Chapter 3 #3
“Oh that’s real effective,” Sin said sarcastically. “Halt or I shall say halt again.”
Roger’s orders didn’t even slow her down. Roger attempted to run after her, but the crowd prevented him. Sin saw the frustration on Roger’s face a moment before the earl shouted, “Twenty silver marks to the person who stops that woman and child!”
Sin cursed Roger’s stupidity as every person on the street stopped what they were doing and started after the woman and boy.
“That was unwise.” Simon voiced Sin’s thoughts with a much more polite choice of words than those in Sin’s mind.
Sin reined his horse as Shitan grew nervous from all the sudden activity. His warhorse had been trained to kill and the last thing he wanted was innocent blood spilled because Roger was an idiot.
“We’ll never catch her now,” Simon said.
“Aye, but we will.”
Turning his horse about, Sin headed away from the crowd and into a side street. When it came to the streets of London, he knew them well.
Not to mention he could follow the woman’s path by the screams and shouts of the mob. He spurred his horse forward. He would have to catch her before the raging mob tore her apart.
Callie trembled as she ran pell-mell through the streets. Her sides ached as she struggled to breathe.
“I can’t keep up,” Jamie wailed.
“You have to, sweeting. If we stop now, they’ll have us for sure.”
She didn’t dare tell him that the mob would most likely tear them apart in an effort to claim the twenty silver marks. ‘Twas a fortune the knight had offered them.
Jamie stumbled.
Callie turned around to help him up, but it was too late. The frenzied mob surrounded them instantly.
“I have them, milord!” a grimy man shouted as he grabbed her arm.
“Nay, ye don’t, ye ugly bugger, I have her.”
The cry went up from every direction as a thousand hands pulled at her, ripped her clothes and hair. Callie cried out
in pain, but no one seemed to care.
“Jamie!” She could neither see nor hear her brother through the crowd.
Then, out of nowhere, a huge black stallion appeared. The crowd scattered as the horse reared, flashing hooves and driving them away from her.
Her heart pounding, Callie looked up to see Lord Sin.
He brought his horse under control with the ease of a seasoned warrior. And when he extended his hand to her, she didn’t hesitate to accept it.
He pulled her up to sit before him and she quickly looked to see Jamie being rescued by an auburn-haired knight on a light gray horse. Breathing in relief, she crossed herself and whispered a quick thank you to the Lord and his saints.
But her relief didn’t last long as she became acutely aware of the man holding her. The strength of him surrounded her, making her strangely hot. English he might be, there was something about Lord Sin that she found greatly unnerving and appealing.
At a score-and-six in age, Callie was a far cry from an uninformed, young maid who knew nothing of the relationships between men and women.
Even though she’d never been touched by a man, her married friends had seen her well-schooled in the mechanics of wifely duties.
She’d always found the idea of what they described a bit messy and undignified.
At least, until she had seen Lord Sin’s bare chest.
In that moment, her thoughts had taken a sharp turnaround.
For some reason, the thought of being so intimate with him seemed anything but disgusting or crude.
“It appears, milady, that you are ever out of the frying pan and into the fire.”
She blinked at his deep baritone as she dragged her thoughts away from their course and focused them on what was happening to her. “My uncle claims ‘tis a special talent I possess.”
Lord Sin smiled at that, causing a strange weakness to sweep through her. He was simply gorgeous when he smiled.
He wheeled his horse about and started for the castle.
“I don’t suppose I could bribe you into setting us free?” she asked hopefully.
“You know better.”
Her throat tightened as she blinked back tears at the harsh insistence in his voice. “All I want is to go home. Can you not understand that?”
A strange emotion darkened his eyes as if her words had pricked at some sad memory. “Aye, milady,” he said quietly. “I can well understand your feelings.”
“Then why can’t you let me go?”
“Because Henry needs you here to see to it your people leave his alone.”
“You mean to leave your people alone.”
His gaze turned dull at that. “I have no people,” he said solemnly.
She paused, and her gaze dipped to his chest where English knights wore their family or lord’s arms. His was bare and suddenly she understood why. “If you don’t owe your allegiance to the English, then let—”
“I owe my allegiance to Henry, and Henry wants you to stay.”
She went rigid in frustration. “Fine. But I won’t stop trying.”
The edge of his lips quirked as if he wanted to smile, but wouldn’t let himself. “And I won’t stop catching you.”
Callie crossed her arms over her chest as she tried her best not to touch any part of him. But it was difficult. Especially since his arms surrounded her like bands of steel, keeping her locked onto his saddle.
The scent of elderberries and sandalwood clung to him. It was a warm, intoxicating smell. She could feel his strong heart thumping against her shoulder blade as they made their way back into the inner bailey of the castle.
He was so handsome, this stranger, and though he denied it repeatedly and others constantly assured her otherwise, she suspected he was not the devil he pretended to be.
If he were the monster of legend, he wouldn’t be capable of such kindness.
Nor would he have cared what happened to her or her brother.
As they drew near the stable, she saw the English king waiting with two of his guards standing behind him. There was also a small group of noblemen and women who eyed them and the king curiously. No doubt, they were seeking gossip fodder.
The look on King Henry’s face was not a happy one.
“What happened?” the king demanded as they stopped before him. “I was just told of her disappearance and was preparing a search party.”
Lord Sin helped her down, then slung one long leg over his horse and dismounted.
“Nothing,” he said, then added belatedly, “Sire. The lady merely felt the need to get a breath of fresh air. I had my eye on her the entire time.”
Henry narrowed his gaze on her suspiciously while Simon and Jamie dismounted from their horse.
Simon held her brother back with a gentle hand.
For once Jamie remained silent while awed by the presence of the English king their uncle had made out to be the devil incarnate.
No doubt the lad feared to move lest Henry make his next supper from the lad’s flesh.
When the king glanced back to Lord Sin, she noted the way his gaze softened ever so slightly. “Well, ‘tis glad we are to see you two together. ‘Tis our hope to see the two of you well suited.”
Callie frowned as an uneasy feeling came over her. “I beg your pardon, Majesty?”
Henry ignored her as he took a step toward Sin and said in a tone for only the two of them to hear. “I have found that priest, Sin, and on the morrow I shall see the two of you wed.”