that the sunshine turned it molten, surrounding her whole being with a nimbus of light.
Falcon de Burgh and his knights had arisen long before light of day to hunt down the wolf pack. It hadn’t taken Falcon long to detect the distant howling, then he easily pinpointed their location by the clamorous yapping that signaled the wolves had made a kill. The men were too late to save a pair of newborn lambs, but they managed to save the ewe from the jaws of death.
They were bloodied and de Burgh had a pair of wolf carcasses slung across his saddle as they rode back to the castle brimming with satisfaction that they had helped repay some of Salisbury’s hospitality. They suddenly stopped in their tracks as a vision rode into the sunshine from a small wooded area.
“’T is a unicorn!” Normand Gervase gasped.
“No such creature,” asserted Falcon de Burgh, his dark brows drawing together in sudden doubt.
The girl on the back of the unicorn took instant fright at the party of mailed knights only a hundred yards off. Dismay clouded Jasmine’s delicate brow. She wheeled her white palfrey and took flight back into the trees.
Falcon de Burgh issued a sharp command to his men. “Stay! This quarry is mine.”
As the great destrier closed the distance to the stand of trees, Jasmine heard the hooves pounding the ground like thunder. She felt like hunted prey. When she glanced up, recognition hit her like a thunderbolt. It was he—theDevil! He would devour her like a hound of Hell bringing down a white doe.
Falcon de Burgh grabbed her bridle and looked into her face. Fear clearly sketched its dark presence upon her lovely countenance. He was mesmerized at the sight of her. For one unreal moment he believed this beautiful creature riding the back of a unicorn was of another world. Such an exquisite vision could not be mortal. He was enchanted. The unicorn came to a halt and trembled.
The girl put up her small hands in supplication and breathed, “Ah … no! Whatever have I done that you must hunt me down and punish me?”
He was off Lightning in a trice. This close, he could clearly see that the “unicorn” was merely a white palfrey wearing a clever ornamental harness fashioned with a long, spiraled ivory horn. “Demoiselle, have no fear,” he whispered huskily, wondering vaguely why his heart had stopped beating. Could this exquisite fairy princess, sprung from a legend, possibly be the same maiden he had encountered the other night?
Jasmine’s eyes were wide. “Do not think to lure me with gentle words. I know who you are and I know exactly what you want of me,” she said bravely.
He smiled at her youth and innocence. “Then yield it up to me without further protest,” he teased. He reached up strong arms and lifted her down to him. She was all silver and pink and utterly delicious, like a bon-bon at a birthday fete.
His great hands encircled her waist and his thumbs were actually caressing the undersides of her breasts. She could feel him through the delicate material. Her breath caught in her throat. She had escaped him once, how could she do so again? She summoned all her courage and defied him. “I will never yield to you, my lord Satan!”
He did not know if he was amused or annoyed at herwords. “You live in a make-believe world. I am not the Devil; there is no Devil. Who has charge of you, that they have filled your head with fairy tales?” For the first time he saw a spark of anger in her lovely eyes.
“No one has charge of me. How dare you say my head is filled with fairy tales? Let me go at once or I shall scream!”
“You obviously live a fantasy that you are a fairy princess riding about the countryside on a unicorn. Are you escaping an ogre or a dragon? Are you fleeing from the wicked queen, your stepmother? How unfortunate for you that upon escaping your castle overgrown with poison vines you should encounter the Devil! Stop playing games. I am no more a devil than you are a
Falcon de Burgh and his knights had arisen long before light of day to hunt down the wolf pack. It hadn’t taken Falcon long to detect the distant howling, then he easily pinpointed their location by the clamorous yapping that signaled the wolves had made a kill. The men were too late to save a pair of newborn lambs, but they managed to save the ewe from the jaws of death.
They were bloodied and de Burgh had a pair of wolf carcasses slung across his saddle as they rode back to the castle brimming with satisfaction that they had helped repay some of Salisbury’s hospitality. They suddenly stopped in their tracks as a vision rode into the sunshine from a small wooded area.
“’T is a unicorn!” Normand Gervase gasped.
“No such creature,” asserted Falcon de Burgh, his dark brows drawing together in sudden doubt.
The girl on the back of the unicorn took instant fright at the party of mailed knights only a hundred yards off. Dismay clouded Jasmine’s delicate brow. She wheeled her white palfrey and took flight back into the trees.
Falcon de Burgh issued a sharp command to his men. “Stay! This quarry is mine.”
As the great destrier closed the distance to the stand of trees, Jasmine heard the hooves pounding the ground like thunder. She felt like hunted prey. When she glanced up, recognition hit her like a thunderbolt. It was he—theDevil! He would devour her like a hound of Hell bringing down a white doe.
Falcon de Burgh grabbed her bridle and looked into her face. Fear clearly sketched its dark presence upon her lovely countenance. He was mesmerized at the sight of her. For one unreal moment he believed this beautiful creature riding the back of a unicorn was of another world. Such an exquisite vision could not be mortal. He was enchanted. The unicorn came to a halt and trembled.
The girl put up her small hands in supplication and breathed, “Ah … no! Whatever have I done that you must hunt me down and punish me?”
He was off Lightning in a trice. This close, he could clearly see that the “unicorn” was merely a white palfrey wearing a clever ornamental harness fashioned with a long, spiraled ivory horn. “Demoiselle, have no fear,” he whispered huskily, wondering vaguely why his heart had stopped beating. Could this exquisite fairy princess, sprung from a legend, possibly be the same maiden he had encountered the other night?
Jasmine’s eyes were wide. “Do not think to lure me with gentle words. I know who you are and I know exactly what you want of me,” she said bravely.
He smiled at her youth and innocence. “Then yield it up to me without further protest,” he teased. He reached up strong arms and lifted her down to him. She was all silver and pink and utterly delicious, like a bon-bon at a birthday fete.
His great hands encircled her waist and his thumbs were actually caressing the undersides of her breasts. She could feel him through the delicate material. Her breath caught in her throat. She had escaped him once, how could she do so again? She summoned all her courage and defied him. “I will never yield to you, my lord Satan!”
He did not know if he was amused or annoyed at herwords. “You live in a make-believe world. I am not the Devil; there is no Devil. Who has charge of you, that they have filled your head with fairy tales?” For the first time he saw a spark of anger in her lovely eyes.
“No one has charge of me. How dare you say my head is filled with fairy tales? Let me go at once or I shall scream!”
“You obviously live a fantasy that you are a fairy princess riding about the countryside on a unicorn. Are you escaping an ogre or a dragon? Are you fleeing from the wicked queen, your stepmother? How unfortunate for you that upon escaping your castle overgrown with poison vines you should encounter the Devil! Stop playing games. I am no more a devil than you are a
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