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spoke of keeping to one love she could include the casual use of a whore now and then to relieve his body. Nonetheless, he had taken no woman since he had left London with Richard. They had been moving too quickly, and he had been so busy he had scarcely felt the lack, except for a little while when he had wakened in the morning. |
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The contact with Rhiannon and her offer had roused desire. To satisfy it would have been no troublethere were several women in the court who had given Simon solace before he had fixed his heart on Rhiannon. All of their eyes said they would welcome him back, and Mallt uerch Arnallt had even begun to follow him across the hall when he had rushed forward to speak to Rhiannon. That was out of the question, however. Even to look in Mallt's direction would be the end of any hope he had of convincing Rhiannon to be his wife. Besides, he did not want Mallt. |
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When the hall was dark and silent, Simon found his way among the other men to his pallet. Not far away Madog ap Sior's eyes opened. He had been the most annoyed when the four men discussing raids on the baggage train of Henry's army discovered that Rhiannon was gone because he was the most convinced that a woman should wait patiently until a man had time to attend to her. He had been even more annoyed when it seemed that Simon had gone with her. That Simon should now steal in so late and so silently infuriated him even further. Naturally he assumed Simon had been with Rhiannon. |
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Worst of all, Antwn had made it clear to him that it was not possible simply to find a dark corner and stick a knife between Simon's ribs. Simon was the only son of Prince Llewelyn's dear friend and clan brother Ian de Vipont. More important, he was personally a great favorite with the prince. And, at the moment, most important of all, he was an envoy from the Earl of Pembroke. Thus, if any harm should come |
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