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THIRTY-TWO
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Claimed by the Baron THIRTY-THREE
HE GAVE HER TIME to clean up and get back to looking presentable before they went down to the grounds to be with his men. Heads and headdresses bumped again. The Baron told her to do everything she was told to do, and that’s what she did, not minding any of them at all. She did not believe the books he had gifted her with had been coincidences, since the characters were royals and the setting was in the palace court. She believed he carefully chose them so she could learn from them while he was away with the duke and the knights. She gained a few lessons from it about courtly manners and had even practiced the curtsies and memorized titles and what to address each one, asking Odette for guidance if she looked like she was doing it the right way. But using them when the person wasn’t there as opposed to them standing right in front of her, she found, was very different, for she was so fearful of making a mistake when faced with the Titled. So, she listened and observed others before ve
Claimed by the Baron THIRTY-FOUR
THAT NIGHT was almost like the night before. As soon as they began mingling with the others, Lady Veronique arrived like a vulture, and again, Fabian and the other men were summoned by the Duke. She tried to hide her dismay as he commanded his men to look after Adalene again before he left. She did not understand why she had to go down, anyway. She had no one she trusted enough to talk to, and she could not very well talk to the knights. I wish I had Odette by my side, she thought as she dismally walked out to the balcony to stare out into the night with a drink in her hand. But Odette and Olivie stayed on the outskirts of the feast with the other maids, so she was with no one. “Not enjoying the evening, my dear?” She turned to find an old, robust lady in a beautiful gown beside her, smiling at her kindly, but with eyes most curious and alive. Adalene smiled at her, grateful that at least there was someone to talk to while she spent a few more minutes before she asked for Sir Thi
Claimed by the Baron THIRTY-FIVE
ADALENE FELT tears filled her eyes and rapidly spilled over. This was the reason why she wanted to be alone. She knew she was about to cry. She did not expect it would hurt this much. She had only known the Baron for a few days, and yet he had become so important. She shouldn’t have fallen in love with him. How stupid could she be? But when he said he would give her groom a lesson on how to treat a man’s woman right, he also taught it to her. And now she would never, ever forget him. She would always be grateful for the little glimpses of heaven afforded her during the short time they were together. But it was too short a time! Her heart was breaking into what felt like tiny little pieces. She did not want to go. But Lady Veronique would never allow Fabian to keep her, while she didn’t know she could survive not being the only woman in his life, knowing there would be nights he would be in his wife’s bed – or bear the trouble Lady Veronique’s vengeance would bring her family. I had
Claimed by the Baron THIRTY-SIX
A SOB ESCAPED from Adalene as she turned to look for that familiar voice, the one who’d always been saving her. It was Fabian! He was standing very near another tree in the dark that he was almost part of it if not for the soft light from the moon that gave away the outline of his build.“My Lord! You’re here,” she said in a voice she tried to sound strong even though she felt weak with relief. She restrained herself from running to him like a child. She was wary to stand up as the knight with the foul smell and mouth was still there and could still go for her. But, oh, how she wanted his arms around her!Fabian moved and stepped nearer, and even Adalene flinched at the cold fury simmering in his face that looked granite. She was suddenly so grateful she was on his side and not with anyone who opposed him. She had never seen him looking so dangerous. She now felt afraid of the drunk knight.From the shadows, Fabian’s other knights appeared. And then there was the pale Olivie. How long
Claimed by the Baron THIRTY-SEVEN
HE HELPED her climb up the small steps to get inside the smaller carriage when they got there. He said he was going to ride with the others on the horses on the first leg of the ride. Odette came in after her with a box of accoutrements she could use to check and clean the cut near her temple.Adalene asked for Olivie right away.Odette looked a little sad as she tended the cut. “She is on the other coach with our luggage. She confessed to talking with the ladies-in-waiting here about you, my lady. She is the reason why they knew things about you and your relationship with the Baron.”“Why did she do that?” she asked, surprised but calmer now. At least, the woman was not hurt as she first thought.“I think she is jealous of you,” Odette replied after a moment, her voice heavy with disapproval and a hint of shame.“Because I am with the Baron?” she asked sadly. “Yes, if I wasn’t me I would get jealous of myself, too.”Odette looked a little stunned at her words, then smiled, and her sh
Claimed by the Baron THIRTY-EIGHT
DEEP IN the night, as she slept in her cushioned seat, the carriage stopped and Odette got out. She was aware and smelled her Fabian when he got in and sat beside her to pull her towards him.She buried her face towards where his neck and shoulder met, where she usually would in this position, or when they were sleeping in bed. She minded he seemed to have discarded some of the rough parts of his garb, so it was easier to place her arms around him to hug him. To get closer to him.“Hmm... are we close? Why are you here?”“We’re close, and I am here because I am missing you terribly, and I needed you beside me.”She smiled against the skin of his neck. “Thank you.”“For what?” He sounded puzzled.“For everything you did tonight, saving me again, missing me, and being here because I missed you so, so much, too!” She tightened her hold on him. He felt so real and so complete. If that wicked man hadn’t been drunk and a coward and had hurt him tonight because of her, she wouldn’t know what
Claimed by the Baron THIRTY-NINE
WHAT IS IT now? It was still dark when Adalene was jarred awake by a commotion outside and by Odette clutching at her shoulder, shaking her awake at the same time, trying to see through a slit in the window what was happening outside.Odette’s frightened face turned to her. “Something is very wrong, My Lady. I think there are thieves outside an—”There was a scream that was abruptly cut, and we stared at each other, shocked and scared. That sounded like Olivie. She could now hear the sounds of swords clanging at each other and men shouting and fighting. She thought of Fabian fighting out there and she turned towards the door.“My Lady!”“We’ve got to get out of here, Odette. We have to hide. Thieves know we’re here and if they find us, we don’t even know how to fight!”She opened the door a little and looked out. Men were fighting outside and cursing, shouting. The other carriage was lying on its side with the horses neighing on the ground. Hurt. They’d hurt the horses.Where is
Claimed by the Baron FORTY
THE NEXT DAYS were hard for the battered Adalene. The bruises on her face and the cuts on her chest had to heal, and she had to force herself back from this unexplainable cocoon of numbness that seemed to have overcome her since my harrowing experience in the forest with the thieves.She was going to have scars, but at the end of that week, as she watched Odette in another of her bursts of crying, she realized that it was the hardest of all. If that horse had not reared and bolted and if the other woman had fallen on the ground with her, both of them would have been taken. No one would have pointed to Fabian and his men in which direction the thieves had gone with her, and if the men had not reached them in time… Odette and she would have both been r*ped.And she wasn’t completely r*ped, was she? Fabian and his men had stopped them, killed them all before they could finish what they’d started. They’d had their hands on her, and it would have just been a minute or two before—She moane
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