"Peter David - Sir Apropos 01 - Sir Apropos Of Nothing" - читать интересную книгу автора (David Peter)

He had to go for it. How could he resist? Certainly I couldn't have. Then again, I wasn't a knight, at
least not yet. Knights were apparently made of sterner stuff. Either that or Granite was just too
block-stupid to be distracted from something confusing to him. Apparently he'd gotten a thought into his
head, and the damned thing wouldn't be easily dislodged, probably because it was fairly quiet in his brain
otherwise and the thought enjoyed the solitude.

"How could you have been expecting me when I didn't know I was coming back?" demanded
Granite.

"I..." I heard her lick her lips, which were probably bone dry by that point. "I...anticipated...or hoped,
at least...that you would return to service me once more before you left."

"I didn't. I came back to get my lucky dagger. I forgot it."

"Oh."

If Rosalie had just let that harmless little "Oh" sit there, we might well have avoided discovery. He
was, after all, perfectly willing to accept that she was a nitwit. Unfortunately, because a silence ensued,
Rosalie felt the need to fill it with words. "Yes. I...saw it over there on the wall and knew you'd be back."

Granite, unfortunately for us, was able to track the conversation. "You just said that you were hoping
I'd return to service you. Now you say you knew I'd be back for the dagger."

"Yes, I...that is to say...I...that..."

There was another dead silence, and I could only imagine the blood draining from her face as her
poor brain twisted itself about in confusion. I heard the door bang suddenly and prayed that he had
simply exited with no further words...but that hope was short-lived as I heard the bolt slam into place.

Granite was no idiot. I had to give him that much. "What," I heard him rumble, "is going on?"

I thought furiously at her, as if I could project words into her brain in hopes that they would spill out of
her mouth.I am...tongue-tied by your presence, milord...I would say anything just in hopes of
saying something you want to hear, milord...I hoped that, in your returning for your dagger, you
would savage me like a wild animal, milord...

Something. Anything.

"Don't..." There was a choked sob. "Don't hurt him, milord...."

Anything but that.

I heard a roar then. I think the word "What?!" was in there somewhere, but it was like trying to sort
out one particular scream from the howling of a hurricane. There was a quick sound of steps coming
around the bed, and suddenly the sheet was yanked off me. My bare ass was still hanging out as I
squinted up at Granite.
 He wasn't moving. He trembled in place, seized with such fury that he could not yet budge.

I rolled to my feet, yanking my breeches up as I went. The bed was a huge four-poster affair, and I