She felt him lift her hand, turn it palm uppermost, felt a light pressure on her palm that might have been a kiss, and her eyes snapped open.

She was too late. Rannulf had released her, and turned to the table, and she was scowling at his back. “Don’t do that!”

“Do what?” Rannulf enquired innocently over his shoulder. “What did I do?”

Judith flushed.

“Some wine, my lady?” Rannulf held out a goblet.

He was mocking her. “You know I’m not a lady, and I’m certainly not yours!” she snapped.

Rannulf put his hand on his heart. “I can live in hope, can I not?”

“Oh, you’re impossible!” Judith snatched at the cup, but felt the beginnings of a smile tremble on her lips. “If it weren’t for the fact that I need you, I’d wish you to the Devil!”

“But you do need me,” he pointed out.

“Aye.” Judith stared moodily at the blood-red wine in her cup. She hated being beholden to anyone. She valued her independence above all else. That was why she’d chosen to go with her brothers instead of taking up the veil…

Something Rannulf had said stirred uneasily in her mind. She looked at him. There was no tactful way of asking this. “Rannulf, how much did you have to pay for me?” she asked bluntly.

Rannulf spluttered on his wine.

Cheeks aflame, Judith ploughed on. “I…I have no means of repaying you,” she explained stiffly. “And I…I would not see you beggared.” She pulled on a cushion tassel, and twisted the silken skeins round her fingers.

There was a dreadful silence, and Judith knew she had blundered. Rannulf’s face darkened.

“Maybe I should take what I’ve paid for,” he said in a hard, stranger’s voice. “Then there would be no talk of debts.”

Judith caught her breath. She lifted her eyes. “Rannulf, I’m sorry…”

Rannulf was favouring her with a glance which all but scorched her flimsy clothes from her body. His hands were clenched so hard that his knuckles gleamed white. Judith squared her shoulders and wrestled with a sudden impulse to move out of his reach.

“You wouldn’t. Not you, Rannulf.” she forced a smile.

“Can you be sure of that?” he demanded coldly.

“Aye. I think I can. The Rannulf that looked after me four years ago would never force—”

“Ah, but as you so rightly pointed out, my princess—” Judith bristled. The slaver had called her that in the market. Did Rannulf have to fling it at her as though it were a weapon? A dark brow arched “—times have changed since then. I am a mercenary coming home from the wars. I have bought your beautiful body…” His eyes glittered as he looked at her.

“But it would be wrong. I do not want—”

“I am to all intents and purposes a mercenary, Judith. I came on this crusade to earn my way in life. Do you think a mercenary should care for justice any more than Baron Hugo de Mandeville and his Norman compatriots?”

Judith put her hand to her head. “Rannulf…I’m sorry. I should not have said it. Please do not be angry—”

Rannulf did not hear her. “Do you loathe mercenaries as much as you despise Normans, Judith?”

“I…I didn’t know you were a mercenary,” she stammered, wishing there were some way she could reach him, but his anger was a wall between them.

His mouth twisted. “Mercenaries place themselves beyond what it good and right, Judith. Money is their master. That is their right and wrong. They have no moral code. That is what I have become. I tell you now, so you know. I am no better than an outlaw.”

Judith tensed She was an outlaw…

“So why should I not take you if I want?” Rannulf continued. “I have, as you say, paid for you. And by the laws that operate in this place that gives me the right.”

“I don’t believe you!” Judith flared. “You would not. And you’re no mercenary.”

“My lord Fitz Osbern paid me to come on crusade in his entourage,” Rannulf told her. “So what does that make me?”

Judith began to relax. That hard, glittering light was fading from his eyes. “Outlaws do not lack morals—” she’d learned to press home any slight advantage “—it may not be the official moral code, but a code there most certainly is. Even mercenaries must have a code—they must be loyal to the paymaster, or no one would hire them. Mercenaries and outlaws have to know right from wrong. They must abide by their own laws.”