The Untamable Rogue by Cathy McAllister Page A

duels. Against my will I had to admit that I liked the way these two muscular men, with their naked upper bodies gleaming with sweat, circled one another furtively and then hit one another with their bare fists. I stared in fascination at the red blood that poured from Ivo’s wound. It excited me in a strange way, to the extent that I forgot to breathe because of the tension.
    “Why are they fighting?” I asked, anxiously.
    “As far as I can work out my brother … err … with Rikash’s wife … err …I mean, they …,” Sergio stammered, embarrassed.
    “You mean, they fornicated?” I interrupted, my cheeks red with excitement. I thought of the secret tryst that I had watched. That must have been the blacksmith’s wife.
    Sergio nodded, embarrassed.
    My eyes fell on a young woman who was standing away from the crowd a little, her eyes red from crying and her cheek swollen. She started at every blow that the fighters exchanged. – Yes, that was definitely the woman that I had seen Ivo with in the forest.
    My attention was drawn back to the opponents as a murmur spread through the crowd. Ivo had fallen to the ground and Rikash had pulled his knife, ready to thrust it into his adversary’s black heart. The gleaming steal flashed in the sunlight.
    A murmur of horror spread through the crowd and even I involuntarily uttered a small cry. I instinctively put my hand in front of my mouth and waited with a pounding heart for the unavoidable, horrible end.
    “Do it!” Ivo mocked challengingly.
    Rikash was just about to plunge the knife in when a piercing command penetrated the breathless silence that had prevailed in the arena.
    “Stop! Since when do we cut one another’s throats?” roared Santino, pushing his way through the crowd.
    Rikash stopped.
    “I just wanted to give him something to think about – he deserves this!” he defended himself. He did not seem particularly prepared to sway from his original intention.
    “What’s he done wrong?” asked Santino, and cast an angry look at his eldest son.
    In the meantime Ivo had stood up again and was standing there, his arms folded, with a stony expression.
    “He had sex with Mariella in the undergrowth!” roared the blacksmith with rage.  
    “Is that true?” Santino asked his son, his voice dangerously calm.
    Ivo nodded briefly.
    The crowd held its breath. Santino’s facial features had become hard. He was silent for a while – for what seemed to me to be half an eternity - then he declared, his voice cold: “Ivo, you have brought shame to yourself and your family. You are banned from the camp for a month, and you may not come closer than one hundred steps from the camp. You will take care of yourself. If Mariella has conceived a child by you, then it is up to Rikash to decide what is to happen with the child. That is all I have to say!”
    “But …” Rikash wanted to protest. He was clearly not happy with the outcome of this matter. The pure desire to kill still exuded from his dark eyes.
    “Blood has been shed, so you have had your revenge and your honour has been re-instated. That is my final word on this matter. – Go back to your camp fires. We will leave in an hour.”
    Santino turned to his son.
    “When we leave you will stay behind us and keep at a distance, otherwise you will see my unpleasant side. Next time it will be a permanent ban. Have I made myself plain and clear?”
    Ivo nodded, his expression stony, and then turned abruptly, striding away hastily. The crowd gradually dispersed and I watched Ivo leave. Part of me wanted most of all to rush after him to tend to his wound, whilst the other part of me was horrified by the brutality that I had just witnessed. I was not able to sort out my contradictory emotions. This strange attraction that Ivo caused in me unsettled me. And yet he hardly noticed me. I did not have the feeling that he was in any way interested in me – he may in fact find me tedious. I really could not compete with