The Mysterious Knight 🏹 🔞 |Harry Styles AU| COMPLETED ✔

Chapter 10

“I will not take my clothes off , just because you tell me to, Harry Styles, you lecherous brute!
Don't you dare approach me are I'll... I'll ”

Rosaline backed away from him, frantically looking around for some heavy object to throw at him.
Harry completely unaffected by all her threats and insults just kept walking towards her.

“Don’t be a fool, Rosaline. I’m not going to ravish you.
I only want to put some of this salve on your back, and then I’m going to put you to bed.”

“Ha!” Rosaline cried, bumping into a table as she moved around the small room.
“You admit your evil intentions, you…you…lewd fiend!”

Harry gritted his teeth, running out of patience,  felt a headache coming on.
He was tempted to throw away the ointment the innkeeper’s wife had given him that morn right out the window.

If he hadn’t known that Rosaline was suffering badly after their day’s long ride, he would have done just that, without the least hesitation, but she was suffering and he was going to put the salve on her.
The girl was too damned stubborn to know what was good for her.

Drawing in several deep breath, he tried to speak more calmly.

“Be reasonable, Rosaline!
Your back pains you, and you’re hungry.
Not to mention you look as tired  as if you’re about to fall on your face.
Let me put a little of this on your back to ease you , then I’ll go downstairs and fetch you something to eat while you get into the bed. How does that sound?”

Wonderful, Rosaline thought. All she wanted was to give in...
But she wasn't stupid enough, to disrobe in front of this man and let him touch her again!

“I’ll put the salve on my own, I definitely don't need your help,” she countered,
“and you needn't to worry yourself ,just have one of the serving maids bring me something to eat.”

Harry sighed.
He felt like pulling all his hair out !He'd never met a more stubborn female in his life!
If he’d ever met a woman more exasperating than Rosaline no-name, he never would have forgotten her.

“I didn’t bundle you into this inn in that heavy cloak for no reason, Rosaline.
If any of those men downstairs ever hear that I’m keeping a beautiful maiden in my room, I’ll end up having to kill half of them just to keep your precious virtue intact.
I can’t take the chance of letting anyone see you, not even a maid. You understand that, do you not?”

A chill crept up Rosaline's spine. She hadn’t been able to make out much from the depths of the dark cloak Harry Styles had made her wear into the inn, but she’d seen enough to know that the men patronizing the tavern were exactly the same sort who had accosted her two nights before.

“I understand,” she replied in a scared tone.

“Good. Now take off your clothes and let me put this ointment on you.”

Despite her weariness, Rosaline hadn’t lost any of her fight.

“I’ll not, you lecher! You’re only doing this to take advantage of me!”

That was it. Harry had had enough.

“If I’d wanted to take advantage of you, sweet, I would have done so last night when you were begging me to give you pleasure !”

Rosaline gasped. “I never…I never did such a thing! You filthy beast!”

“Rosaline,” he said in a low voice, advancing on her again,
“I am tired, and I am hungry, and I want to go down stairs and have a  more than welcome cup of ale!
But most of all, my fine lady, I am beyond tired of being called every base name under God’s sun!
Unless you want me to undress you myself you will remove you clothes off. And that to Now!!”

His roar seemed to shake the whole room, and Rosaline knew that she had pushed him too far. She had only seen such a look of fury on one other man’s face, and the last time she had defied her uncle he had taken a whip and beaten her.

It was that memory that defeated her, and she bowed her head. With shaking fingers she began to unlace her surcot...

***

Damn, he was in a foul mood!

Harry swallowed his third tankard of ale and wondered what devils tortured him, to put him in this situation!
He didn't ask for any of this!

He felt like his head was going to split in two!

Way to go, to be rewarded for his good wills. For once in his life he's putting someone else's welfare before his own and this is What He gets out of it!

It felt like bitterness had become his life-long companion.
And now more than ever he felt the need to get it all out of his system.

If someone didn’t give him a good reason to release his fury soon he would have to seek out a fight himself, and that was always a nuisance.

He set the tankard down and rubbed a hand over his tired eyes.

Damn her! Damn her!
It was that wretched female’s fault, every bit of it, and he only hoped she was as miserable as he was.
God’s teeth, he was beginning to hate women, the fickle, useless shrews.
There was only one thing they were good for, and the particular female he was stuck with wasn’t even any good for that.

He couldn't even get anywhere near her without her getting hysterical about it. Leave aside getting inside her!

Damn her…Rosaline.
He was miserable.
He didn’t want to think of her, didn’t even want to think her name.

He had lost his temper, he’d shouted at her, and the fight had gone out of her as though he’d actually struck her a blow.

She’d started removing her clothing with trembling obedience, sickening him with the realization of what he’d done and enraging him anew at the bastard who had abused her so badly.

He’d made her stop when she’d gotten to her chemise, and then, feeling as great a bastard as her uncle, he’d carefully put the salve on without exposing her skin to his sight.

She’d slid into the bed without a word after that, and when he had later taken her a tray of food, she had still refused to speak to him.

He’d come downstairs feeling like nothing better than a great, hulking bully and had every intention of drinking himself into oblivion and then soothing his nerves with a good, vigorous fight.

His sharp eyes roamed the crowded tavern with acute skill, rapidly picking out the potential opponents to be had.

Briefly, his eyes rested on the well rounded serving girl who had earlier made him an offer he had a hard time refusing.

She caught his gaze and winked at him, letting him know that the offer was still open, and Harry eyed her prospectively.

She wasn’t a beauty by any stretch of the imagination, but she had a fine body.

Her breasts were lovely, Harry knew, for she had trapped him in the shadows of the stairwell and displayed them quite prettily.

They were made for a man to enjoy, just as the rest of her was, and Harry was more than highly tempted.

Yes, indeed. Highly tempted.

And he needed something to take his mind off the morrow, for tomorrow he would finally see Marcel. After ten years…

Marcel...

He shut his eyes and felt himself plunging headlong into hell.