Demon Angel

have already spread through the castle. I had to include that into my tale, or he would find me out for a liar."
    "What was your story?"
    Her mischievous gaze held his. "That I encountered you outside the temple, enticed you from your horse, and allowed you under my skirts."
    He paused with a bit of lamb halfway to his mouth, his eyes widening. "Nay," he said, choking on a horrified laugh.
    "Indeed." She grinned. "And I explained that your horse wandered into the temple, and then out between the time I first took you into my mouth and you spent your seed within me."
    A groan rose within him, accompanied by a rush of heat, but he couldn't stop laughing. "Nay," he repeated, and dropped his head into his hands. He peered through his fingers. "Please tell me that you jest."
    "I'm in earnest." She dipped her fingers into her goblet, lifted them to trace wine over her lips. "And when you had left me, I returned inside the temple and explained to him that you had left me so well used that I did not feel like finishing with him. That, in comparison to your great length, youth, and virility, there was little reason for me to continue with him. He was so distracted by such a thought, that all his anger turned to me ' and the idea of his having been seen by a stranger fled."
    Hugh held himself very still, his laughter dying. "The aim of our bargain was to keep myself from his anger; you have merely transferred it from one reason to another."
    She blinked slowly, like a cat full of canary. "I fulfilled the terms of the bargain."
    And he was in the same predicament he had tried to avoid. Bewilderment and a sense of betrayal stalked his emotions, though he did not know why. He could not find anger within him at her, though—he had himself to blame. He should not have trusted her.
    "Aye, you did," he agreed. "And I owe you a lie. Perhaps I should call you a beauty."
    He immediately regretted such cruelty, but it was as if she didn't feel it. "Nay," she said, her eyes leveled on his face. For the first time, he could detect no hint of amusement, or mischief. "I will let you know when I need the lie."
    Nodding stiffly, he turned back to his food, began eating with his full attention. He felt her gaze upon him, though. Trying to ignore it became impossible, and when he finally gave in, he found her grinning at him.
    He couldn't resist. She was wicked, terrible—and the most intriguing person he'd met. Perhaps he was too easily led astray by sin, too eager to enter into bargains and let his curiosity get the better of his judgment, but for now, he would allow it. "How did you know me?"
    "At the temple?" At his nod, her grin widened. "Sir William spoke of you often. 'The foundling pup favored by the baron.' That is what he calls you: Sir Pup." She looked him up and down. "I knew who you were, not only because the castle was expecting your and the countess's return, but because of your youth. And your beauty; Sir William is not the only one to talk."
    He blushed, and she looked upon it as if his embarrassment were a present solely for her.
    "Though Essex does not seem to favor you so much now," she said softly. Hugh's gaze dropped to the table. It was true; a coolness had descended between, though he knew not the reason. "Perhaps he has realized that knighting a boy in his fifteenth year could be perceived as a display of weakness, more than strength. How many were knighted that day?"
    A smile touched his mouth. "All who had earned it and had the means to procure their armor and arms." Hugh had not been one of them, and he was three years younger than any other. "You think it a weakness, to arrive with a large retinue of knighted men?"
    "It is when the soldiers are boys, and the knighting an obvious attempt to bolster his numbers. It reeks of desperation. Perhaps you have become a symbol of that failure to d'Aulnoy—he lost his holdings for a year and a half. His display of strength was apparently not great enough to keep the king at bay." She smiled suddenly. "But perhaps an advantageous marriage will change your luck. Amongst the ladies, there is naught but gossip of the handsome knight who has finally returned."
    Hugh glanced down the length of the table, uncomfortable with this talk of what he had—and what he did not—and met the interested gaze of several women. A few puzzled looks as well, as they glanced past him to Lilith. He quickly dropped his gaze again; he should not be sitting with her—he had not the importance. But,