Page 29 of Warrior’s Lady

The coolness of his gaze suggested he meant her. Her stomach felt as if she'd been punched.

When she did nothing, he tugged the cloak from her grasp, tossed it about her shoulders, then with a tight grasp on her arm, nearly dragged her out the door. At the bottom of the steps outside, he had one horse waiting.

He mounted. "Give me your hand," he demanded. Of its own accord, her hand lifted, his fingers closed around it, and suddenly she was hauled up to sit in front of him atop the beast. Arms like bands of steel encircled her, and his warmth cradled her back.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll find out soon enough," he replied, turning the horse toward the gate. With a signal of his hand, the mighty wooden gates parted and the portcullis rose. Without explanation, he headed across the drawbridge, then turned the beast north.

Snow covered the world around them, silencing everything except the sound of their breathing. Tendrils of steam generated by their warm breath rose into the air to vanish a moment later.

They followed the outer wall of the castle for a distance until Lord Lockhart brought the horse to a stop in front of a rope partially buried in the snow. "Do you know anything about this rope?" His voice filled with suspicion.

"You sound as if you expect me to," she replied, tucking her hands more deeply inside of her cloak in an effort to ward off the chill from outside as well as within.

"A straight answer, please." He leaned forward to stare into her face, his blue eyes as frosty as the world around them. "Did you use this rope to escape the castle last night to meet up with Bishop Berwick?"

"Nay." She drew a sharp breath. What heinous things did he think her capable of? "Why would I do such a thing?"

"The bishop paid us a call yesterday. Someone inside the castle had disclosed Violet's presence." He hesitated before adding, "He asked after you."

She startled. "I've never met the man, but the abbess did caution me about him."

"What was her caution?"

"She warned me to be cautious around him. To never let Lady Violet near him."

Lord Lockhart frowned. "Why would she warn you of such a thing?"

"I don't know." Rhiannon lowered her gaze to the snowflakes gathering on the red velvet of her cloak. "She seemed very distraught that day."

A finger beneath her chin brought her gaze back to his. "The abbess trusted you."

"I am trustworthy." She held his gaze, refusing to buckle beneath his punishing appraisal.

"Time will reveal whether that is truth or falsehood." He straightened and signaled the horse to walk through the heavy drifts of snow leading away from the castle.

The snow came halfway up their horse's legs, but their mount seemed undeterred by the lightweight powder. Rhiannon allowed her gaze to travel across the pristine blanket of white. It was then that she noticed the two sets of footprints partially filled by the newly fallen snow.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"We're following a villain's trail."

"A villain? Anyone could have made those tracks. Maybe someone at the castle took an early morning walk."

"Someone who needed a rope to climb the castle walls? Nay, it has been made clear to me we have a spy."

"You assume I am that spy?"

"Aye."

"Then for Lady Violet's sake I won't hold your assumptions against you."

He leaned close to her ear, his lips brushing her temple. The warmth of his breath sent a shiver right to her core. "That's kind of you."

"I'll prove my innocence."

"I look forward to that," he said in a low, inviting tone that brought a catch to her breath. She shifted away, trying to escape the intimacy the moment had wrapped them in.

They rode well over six miles as the snow continued to fall all around them, fast and furious. "I can hardly see the tracks." Rhiannon ducked her head to keep the flakes from gathering on her face.

"The storm is picking up." His frustration was evident in the tone of his voice. He reined the horse to a halt and scanned the sky. "I was so certain the snowstorm had ended. But the weather has only gotten worse."

As though in response to his words, the wind kicked up. Where it had been sighing through the trees, it now whipped the branches about.

"We should head back," Rhiannon called over the rising howl of the wind.

Camden frowned. "I've left it too late. It will take us more than an hour to return. We need shelter. I remember from my youth an abandoned cottage around here somewhere that was once used by my father's gamekeeper." He tightened his arms around her and dug his heels into the horse's side, sending them all forward into the storm. We can find shelter there."

Snow covered them entirely and they could barely see in front of them. Rhiannon no longer knew the way back to the castle. She shivered, wondering which would lead to her demise — the man behind her, or the storm overhead.