. “You do not know what you ask of me. You told me you found me appealing. I have intimately touched almost every part of you, and we have kissed. I am not a monk who lives a celibate life. I am a man with needs and desires.” He slapped his hands down on the table and stared straight at her. “And seeing desire in your eyes for me does not help.”
“That’s it,” she said excited. “That is what you must teach me—how to control my inappropriate desires until I find love. I saw for myself what uncontrolled desire can do to a woman, and I will not let that happen to me.”
“What did you see?” he asked.
“A woman was brought to the abbey one night and secluded in one of the many small cell-like rooms. I was not permitted to go near her, but as the weeks and months passed the nuns told me about her, especially since—” Wintra’s cheeks flushed.
“Why stop now? If you want to learn, then you need to share everything with me.”
She continued before she could stop herself. “Thinking there was something wrong with me, I had spoken to the nuns about a sudden affliction that worried me. I was told to pray whenever I suffered it and that my husband would take care of it when I wed. The nuns made a point of explaining to me that the woman who had arrived at the abbey had surrendered to the affliction before she wed and was now with child. She would give birth to the child, and then take her vows at the abbey. The child would be given to a local peasant family to raise.”
Torr was beginning to believe that Cree had made a terrible mistake leaving Wintra at the abbey with the nuns.
Wintra cringed, drawing her shoulders in as she did. “I can still hear her endless screams when it came time to deliver her baby. It made me think that I never wanted to suffer such pain and what would be the point when—” She turned her head away to once again stare at the flames.
“What happened?” he asked gently.
“She and the baby died, and the nuns said it had been for the best.” Tears coated her eyes when she turned to face him, but once again she refused to let them fall. “How could they say that? And what of the man who got her with child? Did he not care about her at all? Or had she been a blind fool like me? Only I was lucky—you came along and rescued me.”
Chapter Ten
Wintra bewildered Torr. She was unlike other women; beautiful, stubborn, thoughtful, so very curious and so very innocent that he wanted to wrap her in his arms and protect her. But that wouldn’t be what she wanted, and he not only wanted to give her what she wanted, he wanted her to realize her own courage.
“You also rescued me,” he said.
She laughed this time. “I have no doubt that you had already determined your escape. If I had not come along when I did, we may have missed each other.”
She was a perceptive one, for if she had arrived only a few minutes later to free him, he would have been gone. “I would not have left without you.”
“I never doubted you would. Cree sent you and no one disappoints Cree.”
“Cree had nothing to do with it.”
She stared at him wide-eyed, and her heart beat a bit faster.
He reached out and took hold of her chin. “Know this, Princess, I would have never left you to suffer at Owen’s hands. Cree or no Cree.”
He would have rescued her no matter what. Her heart filled with joy, though she did not know why, and she did not care. She only knew that it felt good, very good, and she wanted the wonderful feeling to linger.