The hour was late, the stars gleaming overhead. The Hawk had the sense that many of the celebrants had retired, these few souls lingering to savor each other’s company. Evangeline had a crown of daisies in her hair, as if she was Queen of the May herself, and he could not help but note how radiant she was—if a bit thinner than when she had left Inverfyre. Perhaps that was part of the contrast, as well, for she had been discontent on the day of her departure, resigned to a fate she did not desire, and subdued in a manner most unlike her customary nature. Her hand was held captive by the dark-haired man attentive by her side.
The Hawk cleared his throat. “May I find the Lady Evangeline of Inverfyre here?” he said, his voice sufficiently loud to carry.
“Papa?” Evangeline rose to her feet, her voice breathless and her eyes wide. “You are here, against all expectation!”
The Hawk lifted a brow. “I wager we interrupt a meeting of good friends.”
That man stood then beside Evangeline, still holding her hand, revealing that he was familiar indeed. Ramsay MacLaren seemed broader and taller than the Hawk recalled, a man in these times instead of a boy, a knight instead of a renegade. He held the Hawk’s gaze steadily for a moment then inclined his head in a slight bow.
“We meet again, sir, and the honor is mine.”
He had learned some manners as well as a measure of fine garb. The Hawk felt his resistance to this suit melting a little, though he gave no outward sign of that. “I believe my congratulations are in order,” he said, noting the gold silk bound to Ramsay’s upper arm. Another man might have been surprised for a lady to show favor to a combatant other than her betrothed, but Evangeline, it seemed, was her bold self again. That encouraged the Hawk as little else might have done. “We have heard of your triumph this day,” he said.
Ramsay turned to Evangeline, his eyes so alight that there could be no doubt of his admiration for her. “The lady and I were victorious together,” he said with a measure of awe.
“I smell a tale in that,” Aileen said and Evangeline smiled at her.
“Aye, Maman, I was glad of your tutelage.”
“Rufus meant to kill Ramsay with the flail, but your daughter struck him down instead,” contributed the other young knight.
“A knight in full armor, one armed with a flail?” the Hawk said.
Ramsay smiled at Evangeline and she smiled back at him, her joy banishing every last doubt in her father’s heart. “With a crossbow, sir. My own crossbow. This lady is a formidable foe.”
The Hawk found himself smiling, his gaze sliding to that of his wife. Aileen’s eyes danced. “I recall surrendering my heart to a bold maiden with a crossbow,” he murmured, prompting his wife’s smile. “Even one who intervened on my behalf.”
“Did I not note the comparison?” Aileen whispered, prompting his chuckle.
“I would hope to find more common ground with you, sir,” Ramsay said. “For Evangeline is my lady wife.”
The Hawk blinked, his good mood banished. “You are already wed to this man?” he demanded of Evangeline. “Without my endorsement of the match?”
Aileen cleared her throat in reminder of her own warning, but the Hawk did not look away from his daughter. Evangeline was flushing furiously, a sure sign that she intended to seek forgiveness for some transgression. “Not truly, Papa.”
The Hawk heard Aileen catch her breath.
“We pledged to each other, but have not exchanged vows before a priest on the steps of a church.”
Aileen exhaled audibly. “Ah, Evangeline, you so seldom heeded your catechism. Marriage is the sole sacrament that does not require a priest,” she said. “If you are wed in God’s eyes, then you are wed in that of men as well.”
Ramsay gave Evangeline a hard look and a nod. “I told her as much, my lady.”
“It seemed a most convenient tale,” Evangeline replied and the pair grinned at each other.
“It might bode well for you to have accepted a man who heeds such details,” Aileen said, sharing a smile with Ramsay that the Hawk could not overlook.
Evangeline appealed to him. “But I knew you would not approve of my match, Papa, but I love Ramsay truly and he loves me.” The Hawk noted the gold ring upon his daughter’s hand. “I knew your heart was hardened against any man who shares blood with the MacLarens…”
“Yet you surrendered your maidenhead anyway?”
She bit her lip, then nodded, guilty but unrepentant. “We did pledge to each other, Papa.”
Though truly, she might present her choice as a whim, but the Hawk recognized strategy when confronted with it. Once her maidenhead was surrendered, his own protests to the match would be compromised.
She was his daughter as much as Aileen’s.
“While others I have known chose to threaten a priest that vows might be exchanged,” Evangeline noted, with a glint in her eye.
