While she slept, I gave in to the temptation to study her profile, noting as I had when I’d yanked off her helmet just how beautiful she was. Her features were elegant, her skin like fine rare pearls, and her red hair thick and lustrous.
In slumber, her perpetual glare and scowl had softened, and I felt almost sorry for her. She hadn’t asked for all this—being captured, forced to leave her home, and made to ride long hours in the summer heat. Even though I was frustrated by all the trouble she’d caused me during our journey, I couldn’t blame her for trying to free herself and her sister whose freedom she clearly cared about more than her own.
She was only doing what I would have if our roles had been reversed.
Nevertheless, I must fulfill my duty to Pitt and the king. They needed to bring the Earl of Ulster into submission, and apparently holding his daughters ransom was the way they planned to do it.
When twilight began to fall, I pushed the troops onward, even though my stomach ached with the pangs of hunger. I sensed when Olivia awoke by the sudden stiffening in her body, as though she’d forgotten where she was while she slept and had just remembered.
For a time, she attempted to hold herself aloof. But eventually, as earlier, she succumbed to the ease of leaning against my chest and resting in my hold. Although I’d loosened my grip, I kept one arm firmly locked around her middle while guiding the horse with my other. And while we were squeezed tightly into the saddle, I didn’t feel cramped, especially when she melded into me and simply rode with the motion of the horse.
We traveled late, until we finally reached a wellspring where our horses could be replenished. We hadn’t gone as far as I’d originally planned, but I’d pushed as hard as I could for the day.
When I assisted Olivia from the horse, she swayed, unsteady on her feet. I rapidly reached for her, my hands going to her waist.
However, the moment I touched her, she recoiled as if I’d bitten her, as if the past several hours of our close proximity had never occurred, as if I hadn’t just been holding her against my chest with my arms wrapped around her.
She started to stagger away from me. But I’d learned enough about her to realize she would try to escape again the first chance she had, and that the only way to stop her from running away was to keep her at my side.
I snagged her arm before she could go far.
“What?” she asked, all traces of slumber gone from her face, replaced with sharp alertness. “Will you prevent me a moment of privacy even now?”
I knew I needed to command one of my men to take over guarding her. Other matters needed my attention, and someone else could play nursemaid to this young woman. Nevertheless, the thought of handing her over to my men sent a strange patter of trepidation through me.
She’d proven to be too difficult for them. If I released her, she’d only cause more trouble, perhaps burn down the camp or take someone hostage or worse. My thoughts returned to the knife she’d plunged into Perceval last night. Even if the wound wasn’t deep or serious, and he was none the worse for it, I had no doubt she’d do it again if she got her hands on a weapon of any kind.
“You surely do not intend to chain me to your person.” Her voice was laced with irritation.
“As a matter of fact, that’s exactly what I was planning.” I hadn’t considered it, but something in her tone stoked my own ire. Perhaps the greatest way to annoy her in return was to make her do the thing she loathed the most—spend time with me.
“Since you are quite determined to make trouble for me any way you can conceive, you’ve given me no choice but to keep you by my side at all times.”
Around us, with torches now lit, my men had begun setting up camp, attending to the various duties I’d assigned to them at the outset of the campaign. Some would see to the horses, others would stand guard, and still others would oversee and assist the servants in preparing the evening meal.
Sir Darien approached with Lady Isabelle. He led her carefully as though she might break at any moment. Although Isabelle was wrinkled and dusty with travel, she smiled sweetly at Darien and complied with his directives. She behaved as a noblewoman should—docilely, kindly, and gratefully.
Unlike Olivia.
I leveled a censuring glare at the strong-willed woman, hoping she could read my admonition to act more like her younger sister.
“There you are, my lady,” Darien said stopping in front of Olivia. At Olivia’s slicing glare, he released Isabelle’s arm and stepped away from her.
“I thank you, sir,” Isabelle said demurely. “You have been most kind.”
Darien bowed his head, the silver links of his mail hood glistening against the torchlight. Even as he lowered his head, he couldn’t hide his admiration for the young noblewoman. While Isabelle lacked Olivia’s sharp, stunning beauty, she was still pretty in a soft, luminous way.
Seeing Darien’s infatuation, Olivia’s scowl deepened. He was a good-looking young man, and at eighteen years he was the youngest in the group, having recently been knighted for his brave deeds. He’d lived with Pitt for many years as a page and squire long before my arrival. He was from a wealthy family in the north, a second son, without inheritance, who would someday need to make his own fortune.
For now, however, I could give him a small measure of enjoyment and at the same time irk Olivia further.
“Sir Darien, you will guard Lady Isabelle the rest of the trip,” I said without swerving my attention from Olivia’s face.
She sucked in a breath and swung icy eyes upon me. “She has no need of a guard.”
“Perhaps not quite as much as you, my lady.” I held in a satisfied smile. “But Sir Darien will keep your sister company since she’ll no longer have the pleasure of being with you.”
Darien’s head had snapped up, and he looked between Olivia and me, confusion in his guileless eyes.
“I shall not allow it.” Olivia jerked her arm, trying to break free of my grasp, but I didn’t relent.
“Sir Darien, before you assist Lady Isabelle to her tent, you must do one thing.”
“Yes, Captain?” He cast a sideways glance at Isabelle, his face alight with the excitement of his new duty.
“Find a chain and bind Lady Olivia to me.”
Chapter
5
I couldn’t roll without the chain clinking. Therefore, I lay on my back on the bedroll Sir Aldric had placed next to his. The ground was too hard and lumpy, and I hadn’t been able to get comfortable since lying down.
The camp was silent except for the crackle of the fire and the raspy croaking of toads near the watering hole. The darkness of the sky overhead was broken only by thin wispy clouds that shrouded the moon, parting now and then to allow a glow to fall over the camp.
Sir Aldric’s breathing was heavy and even—the sign that he’d succumbed to his exhaustion.
I peered again at him sideways, to the place where my chain bound me to him. The clamp was locked securely around his bicep as surely as mine was locked around my wrist. I’d already attempted slipping the clamp off over my hand. But it was on tight—not enough to chaff my skin, but certainly not comfortable.
I had no idea where the key was. Even if I’d known, I wouldn’t be able to get to it, not without knocking Sir Aldric out and dragging him with me. But he’d left me no opportunity to do so, clearing away anything I might use as a weapon, even sticks and rocks. After my attempt at picking the lock, he’d even confiscated my hairpins, so that I was forced to braid my hair and use a leather strap to confine it.