Perchance to Love

PERCHANCE TO LOVE

by

Mahogany Brown

© Copyright by Mahogany Brown, February 2012

© Cover Art by Alex DeShanks, February 2012

New Concepts Publishing

ISBN 978-1-60394-676-6

Lake Park, GA 31636

www.newconceptspublishing.com

This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.

Electra started barking.

“Stop it, Electra,” Candace said trying to keep the canine still. The horses were getting edgy. The last thing she needed was to be trampled by a startled horse. Maybe she had stumbled upon some medieval fair. Then again, maybe not. The clothing these men wore looked more authentic than anything she had seen outside of a history book. And they were speaking a weird version of French. She could barely understand them. The man closest to her dismounted, and started towards her. She tensed. He was thin and tall with a proud Roman nose set between pale blue eyes. His long, dark hair looked greasy.  His beard and moustache were in desperate need of a trim and a good washing. Actually, all of him needed a good washing.

Electra escaped from Candace’s arms, and ran towards the man. He stopped as she barked at him. He kicked out at her. Candace yelled when the man’s boot connected with Electra’s body. The force of the kick sent the little dog into the dense bushes.

“You bastard! She was only trying to protect me!”

Candace dropped her bags to go after her dog. She was sure Electra was hurt. She felt an arm on hers. The man had her arm in an iron grip. She tried to pull away, but he held on. She kicked out at his knee. When he didn’t let go, she kicked him in the groin, hard. He loosened his grip, and she pushed him away from her.

“If you value your life, you will stop,” the other man said in English.

She turned to see that the other man had dismounted. He leveled his sword at her. He was a lot bigger off his horse. He walked up to her towering over her by a foot. She caught a whiff of stale sweat, horse and leather.

So, he did speak English. She wouldn’t let on that she kinda understood his version of French. “I have to get my dog. She might be hurt. Now, get out of my way,” she said, and tried to move past him.

The man didn’t respond, but stopped her with his sword. He raised an eyebrow at her in warning. Then he looked towards the other man. “Take her things, Wulf,” he said in French.

Wulf straightened up, adjusting himself. “Shall she ride with me as well?” he snarled.

“She will ride with me.”

“Suppose she is part of an ambush? Or what is happening in the other manors. We still do not know who is behind all of this.”

“If she were, we would have been engaged by her cohorts by now,” he said looking around.  “She is alone. Take her belongings.”

Wulf walked up to where she had dropped her bags. He headed back to his horse passing by her. She heard him whisper ‘bitch’ as he passed.

“What about my dog?” she asked the man with the sword.

He turned to her, his eyes moving over her. “What is your name?” he asked reverting back to English.

“Why should I tell you anything?”

“Because I can kill you where you stand,” he said calmly.

“Candace Richards. And you are Sir Lancelot maybe?”

 “You will address him by his title of Baron,” Wulf snapped.

She turned to him. He spoke English too. “I was just joking.”

“Impudent retch,” Wulf growled. He threw down her bags and headed over to her.

“Wulf.”

“But my lord, she is being disrespectful. A man in your position…”

“I will deal with her.”

Wulf threw a murderous look at Candace before picked up her things and mounted his horse.

“I am Baron Ashton Laurent of Ravencrest, and you are in my manor. Why?”

Candace’s face was a picture of confusion. Baron of Ravencrest? She never remembered hearing about any Baron of Ravencrest. And what or where was Ravencrest? If she was trespassing, she had no idea she was. She just wanted find Electra and go home.

“Uh…I didn’t know that this was your…manor. I’m lost. I’m just trying to find my way home. If you could point me in the right direction then I’ll gladly get out of your hair.”

“Out of my…hair?”

“Nevermind.” Was this guy dense or what?

 “You said that you are lost. You should not have been traveling alone. It is very dangerous for a woman to travel alone. There are bandits roaming the countryside for those such as you to prey upon.”

“Thanks for the info, but if you’ll excuse me I need to find my dog. And if you’ll give me back my things I’ll be on my way,” she said.

He shook his head. “You will come with us, now. The storm will soon descend, and you will perish if you are out here.”

“But my dog?”

“It is an animal. It will survive.”

Ashton mounted his horse and held out his hand.

“No, she won’t. She’s not use to being outside by herself.”

“Candace, you will give me your hand. Now.”

She looked at him. Go with him? Go with him where? She didn’t like it one bit. But it wasn’t so much a request as a command. She did not feel right about leaving Electra alone, but it didn’t look like this baron would leave her alone unless she went with him. Maybe she could ask nicely if she could go and look for her. She hoped Electra would be all right until then. They better hope that she didn’t find Electra dead or there would be hell to pay. Candace gave Ashton her hand.

The fiery tingle that jolted through her at the touch of his hand stunned her. She wondered whether Ashton had felt it as well. She looked up at him. He looked back at her, his face stony. Okay, so maybe he didn’t feel it.

He pulled her up and settled her in front of him. He gave the order to ride on to the castle. Candace resisted the urge to lean into him. To have his chest pressed up against her back probably would have felt rather nice, since she was suddenly cold and his intense body heat would have helped stave off the cold. But she had no idea what was going to happen to her. Ashton hadn’t mentioned that she was his prisoner, but he could be waiting to spring that on her when she was trapped with nowhere to go. Suddenly she had the strangest feeling that she was Dorothy and this wasn’t Kansas. But who was this baron? The Tin Man? The Cowardly Lion? The Wicked Witch? And if she wasn’t home, then where the hell was she?

He took his arm and moved it around her waist pulling her closer. “To keep you from falling off,” he said in her ear when she stiffened against his arm. Her cheeks burned when his lips brushed her ear.

Candace tried to relax which was difficult, as she could feel Ashton’s heavily muscled chest pressed up against her back. His arm wrapped around her waist didn’t help either. It was making it hard for her to concentrate especially when she placed her own arm on his. The hard corded muscles sent a delightful shiver through her.

 She scolded herself. She should be trying to figure out how to deal with her situation and her ‘rescuer’ if that’s what he was, and how to save Electra. This whole situation made her uneasy. Suppose she was near home and Baron Ashton was some crazed homicidal maniac who liked to prey on women while playing dress up? Mind you, he didn’t look like one. Hell, the man was gorgeous, if a little stiff in his manner, and a bit stinky. She looked over at Wulf. He gave her a look that was cross between hatred and lust. She didn’t like it.