Page 45 of Stay with Me

Sybil took that as her cue to sidle past Ralph and make her presence known.

Nicholas was standing with his arms crossed, a lightweight white tunic falling to his thighs over dark brown trousers. A belt hung low on his hips containing both a sword and his dagger. His gaze swept over her hair hanging in long waves over her shoulders, then traveled down the length of her shapeless gown.

She twisted her fingers in the loose fabric at the hem of the sleeve. She looked terrible, should have stayed in her jeans or maybe just changed her shirt.

His eyes flew back to her face, and the brown darkened with something she couldn’t name but that told her he liked what he saw.

“I’ll marry you today.” She spoke before she lost her nerve.

He didn’t react. Instead, he studied her as if trying to understand why she’d changed her mind. But she didn’t know ifthere was one reason she could give him. No doubt she’d change her mind again before this was all over.

Ralph’s thin face with all his scars regarded her as severely now as when he’d first met her. She had the feeling he didn’t like her but was accepting her for Nicholas’s sake.

“We need not rush into a marriage,” Nicholas said gently, as though speaking to a child.

“I’ll do it.”

“You are certain?”

Ralph clamped down on Nicholas’s shoulder. “She said yes, so quit arguing with her.” In the next instant, he curled his tongue and emitted a piercing whistle.

The commotion throughout the village ceased, and all eyes turned upon the tall archer.

“Gather round,” he called. “We’re having a wedding.”

~ 18 ~

“A wedding anon?”Nicholas waited for Sybil to show signs of protest or hesitation or dismay. But he saw none of those things.

“Make haste!” Ralph bellowed. “Get Father Fritz now!”

Nicholas held her gaze, the green made brighter by the green of her tunic. Something light and warm replaced the usual intensity within her eyes. When her attention slid to Ralph barking orders at the top of his lungs, as if the village were being attacked by the French, her lips twitched with a smile. And when she surveyed the men scrambling around at top speed trying to obey him, one side of her lips quirked up.

Nicholas couldn’t keep his own lips from curving, a shaft of happiness filtering through the darkness that had lived inside his soul for so long.

When she caught him smiling, he coughed and covered his mouth, trying to smother his mirth before Ralph realized he was the object of their humor. She shifted just slightly away, enough for the tunic to curve around her body, to hint at what lay beneath. Somehow the hints were more alluring than the full view of the curves he’d witnessed in her other garments. The modesty gave him only a glimpse of what was meant for the sanctity of the marriage bed, teasing him with promises of pleasure, building anticipation within him.

Not that there would be pleasure any time soon. He intended to honor his word and everything he’d spoken earlier, especially that he wouldn’t pressure her into the marriage bed. In fact,’twould be best if he refrained from physical contact until she made it clear that she would welcome it.

Within mere minutes, the entire town, including men, women, and children, were assembled in front of the chapel.

“Where is Father Fritz?” Ralph asked sharply.

Beatrice was standing beside Sybil, fussing over her hair and smiling as though Sybil were her own daughter. The sight warmed Nicholas’s heart. The dear woman deserved more than life had given her, but she had learned to make the best of what she had.

“Father Fritz?” Ralph boomed. Nicholas wasn’t sure what had gotten into Ralph and why he was rushing everyone around to have the wedding, but he wouldn’t protest, wanted to make the most of Sybil’s acquiescence before she had second thoughts.

At the house near the end of the street, the door burst open and the priest stumbled out, one of the men pushing him along. Father Fritz was stuffing his arms into his cowl and yawning loudly.

“Quit yer mithering!” The priest turned and smacked the poor fellow tasked with collecting him. “I was sleeping like a wee tot, that I was.”

“Come on with you, Father Fritz!” Ralph called. “Can’t you see we’re all waiting?”

At the sight of the entire town perspiring and breathless, Father Fritz halted, and his mouth fell open. “What the blimey is going on?”

“Nicholas and Sybil are getting married.” Beatrice patted Sybil’s cheek.

“Nicholas, my dear son.” Father Fritz scratched his protruding belly. “Mighty eager to be with your woman, aren’t you now?”

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