Elizabeth di
dn’t waste time contemplating the complexities of her enemy but started running away from the battle area. She knew she could not outrun Miles but she hoped she could outsmart him. At the first low hanging branch, she caught it and swung herself upward.
Within seconds, Miles appeared below her. There was blood on his velvet doublet, blood on his drawn sword. Like a baited bear, he swung his head from side to side, then stopped and listened.
Elizabeth held her breath and didn’t make a sound.
After a moment, Miles suddenly turned on his heel and looked up at her. “Come down here, Elizabeth,” he said in a deadly voice.
Once, when she was thirteen, this same thing had happened. Then she’d leaped from the tree, straight onto the hideous man pursuing her, knocked him down and before he’d recovered his wind, she escaped. Without another thought, she threw herself onto Miles.
But he did not fall. Instead, he stood steady and held her tightly to him.
“Those men could have killed you,” he said, seemingly unaware of her attempt to knock him down. “How did you slip past my guards?”
“Release me!” she demanded, struggling against him, but he held her easily.
“Why didn’t you obey me when I told you to wait for me?”
That idiot question stopped her struggles. “Should I have waited for one of those ruffians if he’d commanded me to do so? What’s the difference between them and you?”
His eyes showed anger. “Damn you, Elizabeth! What do you mean that I’m like those scum? Have I harmed you in any way?”
“So you found her,” came Sir Guy’s voice and there was a hint of amusement in it. “I am Sir Guy Linacre, my lady.”
Elizabeth, her hands pushing hard against Miles’s shoulders, nodded at Sir Guy. “Are you finished mauling me?” she snapped at Miles.
He released his grip on her so suddenly she almost fell. The quick change of motion was too much for Elizabeth’s empty stomach. At once, she put her hand to her forehead and as things grew black, she put out her hand in search of something to steady herself.
It was Sir Guy who caught her and swung her into his arms.
“Do not touch me,” she whispered from inside the fog she was experiencing.
As Miles took her from Sir Guy, he said, “At least it isn’t only me she repulses.” When Elizabeth opened her eyes, Miles was giving her a look of disgust. “How long has it been since you’ve eaten?”
“Not long enough to make me welcome you,” she answered tartly.
At that Miles laughed, not one of his little half-smiles but a deep-down laugh, and before Elizabeth could react, he bent his head and kissed her lips soundly. “You are utterly unique, Elizabeth.”
She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand so hard she threatened to remove her skin. “Put me down! I am perfectly capable of walking.”
“And let you try and run again? No, I think I’ll keep you chained to me from now on.”
Miles put Elizabeth on his horse before him and together they rode back to the camp.
Chapter 3
SHE WAS SURPRISED TO SEE THAT THE TENTS HAD BEEN taken down and mules were packed and ready to leave. Elizabeth wanted to ask where he was taking her but she kept rigid in the saddle, touching Miles as little as she could, refusing to speak to him.
He led the horse away from the waiting men and into the woods, Sir Guy remaining behind. Inside the forest was set a table laden with several steaming dishes. A small, old man hovered over the array, but left when Miles gave a dismissing motion of his hand.
Dismounting, Miles held up his arms for Elizabeth, but she ignored him and slid to the ground without aid. She did this slowly so as not to repeat her ridiculous act of half fainting.
“My cook has prepared a meal for us,” Miles said as he took her hand and led her forward.
She jerked from his touch and glanced at the food. Tiny roasted quails lay upon a bed of rice, surrounded by a cream sauce. A platter contained raw oysters. There were sliced hard-cooked eggs in a saffron sauce, sliced salted ham, fish eggs on twice-baked bread, flounder stuffed with onions and nuts, poached pears, cream tarts, a pie oozing blackberries.
After a look of astonishment, Elizabeth turned away. “You travel well.”