Excerpt from Warrior’s Moon
Prologue
Isabella Kincraig knelt before a patch of mushrooms, reached to gather them and then was still. The forest had suddenly become silent around her and the total absence of sound was a warning in itself. Anxiousness held her as motionless as the deer she sometimes came upon as she gathered her herbs here in this wildest tangle of trees. Completely still, she listened while she tried to sense what was wrong.
Something was in the woods with her. The prickle on the back of her neck made her look around anxiously, but she saw nothing among the thickness of the understory. Worried, she turned to wake her small daughter, Chantaya, who slept on a blanket on the moss while Isabella gathered her herbs, but Isabella was caught roughly from behind before she could reach her.
Knowing instantly who it was, she stilled, worried she’d harm her unborn child if she fought him. When he finally moved his hand from her mouth and turned her toward him, she wanted to slap his smiling face as she hissed quietly, “Let me go! My husband will be furious!”
Young Lord Rosskeene simply smiled unconcernedly again. “He wouldn’t dare try to challenge me and it’s well you know it. I would see him hang. Then you would be only more available to the admiration of a benevolent landlord like myself.” His voice changed to an almost amiable cajoling sound. “If you would only agree to be with me, Isabella, you’d find that I can be quite pleasant. Even your husband would appreciate my generosity. If you’d come work right in the manor house, I’d see to it that you made a much greater wage.”