"Sharon Green - [ebel 01 - Rebel" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Sharon)

right past him as though heтАЩd turned invisible.
She went straight to the coach, ignored the hand up she was given by one of the guards, and settled onto
the coach seat without changing expression. Mayne felt as if heтАЩd been kicked hard in the gut, and it took
a moment before he noticed that one of the guards had stopped near him and was waiting to be noticed.
тАЬWhat is it?тАЭ Mayne asked, seeing that this guard was dressed differently from the other two.
тАЬThe duke asked me to give you his apologies, Your Highness,тАЭ the man said, his tone completely
uninflected to match the lack of expression on his face. тАЬSomething important has come up, so he wonтАЩt
be here to see you off. He wishes you a pleasant trip, and asks that you give his best to your father the
king.тАЭ
And not a word for the daughter heтАЩd been so concerned about yesterday, Mayne thought. ItтАЩs possible
Adair was given her own message earlier, but even if some horrible crisis has come up I canтАЩt see that
spending two minutes saying goodbye to someone you never expect to see again would make the crisis
any worse.
But Duke Elden had decided against spending those two minutes with his daughter, which made Mayne
feel even worse than he had earlier. HeтАЩd supposedly punished Adair primarily for causing her father such
worry, a father who hadnтАЩt even come to say goodbye to his only daughter. And now Adair must be
furious with him, because he hadnтАЩt told her the complete truth about why she was being punished.
Even though he had almost told her. When heтАЩd heard that one sound from her last night, a sound she
must have hated to have forced out of her, heтАЩd finally woken up to the fact that the spanking had gone
on much longer than it should have. HeтАЩd continued on for another half minute, pretending he hadnтАЩt
heard what he certainly had, and then heтАЩd had to force himself not to take her in his arms to offer
comfort. HeтАЩd told her he cared, for the godsтАЩ sake, when what he really meant was -
тАЬThank you for passing on the dukeтАЩs message,тАЭ Mayne finally told the waiting guardsman, keeping his
tone as uninflected as the manтАЩs had been. тАЭWeтАЩll be leaving now.тАЭ
And with that he led Danil out of the house and to the horses, ignoring the flash of disturbance heтАЩd seen
in the odd guardsmanтАЩs eyes before turning away. Duke Elden would almost certainly be expecting a
return message, but that was too bad about him. If heтАЩd bothered to show up he would have been able to
handle the matter himself.
Just a few minutes brought them to the road leading to the city and his fatherтАЩs palace, and Mayne
continued to ride just behind the coach. Half his escort had been sent to lead the way, but Danil himself
stayed beside Mayne. The big redhead seemed to know that something was bothering Mayne, but since
his prince didnтАЩt mention what that something was, Danil refrained from asking questions. It was one of
the things Mayne liked best about DanilтАж
No more than an hour could have gone by before Mayne discovered that he just had to talk to Adair.
One of the things he wanted to know was whether or not Duke Elden had spoken to Adair in her
apartment before she left, and if he hadnтАЩtтАж Well, that would have to wait for another time.
Right now he wanted to make sure that Adair was all right, but once heтАЩd urged his horse to a place
where he could look into the coach, Mayne found that Adair had fallen asleep. She lay on her side on the
coach seat, her eyes closed, one hand hanging above a book on the coach floor. She was obviously
making up for however much sleep sheтАЩd missed last night waiting for the ache to ease upтАж
To say Mayne felt wretched was an understatement, and once heтАЩd returned to his place behind the
coach he descended into brooding. HeтАЩd always hated the idea of being used, but he couldnтАЩt escape the
idea that Duke Elden had used him in some way. Exactly what that way was Mayne couldnтАЩt say, but the
feeling refused to go away.
When noon arrived, Mayne roused himself enough to realize that they werenтАЩt far from a really good inn.
Since they still had a few hours before the trip would be over, stopping at the inn for lunch should give
Adair a break from being cooped up in the coach. He told Danil to get the men headed for the inn, and
Danil nodded before riding to the head of the column.
Little more than five minutes later the inn came into sight, and Danil led the small procession into the yard.
The men of MayneтАЩs escort got out of the way to allow the coach to stop in front of the inn itself, and by