Page 51 of Never Leave Me
The guard hesitated, holding his torch high so that the firelight fell across Ellen. His eyes widened with first surprise and then fear. Was he afraid he might catch the plague from her? Or of what Lord Worth would do to him if she left?
Nicholas’s fingers slid to his sword. The guard must have noticed the movement because he retreated a step. “Wish I could let you pass with the lady, sire, that I do. But milord will hang me by the neck from the gatehouse if I let the lady go.”
Nicholas dismounted and withdrew his sword. “And I wish I did not need to do this, lad.” In one easy bound, he knocked the guard across the head with the hilt.
The man crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
Nicholas wasted no time in dragging him up the stairs and disappearing into the tower house. Several moments later, the gate began its upward climb, the linked chains groaning and straining in protest of being raised. When it was open and the bridge lowered across the moat, Nicholas mounted behind her and kicked the horse to a gallop.
Her heart pounded along with the horse hooves. Surely Lord Worth and his guards would hear them leaving and begin chasing them. But within moments, Nicholas directed the steed into the forest, so that the thick foliage along with the darkness of night swallowed them up.
As they charged forward, the only sound was the crackling of the brush and branches. Without the moon or stars overhead to guide them, Ellen wasn’t sure how Nicholas knew where to go. She felt as though they were flying blindly along, twigs and leaves slapping them.
When they finally broke through into a clearing, the faint lightof dawn had begun to soften the sky. Nicholas veered into a nearby river, likely to hide the hoofprints.
“Are you warm enough, my lady?” He spoke for the first time since they’d charged away from the castle.
“After the dungeons, I can’t complain.” The morning air was cool and nipped her nose and cheeks and fingers. Otherwise, she was warm, probably because she was shielded by his body and arms. “By the way, thank you for giving me the cloak and the blanket. You were very kind to think of me.”
“I abhor the way Simon treats women and relish the chance to defy him every chance I have.” His voice rumbled close to her ear.
She should have been conscious of Nicholas’s presence surrounding her and attuned to his nearness. He was, after all, a handsome man and had proven himself to be very gallant. But she gave his attractiveness no more than a passing thought, the minuscule amount she’d given to any man she’d ever met. Any man except Harrison.
He’d been in her thoughts all throughout the long night, the first person on her mind every time she’d awoken. He would be frantic with worry over her. All the more reason to find a way to leave him a message or facilitate a time overlap to let him know what she was doing.
She’d been away from him for close to two days, the longest stretch she’d gone without seeing him in almost a year. And the simple truth was that she missed him. Missed his smile, their conversations, the time spent together doing everything from reading books to playing cards to sitting in the garden. Had she taken him and his steady presence too much for granted?
She bit back a sigh. Now that she was in the past, she had to push aside her feelings for him—whatever those might be. She wasn’t holding out much hope that she’d make it out of her coma alive—not after Marian and Dad had both died while comatose.
“Will Lord Worth search for me?” Since Nicholas had broken the silence, she guessed they must be out of imminent danger.
“’Tis possible. But he will not search long nor will he go far since he fears the plague.”
If Lord Worth caught her, no doubt he would hang her. And what would happen to the guard Nicholas had knocked out? Her heart gave a sickening lurch. “I hope Lord Worth won’t harm the gatehouse guard because of me.”
“I pray so too, lady.” Nicholas’s voice was low and grave. “My overpowering and binding him may earn him my brother’s mercy rather than his wrath.”
“So that’s why you chose to leave by the main gate instead of sneaking away.” The guard would have an excuse, and Lord Worth wouldn’t be able to blame him for her escape. At least she hoped so. Nicholas’s consideration for the guard’s well-being spoke highly of his character.
“I am hoping my brother will see the error of his ways and thank me for giving you your freedom. Lord Durham is favored by the king, and Simon would be a fool to make a foe of so powerful a knight.”
“Are you sure you’re related to Lord Worth?” She tried to make her question mirthful. “You’re not like him at all.”
“We are brothers of the same father but not of the same mother.” His answer in return was serious, lacking even a trace of humor. “Simon is my father’s firstborn son from his first wife. My mother was his fourth wife, and I his thirdborn son.”
“Your father had four wives?”
“Women were as disposable to my father as rushes. After he stomped the life from them, he wedded someone young and fresh.”
“But your mother survived?”
“Bless the Holy Mother, my father died when I was but a suckling babe.”
“She never remarried?”
“Simon was one and twenty when my father died and my mother only nineteen. He considered taking her as his wife since she was a beautiful woman. Praise the saints that the archbishop forbade the union. And Simon was easily appeased by a marriage to someone else.”
The riverbank rose steeply on either side, hemmed in by trees with new and thick growth. The winding roots dangled where the water had worn away the soil, the tangles reaching out like snakes as though to strike them. So much like Lord Worth.
