The man drew his hand back to deliver yet another blow. Jayce reached out and grabbed the man’s wrist. “No!” she shouted again. “That’s not the way to tame an animal!”
The man turned angry eyes on her. “Then you tame him,” he commanded, shoving the whip at her.
Jayce stared at the ugly black coil of rope, then pushed it away in disgust.
“Lord Reese is going to have him put down soon anyway. No one can tame this one. Not even Lord Reese,” the man told her. “He’s as wild as a ragin’ river.”
“What’s his name?” Jayce wondered, staring the horse in the eye. It whinnied and tossed its head.
“Satan,” the man answered with a curt nod. “And not a more befitting name could there be.” The man turned his back on her and moved away.
Jayce watched the horse as it stared down at her with the blackest eyes she had ever seen, eyes round with fright. “You alone, too, boy?” she asked softly, trying to calm the animal. “They just don’t understand, do they? It takes time, that’s all. You can’t just go in and demand an animal as grand as you behave.” She smiled gently and looked down at her hands. “Did Reese tell you that you mean nothing to him, too? Or does he reserve that humiliation for me?”
The horse nickered and pranced a few steps away before turning his back to her.
Jayce sighed slightly. “I won’t give up on you so easily,” she whispered.
Chapter Fourteen
Reese sat on the bed in the guest room he planned to occupy until the situation with Jayce was worked out. James bent over at his side, probing a bruise with his fingers. “I told you I’m fine,” Reese growled.
“Far be it from me to argue, sir,” James mumbled. He straightened and presented Reese with his white tunic.
Reese snatched it from his hands just as a knock came at the door.
James moved to answer the knock, but before he reached the door it swung open, and Nicole swept into the room. “Well done, Reese,” Nicole ridiculed.
Reese grunted.
“You’ve humiliated both your brother and your wife in one afternoon.”
“Humiliated?” Reese exploded, pulling the tunic into place. “What has Jayce got to be humiliated about? I gave her a place of honor! She is a guest here.”
“She is your wife,” Nicole fumed. “She deserves to be recognized as such.”
“I don’t have a wife.” Yet, even as he said it, he saw a vision of beauty. A chivalrous, brave beauty, rushing to save him on the field of honor. Even though I didn’t need saving, a stubborn voice inside him reminded. Still, what a brave, unselfish act, branding herself honorless to save him.
“Oh, please. Not that argument again! You treated Jayce deplorably,” Nicole said, intruding on his thoughts.
He straightened off of the bed. “I protected her honor,” Reese countered. “Even against my own brother.”
“She gave up her honor because she saw you were hurt. She lied to protect you.”
“Lied?”
“You don’t truly think she planned my kidnapping? Don’t be a fool. She knew nothing about it.”
“She told you this?”
Nicole shook her head sadly. “She doesn’t need to. And all you could do was embarrass her.”
“I did not embarrass her.”
“You said she meant nothing to you.”
“She doesn’t,” Reese grumbled, but could not meet Nicole’s eyes. He moved to the window to stare out at the darkening sky. Can Nicole be right? Reese wondered. In attempting to make Jayce welcome as a guest at Castle Harrington, have I made matters worse? “Where is she?”
Nicole raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know.”
Reese whirled on Nicole. “What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I haven’t seen her since the joust.”
Reese marched past his sister and moved toward the door. He threw it open with such force it slammed against the stone wall with a thunderous boom. He strode through the hallways like an ominous storm cloud. Two servants pressed themselves tightly against the wall to give him plenty of room to pass. One of the castle hounds quickly slunk into a side hallway at his approach.
How dare she twist his generosity into something he should feel guilty about? What did she expect of him? Or was it Nicole making him feel this way? When he found Jayce, he would make it very clear to her that he would never be forced into marriage with a woman he didn’t love. He wanted a happy life, a happy and devoted wife, someone to cherish him and their children. He would make it clear to Jayce he would not feel guilty about his position anymore. And he would make it very clear that she should not look at him with those deep, innocent blue eyes any longer.