Page 69 of An Earl for the Archeress

“Mariel, stop,” he said, grabbing her arm.

She wrenched herself free, but he grabbed her again with such strength, she realized he had never used his force on her before. His grip could not be undermined, and a stern look claimed his brow.

“Running off now sends you fleeing right out into his waiting hands. Don’t be daft. Don’t do this to me again.”

“Do this to you?” she said incredulously. “Harold Crawford doesn’t have death in his eyes for you, but he does for me!”

“God be damned, Mariel!” he shouted, his voice deep and booming, and for once, not an ounce of mirth could be seen on his face. She cringed. For a moment, she feared him. But he grabbed her hand and yanked it to his chest, placing it over his left pectoral. “You hold my heart, you foolish woman. Can’t you see that? If you run off and get captured… ’Twill be more than I can bear!”

She stared into his eyes, feeling the thumping of his heart beneath her palm.

“But if we work together,” he said, “I’ll keep you well-hidden until we can depart in the night. I’m going to take you to wife. I ask once again that you submit your stubborn will to me and trust me to keep you safe. Once your sire leaves East Anglia, I’ll pen him a missive and explain that I forced you to the altar, despite your objections, and that I wish to harbor good will betwixt him and me. I’ll do what I must to prevent him from taking his wrath out on you. God woman, I’d let Nottingham murder me in cold blood before I’d let any harm come to you! Why won’t you foking believe me?”

Trembling, she stood silently, her lips threatening to quiver and her eyes threatening to pour, when she dropped her bow and threw her arms around his neck in desperation. He encircled her with as much force in his arms, gripping her waist and the back of her head to clench her against his chest.

“Quit toying with my affection,” he whispered in her ear beneath the shadow of the portico, squeezing her harder still, even though she knew her nails bit into his shoulders. “Take a deep breath and think. If your father’s man, Teàrlach, lied to him, then he comes here to ask about how I captured you and about your escape, not in search of you within my walls. Let’s go inside and hide you well. I swear on my honor I’ll keep you safe.” He turned and bellowed, “Jonathan!”

John jogged over to them, his own effects in hand, while the other men cleared the pitch with efficient speed and made haste for the castle.

“Yes, Robert?”

“Post sentries in the forest, on the curtain wall, and each parapet. I want word as soon as Crawford approaches the village. Mariel will be in hiding and under no circumstances are his men allowed to wander unattended through my halls or grounds. I leave with Mariel as soon as supper ends to take her to wife in secret, returning before dawn on the morrow.”

Jonathan nodded, though his eyes were furrowed with…disappointment? Mariel couldn’t decipher.

“Lady,” he suddenly addressed her. “I have to ask, despite my friendship with Robert…” He looked at Robert as if to say he cared not if he was pummeled. “Are you certain you wish to marry him?”

“You cross a line, man.” Robert growled.

“I’ve agreed, aye,” Mariel replied.

“But do you want to bind yourself to him, or do you only do it for protection?”

She hesitated. She wanted to marry him. She wanted to trust him. Robert, whose eyes had narrowed angrily at John’s query, now looked to her. She knew John still had feelings for her. There was nothing wrong with him. He was a good man.

“I wish to,” she murmured, and though Robert still hadn’t said he loved her, she wanted so badly to release her distrust, to simply throw off the mantle of insecurity bred into her and embrace Robert’s words. “As I think he wishes as well.”

Jonathan rounded on Robert with anger in his eyes. “You would take to wife a woman on a whim, simply to protect her?”

Robert stepped forward. John didn’t back down, hands perched on his hips, until they stood nose to nose. “I waste valuable time right now and won’t entertain this conversation further. I make this decision after deep thought, and you will back down now, for I know you still vie for her.”

“I wish nay to come betwixt two friends,” Mariel said. “If this arrangement will ruin the fraternity you share…then I choose not to go through with it and beg you, Robert, not to obstruct my departure.”

“You think I don’t want her?” rumbled Robert, balling his fists to throw a punch when John took a step back, then another.

“No…” John said, sensing something in Robert’s demeanor that was violently protective of the woman before them both, something Robert was unable to say. “No. He might be too much the coward to say it, but he loves you…I can tell.” He nodded. “I won’t bring the matter up again.”

He stepped around them and took off to the castle in a jog to fulfill Robert’s orders.

Robert grabbed Mariel’s hand. “I’m marrying you, Mari,” he stated with conviction. “We’ve no time at all to tarry.”

Chapter Twenty

The wind was blowing cold. Robert stood upon the barbican with a fur-lined cloak wrapped over his shoulders, his hair ruffling on the blast of air rolling across the meadows that smacked the castle like a tidal wave. His guards were lively, watching the ascent of the Sheriff of Ayrshire ride up the road through the village.

Just as Robert had ordered, John had seen to stationing Huntington soldiers strategically to ensure he was informed of Crawford’s arrival well before his party broke through the trees, though Robert had yet to see John since then. He hadn’t realized how deep John’s interest in Mariel had run, how much the man might truly want her, and part of him was saddened by the rift that had come between them.

He refocused on the contingent riding toward him, pushing his concern for John’s whereabouts out of his mind, and shifting his gaze between Crawford and de Wendenal. They had become inseparable, practically like lovers. Robert chuckled wryly at the image in his mind of Nottingham and Crawford sitting hand in hand by the firelight.