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Yanking up her skirts so she wouldn’t trip over them, Lizette ran after her. Her cloak flapped out behind her like a pennant in the breeze; her coronet fell off her head, and then her veil, but she didn’t care. Unfortunately, her bodice wasn’t laced for running and soon she could hardly breathe—but still she didn’t stop.
Until a hand grabbed hold of her cloak and jerked her to a halt.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Lindall barked as he pulled her back. “Think you’re going to get away when Lord Wimarc’s offered all that money, and I can have my way with you?”
A sob of fear and helplessness broke from Lizette’s throat as Keldra kept running, not looking back. Leaving her.
“Let go o’ the lady and drop yer sword, boyo, or I’ll be runnin’ you through and sendin’ you straight to hell.”
Lizette’s breath caught. She knew that voice. Dear God, she knew that voice! Sir Oliver, come like a hero to save her!
With a sound between a sob and a cry of joy, she turned to see Sir Oliver with the point of his sword pressing against Lindall’s back as the former second-in-command of Averette raised his arms in surrender.
“Go after your maid, my lady,” Sir Oliver said. “Now, before this blackguard’s men realize you’re getting away.”
She nodded once and gathered up her skirts, then hesitated. “And you?”
Sir Oliver gave her a smile that had no mirth or joy in it. “I’ll join you soon, my lady.”
Pleased, relieved, but far from feeling safe, she did as he told her, and ran.
THE IRISHMAN, who was sometimes known as Sir Oliver de Leslille, waited until Lady Elizabeth was out of sight, then ordered the lout at the end of his sword to go into the woods.
He hadn’t planned to interfere. He hadn’t even been following Lady Elizabeth’s cortege. Yet he’d been close by and heard the sounds of fighting, and when he’d seen the hard-nosed Scot lying dead on the ground, he’d known there was only one thing to do: find the lady and her maid and keep them safe.
Thank God he’d gotten to them in time … although he might not be such a hero as he wanted to believe. As she’d faced her enemy, her bountiful fair hair disheveled, her clothing rumpled and muddy, Lady Elizabeth had been no meek and terrified victim; he had seen the fierce courage in her eyes and knew she would have fought to the death to protect herself and, even more impressively, her maidservant.
“Hurry up,” he commanded the varlet who’d led the attack against the lady’s cortege, shoving the tip of his sword against the man’s mail-clad back to make his point.
As they entered the shelter of the trees, the lout turned around, wary, but not afraid. “You don’t want to kill me. I can get you money—lots of money. Lizette—Lady Elizabeth, the woman you let run off—Lord Wimarc de Werre’s offered me a reward if I bring her to his castle.”
These men belonged to Wimarc? They were no band of outlaws and thieves, but that man’s mercenaries?
Then this attack had been on his orders. But why?
It could be to force a marriage—except that Wimarc already had a wife.
Rape?
To be sure, Lady Elizabeth was lovely and spirited, and he certainly wouldn’t put rape past Wimarc, but abducting a ward of the king—which she must be, since her sister Adelaide was—was a far different crime from raping a servant or peasant, or even another nobleman’s daughter or wife. Wimarc wouldn’t dare do something like that unless he thought he could get away with it, or didn’t care if he roused the king’s ire. “What does he want with her?”
“Who knows?” the lout retorted as sweat dripped down his wide face. “What have men like us to do with the likes o’ them? It’s enough to watch out for ourselves, and he’s willing to pay if we take her to him.”
Giving Lady Elizabeth to Wimarc would get him inside the man’s fortress, but getting in was never the problem.
The problem would be rescuing his imprisoned half brother and getting out again.
Besides, he wouldn’t use a woman that way. Not any woman, and especially not any relative of Adelaide d’Averette.
But he wasn’t about to let this blackguard know that. “If she’s so important, maybe he’ll pay even more. That’s not so large a sum when split between so many.”
“Wimarc only offered the reward to me. Those others are Wimarc’s mercenaries. I’m not.”
The lout licked his dry lips. “And I wouldn’t try to haggle with him, not unless I wanted to wind up in his dungeon. Do you know what happens to his prisoners?”
“I’ve heard.” Slow starvation. A little food in the beginning, gradually diminishing to nothing.
Was Ryder still getting something to eat? Or had his time run out?
The lout took a step forward, only to halt abruptly as the Irishman raised the tip of his sword level with the man’s eye.
“A fellow’s got to look out for himself,” the blackguard said, desperation in his voice and sweat dripping from his brow. “Come, man, it’s fifty marks he’s offered! That’s twenty-five marks for you, and all you have to do is help me get hold of a woman.”
“You seemed to be having a little trouble with that woman.”
“That’s because she’s a hellion, but the two of us should have no trouble taming her. And Wimarc doesn’t care if she’s a virgin. Leastways, he never said she had to be, so add that to your payment. Twenty-five marks and a pretty virgin—that ought to be worth my life.”
The Irishman lowered his blade.
“I knew you were a smart fellow,” the lout said with relief. “Come on. She can’t run far. There’s her maid, too. We’ll have fine sport tonight!”
He went to go past the Irishman, but in the blink of an eye, the Irishman shoved his blade beneath the lout’s arm with a thrust so powerful, it went right through his mail.
As the Irishman held the former second-in-command of Averette in a deadly embrace, Lindall’s eyes widened with shock. Blood trickled from his lips and he tried, uselessly, to talk.
“Rape holds no appeal for me,” the Irishman said. He shoved the sword in farther. “This is for the other women you’ve raped, the men who died today, and especially the lady.”
TRYING TO DRAW IN a deep breath, perspiration pouring down her back and sides, Lizette rounded a bend in the road and saw Keldra hiding—ineffectually—behind a chestnut tree.
The girl let out a cry of relief and ran toward her.
“Oh, my lady,” she sobbed as she threw her arms around her mistress, “what are we going to do?”
Lizette gently disengaged herself from the girl’s fierce grasp. “We can’t stay here,” she said. “We have to hide and wait for Sir Oliver.”
“Where?”
“The safest place I can find.”
“How will he find us if we’re hiding?” Keldra wondered aloud as she trotted after Lizette.
“He knows which way we went, and we’ll watch for him,” Lizette replied.
As she plunged into the shadowy undergrowth, branches and brambles caught her cloak and hair. Fatigue and the stress of all they’d been through began to creep over her. She wanted to cry, too—to weep and wail and mourn for Iain, a good man dead because she had been reluctant to hurry home.
She swiped at her tear-filled eyes. Mourning and recriminations could wait. Now they had to find a safe hiding place not too far from the road so they could watch for Sir Oliver.
She came upon a thicket of beech saplings around what must have been a boar’s wallow. There was no boar using it now, or the muddy bottom and sides would be churned up. And it would smell of such a beast, too. They should be safe here.
She pushed her way through the natural fence, pulling Keldra along behind her, then knelt on the leaf-covered ground and peered through the slender branches, making sure she could see the road and anyone who came along it.
Keldra sat beside her, covered her tear-streaked face with her hands, and wept.
As they waited for what seemed hours, Lizette tried not to let despair and dismay overtake her, even though she was haunted by the memory of Iain’s death, and racked with guilt.
If she hadn’t been so annoyed at being summoned home like a child, if she hadn’t dawdled on the road, or fallen sick and then claimed she was still unwell and so must travel slowly, they would all be safely back at Averette by now.
Perhaps Iain wasn’t dead, but only wounded. Lindall might be lying, or he could have been wrong. Maybe if they went back, she would find Iain seriously wounded, but alive.
Yet she didn’t dare return to the site of the attack, at least not yet. Not until Sir Oliver arrived and told her it was safe.
Perhaps he would also know what this Lord Wimarc might want with her. All she could think of was ransom.
She finally heard something that prompted her to inch forward, moving more branches out of the way. Relief melted her fear as Sir Oliver, scanning the trees, jogged down the road toward their hiding place, his sword in his hand.
He was alone. Where was the rest of his hunting party? Where were her men?
She pushed her way out of the thicket, followed by the weeping Keldra. “Sir Oliver!”
He came to a halt and gestured for them to join him. “Stay with me and be as quiet as you can.”
“Where’s the rest of your hunting party?”
“I’ll take you to them now.”
“What about the rest of my men?”
“Dead or dying, my lady.”
“That can’t be true!” she protested, fear rising again. “Iain’s the best soldier in England and the best commander. My men are the best garrison in England. Surely no motley crew of outlaws or mercenaries could defeat them all.”
“They were outnumbered three to one, and now the blackguards who attacked you are going to be coming after you. We’ve got to get away from here as quickly as we can.”
It seemed her choice was simple: stay and risk capture, or go with Sir Oliver.
Without another word, Lizette put her arm around Keldra to support her, and went with Sir Oliver.
CHAPTER THREE
“THANK YOU for coming to our aid,” Lizette panted some time later as she and Keldra continued down the road with Sir Oliver. It had been morning when they’d been attacked; judging by the sun, it was now past noon.
“No matter,” he brusquely replied.
No matter to him perhaps, but if he hadn’t appeared, if he hadn’t stopped Lindall. She tried not to think of what could have happened to her and Keldra then.
Sir Oliver suddenly stopped and held up his hand. At nearly the same time, a youth of about sixteen slithered down a nearby tree, a bow slung over his back and a quiver of arrows hanging at his side. Like Sir Oliver, he wore a leather tunic with no shirt beneath, woolen breeches and boots, and his hair likewise brushed shoulders that were nearly as broad as the Irish nobleman’s.
He must be one of the hunting party, a servant probably, although she had no idea why he’d be up in a tree.
“Ah, Garreth, here you are,” Sir Oliver said as the young man walked toward them, his questioning gaze sweeping over them before coming to rest on Sir Oliver.
“Lady Elizabeth, this is Garreth,” Sir Oliver said. “Garreth, this is Lady Elizabeth and her maidservant.”
“Keldra,” Lizette supplied as the young man regarded them with furrowed brow and wary eyes.
“I got separated from the rest of our party,” Sir Oliver explained. “I assume you did, too, and were up there searching for me, or one of the others. I have no idea where the rest of the hunting party’s got to, but thankfully I was able to come to this lady’s aid when her cortege was attacked, although I couldn’t do much more.”
Nodding, Garreth tugged his forelock. “A pleasure, my lady,” he replied, in an accent quite different from Sir Oliver’s. If she had to guess, she’d say he was from London, not Ireland. “And as you say, my lord, I was looking for the others. No sign of ‘em, I’m afraid. That gamekeeper’s going to have some explaining to do—and that dog boy, too,” he added with righteous indignation. “Telling me to go north and then disappearin’ with the dogs. I’d like to get my hands on him, I would, and teach him a thing or two about—”
“In good time,” Sir Oliver interrupted. “For now, we’d best get this lady and her maid to safety, to the convent.”
“The convent?” the young man repeated, although he wasn’t nearly as surprised as Lizette.
“Will your host not give us sanctuary?” Lizette asked.
“The convent would be better,” Sir Oliver said shortly, with no more explanation. “Now come.”
Lizette made no move to follow. Perhaps she’d been a fool to trust this nobleman after all. What did she really know about him except what he himself had told her?
She began to back away. “Where are you taking us?”
“To safety,” Sir Oliver impatiently answered.
“Not Wimarc?”
“Wimarc?” Garreth cried as if her suggestion wasn’t just ludicrous, but sinful.
“Apparently he’s offering a reward for this lady, but he’s not going to get her,” Sir Oliver replied.
Get her? He made her sound like a bone two dogs were fighting over.
This was not good. Not good at all.
Taking hold of Keldra’s trembling arm, she moved back more, ready to run again even if they died of exhaustion.
Sir Oliver realized what she was doing and frowned with frustration. “I’m not going to hurt you and I’m not taking you to Wimarc. I give you my word that I’ll not give you, or any woman, into his keeping, whether there’s a reward or not.”
That promise didn’t assuage her dread. “I don’t know you. I’ve never met you before, never heard your name. How can I be sure your word’s worth anything?”
His handsome features hardened to a stony mask. “Unless you want to be taken by Wimarc’s men, my lady, I don’t think you have much choice except to trust me.”
Garreth nodded as he plucked the string of his bow against his chest. “You can trust him, my lady. Finn never hurts women.”
Finn?
“Nor robs them, either, if they give him a kiss.”
God help them! “You’re the thief!” she gasped while Keldra moaned softly.
