His stare traveled over her face, and he reached for her, drawing her close to him.
Her eyes lidded as their bodies met.
“I’d hoped you would wake me,” he said softly.
She grinned seductively. “I would like nothing better, but we have to find Sage’s trail.” She handed him his horse’s reins. “We can continue along the river and stop at villages along the way.”
They had an important job to complete. He glanced down at the reins in disappointment. He flipped them over a branch and reached for his tunic, tugging it over his head. She was amazing. Beautiful, smart. Everything he could ever need or want. “Willow,” he called. When she looked at him, he felt an ache in his chest. “There are things I want you to know about me. I’m not the man I was when I was with your family.”
“I should hope not. He was the one who left me.” She lifted the saddle onto her horse.
He bowed his head and stepped closer to her.
She straightened and faced him, her hands on her hips. “It doesn’t matter who you were before this moment.” She placed her hand over his heart. “Only who you are now.”
He loved her more and more with every passing moment. Love? Startled, he would have pulled away, but he couldn’t. This was where he belonged. He felt it in his heart. He knew it. He had known it all along, and he had run from it, from her, instead of fighting for her. But he was done with that. “These past years, I’ve worked for the Templar Knights.”
She tilted her head. “You already told me that the Grand Master introduced you to my father. I assumed you knew some of them.” She checked the cinch beneath her horse’s stomach.
“I met a man while working for them. I trusted him. I thought he was like a brother.” He had been searching for a replacement to the Hawkes, a family, a friend. He had been naïve and desperate.
She glanced at him with patient and kind eyes.
“I told him everything. Things I shouldn’t have. About the Templars, which I thought he knew. About you and your family.”
Willow’s brows rose. “We have no secrets.”
“Everyone has secrets.” Christian inched closer, needing to touch her. He rested his hands on her waist. “Remember the men chasing you in the chateau?”
“Your brother.”
Christian nodded. “William de Burgh was with them. He was the man I killed.”
She scowled, inspecting his chest through thevin his tunic. “The man I let go, the bounty hunter at the inn, was with your brother too.”
Christian sighed softly. It made sense. His brother would do anything, hire anyone, to get that book. It satisfied him to know Simon was after the wrong book. He cupped her cheek, so smooth, so supple. “That’s not why I’m telling you this. This isn’t about the book. If de Burgh was working for my father, he told him everything. De Burgh knew everything I know.”
Her gaze scanned his face thoughtfully.
She still didn’t understand.
“The Templars are in danger.”
Her brows came down in confusion, and her luscious lips pouted. “The Templar Knights? They have an army of knights and locations across the lands. I don’t think one man can endanger them.”
“But the king can.”
Her frown increased.
“My father is greedy. He is hungry for power. He always has been. Simon is the same. De Burgh was with Simon. I’m certain he told my father and Simon everything I know. If my father believed it would benefit him, he would pass that information on to anyone willing to pay for it. Like the king.”
“What kind of information?”
“Secret passages, jobs I’ve done for them, possible treasure locations.” He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. “Will, the king owes the Templar Knights a lot of coin. He would do anything to avoid having to repay them. Not to mention obtaining their massive treasure.”
She stared at him, gently biting her lower lip in thought. “What did I get myself into?”
“I warned you.”
She pressed her lips to his with a feathery touch. “It’s worth it. I would do anything to have you in my life again.”
He tugged her against him. “I have to warn them. They have to know they are in danger.”
She struggled to pull away. “What about Sage?”
He kept her prisoner against him, refusing to relinquish her. “I can’t let Marcus give that book to Guillume, his cousin.”
Willow embraced him. “What will you do? Are you going to go after Marcus and the book or warn the Templars?”
He looked into her eyes. He would never abandon her ever again, so he would have to continue after the book. “I’ll have to figure out a way to do both.”
