She closed the distance and threw her arms around him, as she had done her father. “Oh, Colin, I knew you’d come.” She stood on the tips of her toes and pressed her cheek against his — about the only part of his body not covered in chain mail.
“How did you recognize me?” It wasn’t what he had planned to say to her upon first seeing her again. But he was very aware that her father was only a few feet away.
“Oh, Colin! You are well! You are here! I thank God.” She pulled away to look at him. “You look so handsome in armor.” Her smile made his chest tighten. “I must look a fright after walking for hours, then sleeping in my clothes — my mother’s dress at that. I probably have spider webs in my hair too, from walking through the tunnel.” She rubbed her hand over her hair, which hung loose around her shoulders.
“You look beautiful to me.” He longed to say more but a lump formed in his throat. He only hoped that later they would find a few moments to be alone.
Margaretha had yearned to see Colin again, but now she felt shy. It was strange to be surrounded by people, when she so wanted to speak to him alone. And by the look on his face, he was feeling the same thing. Somehow, telling him he was handsome in his armor, and the way he had told her she was beautiful, had seemed incongruous with her father standing only four feet away. She felt herself blushing.
Strange how she was more interested in talking with Colin than with her own father! And it had been longer since she’d seen her father. Should she feel guilty?
The other men continued on their way, and her father was turning to leave too.
Colin leaned closer. He only said, “I have to go,” but a world of words were in his eyes.
Margaretha held tight to his arm. “Take me with you.”
He got that anxious look, just as he had when she had asked to take Toby with them. “You should stay here. It will be safer.” But the edge in his voice proved that he didn’t believe she would.
“You must take me with you. Nothing bad will happen to me.”
Her father, who had mounted his horse but was still very near them, said to Colin, “The two of you will stay at the rear of the fighting men, and you can be Margaretha’s guard. We should be able to defeat Claybrook’s men rather quickly, since we greatly outnumber them.” He smiled a bit ruefully, as if he knew something she didn’t. “I’m sure you’ll keep her safe.”
Margaretha turned a triumphant smile on Colin. “Yes, you’ll keep me safe.”
“There’s an extra horse in the back,” her father said.
Once Margaretha was mounted on a horse, Colin rode beside her, and they cantered until they were near the front of the great company of knights and soldiers. Several carried torches so that they would be able to see their way through the dense forest up ahead.
Colin kept glancing at her, and she at him, but they had little opportunity to talk. The other men crowded around them, laughing and shouting, eager to begin the battle for Hagenheim Castle.
The journey was accomplished much faster on horseback than it had on foot, and soon they were at the edge of the meadow outside the town wall where the entrance to the tunnel was located.
After they tied the horses to the trees next to the meadow, Colin stepped toward her. He was so close, if she had lifted her hand, she would have brushed his arm. He looked into her eyes as if he was about to ask her something important.
Her heart skipped a few beats, and she focused on his perfect lips. How would it feel to kiss them? Did he want to kiss her?
Her father cleared his throat from only a few feet away. “We’ll go through the tunnel to attack.”
Margaretha and Colin each took a step back. To cover her embarrassment, she did what she always did in uncomfortable moments. “I shall have to tell you both how I escaped from Lord Claybrook last evening, and you must tell me what happened after I was taken by Claybrook’s men on the road to Marienberg.” She glanced at her father, then grabbed Colin’s hand. She gave it a squeeze and tried to let go, but he held on. Her father looked at their joined hands but said nothing, only moved forward, giving orders to various men as he went.
“I got a little lost in the woods that morning,” she told Colin, “and couldn’t find my way back to where you and Toby were, next to the stream. I was so frightened when I realized I was lost, but I thought if I could find the road, I could find my way back. And as soon as I stepped out onto the road, Claybrook’s men were right there, staring at me. I didn’t want them to find you and Toby, so I told them you had died. Of course, they didn’t know about Toby, but I was afraid they would kill you and leave poor Toby alone in the woods, so I knew I had to go with them.”
Colin nodded as they waited behind the men. “I understand.” Her father walked forward to the front of the great company of men.
“They did not mistreat me, but they did tie my hands and feet at night so I couldn’t escape, which made me very angry.”