“Aye,” she replied, but she shifted one last time and brushed against his semi-arousal and he grunted. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he growled. “Cease your fidgets so that we might be home before sundown.”
“But your thighs are like rocks,” she sniffed. “’Tis as if I am sitting on the stone floor.”
His thick arm snatched her against his hard chest, stilling any further movement. “Enough.”
He was preparing to rein the horse from the small clearing when there was suddenly movement through the trees ahead of them. Alec stiffened, moving to unstrap his crossbow, when afamiliar warrior burst through the trees and headed straight for him.
“Alec!” Ali bellowed. “Where in the hell have you been? Your father is distraught!”
Alec watched impassively as his friend approached. “I was…. out looking for Lady Peyton and her sister. I have only just come across her. How did you find me?”
Peyton’s eyebrows rose slightly at the lie, but the knight simply nodded his helmed head as he reined his snorting charger next to them.
“I heard you whistle for Midas, of course. Greetings, demoiselle,” Ali dipped his head to Peyton. “Lord Summerlin will be glad to see that you have survived your adventure whole.”
“Her sister took to the south, through the woods. Make yourself useful and go find her. I shall return Lady Peyton to Blackstone.”
Ali shook his head, resting a massive gloved hand on his thigh. “I am afraid of her, Alec. Can I not take Lady Peyton while you search for the sister?”
“Whelp,” Alec grumbled. “What is it about Lady Ivy that frightens you? She is a lovely girl.”
“She is indeed, but she can best me in a fight, I know it. And she will most certainly not come peacefully, which could only result in my severe injury or worse.”
Peyton could sense the humor between them and was therefore not offended by the insult dealt to her sister. In fact, it was the truth.
“I will tell you a secret about my sister, my lord,” she said to Ali. “She has a weakness on her left side. She focuses on the right.”
Underneath his visor, Ali grinned. “Thank you, demoiselle. I shall remember to blindside her. We have not yet been introduced, but I am Ali Boratu.”
“Sir Ali,” she greeted. “I remember you from last night.”
“It is not ‘Sir’ Ali, but simply Ali,” he corrected her.
Peyton looked puzzled. “I…. I apologize for the mistake, but I assumed you were…. you are not a knight?”
“Nay,” he said flatly, turning his attention to Alec. “Your mother is raging, Alec. Mayhap you should return immediately and soothe her. You left without a word last night and she is in a foul mood, and the ladies’ disappearance has exacerbated her terribly.”
Alec grunted. “Mother is always aggravated.”
Ali suddenly flipped up his visor, wiping his damp forehead and Peyton’s mouth went agape with surprise.
“You are the black man!” she blurted.
Ali looked at her as if she had just accused him of being a leper. His onyx eyes bulging, he ripped off his gauntlet and let out a high-pitched scream at the sight of his naked hand. “My God! I am!”
Alec grinned as Ali played off Peyton’s shock. Peyton, however, was too consumed with the dark vision before her to lend credence to the humor of Ali’s jest. Instead, her jaw hung slack and she continued to gaze at him as if beholding Lucifer’s demon. She’d never seen anything like him in her entire life and was understandably astonished. It was a moment before she found her tongue.
“Where…. where are you from?”
Ali was smiling in response to Alec’s humorous reaction, glancing at his friend over Peyton’s head. “My family is from a land very far away, demoiselle.”
She closed her hanging mouth, but her expression was decidedly wary. She could only see his eyes and a portion of his face through the raised visor and wondered if the complete picture of him was more animalistic than human. The prospect was terrifying and fascinating at the same time.
“How did you come to England?”
Ali’s smile faded; he could tell from her furrowed brow that she was preparing to view him as every other woman did. She did not have to utter a word regarding her thoughts; he could read them easily. Mind-reading had become a practiced talent for him.
