“You!” She started to strike him but he bolted up the stairs before she could, and when Elizabeth tried to move, she winced at a hundred bruised places. She emerged from behind the tapestry bent over, her hand to her back. Miles’s conceited chuckle made her straighten painfully. “If women didn’t always have to be on the bottom—” she snapped, then stopped when she saw the MacGregor leaning against a chest.
“I was going to say I hoped you enjoyed your visit, Lady Elizabeth.” The big man’s eyes twinkled so merrily that Elizabeth busied herself in packing, pointedly ignoring him, so pointedly that she didn’t hear him move behind her. When his hands touched her shoulder, she gasped, but Miles caught her arm, warned her with his eyes.
“We’ve enjoyed ye, Elizabeth,” the MacGregor said as he removed the crude pin she wore at her shoulder and replaced it with a large round silver one, bearing the MacGregor standard.
“Thank you,” she said quietly, and to the amazement of all three of them, she quickly kissed the MacGregor’s cheek.
Miles’s hand on her arm tightened and he looked at her with such pleasure that his whole body fairly glowed.
“Sweet lass, come and see me again.”
“I will,” she said and smiled genuinely because she meant her words.
Together the three of them walked down to the courtyard and the waiting horses. Elizabeth looked at all the MacGregor men with curiosity because she knew she was going to miss them. With a sense of wonder at what she was doing, she voluntarily shook hands with some of the men. Miles stayed close to her and she was well aware of his presence, and grateful for it, but her fear at touching the men and being touched by them was only just that—fear, not terror.
She was glad when she came to the end of the line and could mount her horse. Behind her were Bronwyn’s men, strangers to her, and she could have cried out at the injustice of having to leave a place she was just beginning to trust.
Miles leaned across and squeezed her hand. “Remember that I am here,” he said.
She nodded once, kicked her horse forward and they were off.
For how long will you be here? she wanted to ask. She knew much about Gavin Montgomery. He was a greedy, treacherous man whose jilting of Alice Chatworth had nearly driven her insane. And Gavin was the head of the Montgomery family. For all Miles’s bravado, he was only twenty years old and Gavin had the guardianship of his young brother. Would Gavin take her away, use her in his own games against the Chatworth family? Miles believed Roger’d killed Mary Montgomery. Would this Gavin use Elizabeth to repay the Chatworths?
“Elizabeth,” Miles said. “What are you planning?”
She didn’t bother to answer him, but kept her head high as they entered Larenston.
Miles helped her from her horse. “No doubt my eldest brother is inside, waiting to get his hands on me,” Miles said, eyes twinkling.
“How can you laugh about this?”
“The only way to deal with my brother is to laugh,” he said seriously. “I’ll come to you later.”
“No!” she gasped. “I’ll meet your brother with you.”
Miles cocked his head, studied her. “I do believe you mean to protect me from my brother.”
“You are a gentle man and—”
At that Miles laughed so loud, he startled the horses. He kissed her cheek heartily. “You are a dear, sweet child. Come along then and protect me if you want, but I’ll keep an eye on Gavin’s toes.”
Gavin, Stephen and Sir Guy waited for them in the upstairs solar. Gavin was as tall as Miles but his face was more sculptured, hawklike, and his expression was of pure unadulterated rage.
“Is this Elizabeth Chatworth?” Gavin said through clenched teeth. He didn’t wait for an answer. “Send her away. Guy, see to her.”
“She stays,” Miles said in a cool voice, not bothering to look at either of his brothers. “Sit, Elizabeth.”
She obeyed him, sinking into a chair that dwarfed her.
After one angry glance at Elizabeth, Gavin turned to Miles who was pouring himself a glass of wine. “Goddamn you to hell and back, Miles!” Gavin bellowed. “You walk in here as if you hadn’t nearly caused a private war between our families and you bring this…this…”
“Lady,” Miles said, his eyes growing dark.
“If she were a lady, I’d swear she isn’t now after having spent weeks with you.”
Miles’s eyes turned black. His hand went to his sword but Sir Guy’s hand made him pause.
“Gavin,” Stephen warned, “you have no right to make insults. Say what you have to.”