In spite of every argument that told him to stay as far away from her as he could—to head south to France or even as far as Italy to avoid her andthe confusing feelings she awoke inside him—Valteri stepped forward to offer her comfort.
She looked up at him with a guileless frown that tugged at his heart. Aye, this was hell on earth.
For she was all he’d ever wanted.
And everything he could never have.
“But between us, I doubt that anyone is truly sane.” If he were, he’d run as far away as he could.
Yet here he stood like a total imbecile.
Rain burst from the dark clouds, unleashing huge drops that pelted them like angry stones.
“Come, milady. Fear no more for your mind. Everything will come to you, given time.”
She looked up at him, her eyes trusting and large, and nodded. How did she manage to see him when no one else did? Others stared at him with fear and suspicion.
But never her.
Unused to such trust and tenderness, he felt the last of his resistance fall. It left him naked and vulnerable to her. He hated it. Most of all, he resented the power it gave her over him.
Damn that last shred of humanity that he’d never quite banished. How could it not have been beaten out of him by now? How could there be anything left inside his heart other than pure hatred and disdain?
Yet somehow she’d found some shriveled-up part of his decency, and breathed a life into it that he’d have denied three heartbeats ago.
The rain fell harder, pelting him more, but he didn’t care.
Suddenly, a bright flash of lightning struck a section of the wall beside them. So close, it barely missed where they stood.
Valteri pulled back in shock, his gaze drawn to the scorched stone that smoldered less than a foot from him.
That had been too close. He needed to get her to safety before the storm turned even more violent.
Or he became more stupid.
Taking her hand, he pulled her toward their horses, then swung her up into the saddle of her palfrey. As soon as he was mounted on his own horse, he reached for her reins so that he could lead her back toward the hall as quickly as possible.
The storm was brutal. If he didn’t know better, he’d think the weather had a grudge against him to match that of the rest of the world. It was an all-out onslaught that almost matched the Saxon rebellion he’d been battling these many months past.
Just as he topped the rise that marked the halfway point to the manor,a scream rang out behind him. He turned to see Ariel slipping from her mount.
Valteri tried to catch her, but he wasn’t fast enough.
Damn the weight of her heavy woolen dress and cloak that had become soaked in the freezing rain!
’Twas like an anchor about her. Terrified she’d been injured in the fall, he slid down to where she lay on the ground, unmoving.
Her hair hung in her pale face, making her features appear ghostlike and frail.
All the more terrified, he gently brushed away the strands from her cold cheeks. “Ariel!” he shouted over the howling winds and rain, his fear making him unreasonable as he cradled her against him.
Valteri did his best to rub warmth into her skin, but his own hands were every bit as freezing. “Ariel?” he breathed. “Look at me!” Then he gentled his voice. “Please.” He hated the sound of that ragged, desperate plea. Almost as much as he hated the ache in his chest from the fear that she might be hurt.
She coughed and opened her eyes. “I can’t keep my mount.” Her low tone barely reached him through the whipping winds. “’Tis too slippery.”
Valteri almost smiled as relief flooded him. Grateful she wasn’t harmed, he lifted her in his arms and carried her to his horse.
Ariel gasped at the ease with which Valteri placed her in his saddle and swung up behind her to settle himself there before his arms encircled her in a warm anchor. With a low, deep, guttural command, he took the reins of his horse and hers and spurred them forward.
