K risten was exhausted and beside herself with worry. Royce was using the last of his strength just to stay on his horse. She had stopped once to pad his shoulder again, but he had lost so much blood, too much. He slumped over his horse now, barely conscious.
Not even sight of the walls of Wyndhurst could abate her worry. Dawn streaked the sky and they had been seen approaching. The gate was being opened; men were rushing out. Another group on horseback had spotted them and came from the woods. Soon Royce could rest and be tended properly. Yet the nagging fear would not let go that it might not do any good, that she had helped him so inadequately that he was going to die anyway.
She cried out when he fell from his horse. She leaped from her own mount and ran to him, lifting his head from the ground. His eyes were open, but he seemed dazed.
"Must have—fallen asleep."
Oh, God, he did not even know what he was saying. Her heart cried, seeing him this weak and helpless. She was not aware that tears streamed from her eyes.
"Be quiet, Royce. Be still. They will be here in a moment to help you."
His eyes found her face. "Will you at last admit you want me, Kristen?"
God's teeth! How could he think of that now, when his life's blood was draining out of him?
"Kristen?"
"Aye, I want you. I swear I do."
"Have you come to love me—a little?"
She did not hesitate. "Aye, that too."
One hand rose to slip behind her neck and pull her face down to his. His lips were warm and dry on hers, gentle, but only at first. Out of her misery came the realization that there was too much strength in the hand holding her, too much passion in this kiss.
She pulled back, her eyes narrowing as she saw him grin at her. "You are not dying!"
"Did you think I was?"
"Oh, unfair!"
She nearly hit him, especially when he began to chuckle. Instead she got up and stalked away.
It had taken more than a paltry wound to weaken Royce. He stayed to his bed no more than four days. In a week he was about his full duties again. And after two weeks, his wound gave him only an occasional twinge.
He had dealt with Eldred not as he wanted, but as Alfred's current policies dictated. He had simply informed the King of Eldred's perfidy. It was nearing the end of summer when he learned that Eldred had panicked, fearing retribution, and flown north, seeking refuge with the Danes. His body had been sent home to his father.
When Royce told Kristen this, she had simply shrugged, remarking that such a petty lordling was like to come to a bad end. She brought very little emotion to bear on the matter.
She had been angry with Royce, the more so when she realized he had deliberately refrained from helping in their escape. In no uncertain terms she told him what she thought of his deception, yet he could not be sorry he had taken that opportunity to test her. She could have left him at any point on their journey home. Instead she led him to safety. That meant more to him than he could say.
And Kristen did not stay angry. She was gentle and teasing with him while he regained his strength, keeping him from fretting over his weakened state. She almost made him wish for more wounds that she could fuss over. It was the exact opposite of what he would have felt if Darrelle had nursed him.
It was with the waning of summer that Kristen grew melancholy, and no matter how often Royce asked her, she would not admit anything was wrong. He took her swimming often, he took her riding, and she would smile for him, laugh with him. But he would still see sadness in her eyes when she was not aware he watched her.
He cut her labors in the hall down to half. When that did not make her happy, he doubled them. That did not work, either. He even gave her her own clothes to wear, but she refused to put them on, in fact seemed more depressed after seeing the dark-green velvet gown.
Royce didn't know what else to do. But the day Kristen asked him again when he would marry, he was afraid he had the answer to what was wrong. She still wanted to leave him. That was why she was miserable. She was counting the days till he wed and she was released from her word. But he was not going to let her go, so there was only one other thing to do.
He would have been amazed had he known what really bothered Kristen. It was the time, summer's end, when she and Selig and the others would have returned home from the market towns—if that was where they had gone. The whole summer long, her parents would have worried about her, but it would have been with the certainty that she would return. Only now, at summer's end, the real anxiety would begin, with the daily waiting for the ship. And with each day the ship did not come, the anxiety would increase. How could she find happiness here, knowing what her parents must be going through now?
She had managed to speak to Selig again. She had begged him to leave, to find his way home somehow, so at least their parents would know she was safe. He refused, not only because he could not leave her, but because he was sure Garrick would tear him apart if he came home without her.
Royce tried hard to cheer her. She loved him more for that. But she could not tell him what was wrong, for the only thing he could do for her would be to let her go, and she had a deep fear that he would even do that. She was damned either way. It would destroy her to leave Royce now, yet she ached with wanting her parents to know she was all right. And she couldn't stop thinking about them.
For the first time that whole summer, Royce left Wyndhurst. He was gone for two days. No one knew where he went, but when he came back, he informed Darrelle that he had arranged her marriage. And she burst into tears because he would not tell her who her husband was to be, promising only that she would approve his choice.
Kristen for once could not blame Darrelle for crying. She knew she would not have stood for such secretiveness about so important a matter. Yet all Royce would do was insist Darrelle needed the time to get used to the idea of being wed, before she learned to whom.
That night in bed, she told Royce plainly, " 'Tis unfair, you know, to keep your cousin in such suspense."
He chuckled, disagreeing. "You do not know Darrelle. At this moment, she will be making a list with her maid of all the men she knows and wondering which one will be her husband. Instead of worrying about leaving here, she will become excited in wondering where she will be leaving to."
"You do not think she fears your choice?"
"I told her she would approve him, and she knows she can trust in that. She is simply impatient. Will you be impatient, too, when I tell you I have a surprise for you as well?"
Kristen raised a brow. "A surprise you do not intend to tell me about, either?" He only grinned in answer. "I can be patient, I suppose, if you tell me when you will tell me about it."
"All in good time."
Kristen went to sleep that night in a much lighter mood than she had felt for some time. If Royce had done anything with his secrets, he had managed to distract her from her woes.