Page 24 of An Outlaw’s Desire

Whether she was Blythe or not, he had to know she’d safely reached the fortress.

He spun, loped into the shadows between the stones, and at a discreet distance, followed her.

Chapter Five

“All’s well, milady?”

Blythe smiled at the ginger-haired man-at-arms in the corridor near her chamber. “I am fine, although ’tis a cold night.”

“Aye. There will be more treacherous ice on the morrow.”

How curious that he should mention ice. “Were you by chance injured today?”

“One of my mates was. He slipped on ice at the stone circle and knocked his head. Got quite a gash, but he will be all right.”

Her thoughts shifted to the stranger she’d encountered not long ago. The man-at-arms had confirmed what her rescuer had told her about the missing guards. He hadn’t lied about what had happened to them. Gladness raced through her that whoever her rescuer was, he’d spoken the truth.

Blythe entered her chamber. A brisk fire burned in the hearth, where a large jug of water and earthenware bowl, delivered earlier, sat warming for when she wished to complete her bathing ritual before bed. Blythe stripped off her boots and cloak, pulled the spare blanket from the end of the bed, and wrapped it around herself as she crossed to sink down in front of the hearth. Resting her forearms on her bent legs, she put her feet to the edge of the blaze to warm them.

Her cheeks stung from the night breeze, but she experienced a deeper discomfort, too; the agony of losing Pitt that had never fully gone away.

Could the stranger have been Pitt? If so, what was he doing back on Lord Montgomery’s lands? Having been a squire at the castle, Pitt would surely have asked for a meeting with his lordship, not be sneaking around in the dark…unless he had a good reason for his secrecy.

She drew the blanket tighter about her and stayed by the flames until warmed. Then she fetched the book she’d borrowed. Truth be told, she’d had trouble falling asleep last night after putting the tome aside. Her mind had refused to stop mulling the fascinating but unsettling information on the strange occurrences that had taken place on local lands. But, tonight, she wanted to read up on the stone circle.

Setting the book open on the glazed tiles, she carefully turned the pages until she found the section with notes about the site. Her finger lightly trailed down the parchment.

A knock sounded on her door.

“Milady,” a woman called: the maidservant who watched over Clarine.

Blythe hurried across the room and opened the door. “Aye?”

Out in the corridor, the young woman curtsied. “Sorry ta disturb ye, milady. Clarine is askin’ fer ye.”

The girl had been homesick that afternoon. Clarine’s parents would be visiting for a few days after Christmas, so the child knew she’d be seeing them soon, but such separation was still difficult. “Thank you for telling me,” Blythe said.

“I came ta yer chamber a short while ago, milady, but ye weren’t ’ere.”

“I went for a walk. I will go to Clarine. Just let me put on my robe.”

Crouched in the field, Pitt waited for a passing cloud to smother the moonlight. He’d seen the woman go through the postern in the castle wall. She was safe…and yet, he couldn’t leave. He had to know more about her.

Fool! Go now. You risk being discovered.

He did. Yet, he resisted the impulse to flee. He could find out more about the lady; he knew a way to do so that might also prove useful for the siege, because ’twould allow him to get men deep inside the castle and capture it with minimal bloodshed.

Aye, he must pursue that strategy. His sense of honor insisted.

As soon as darkness enveloped the field, Pitt hurried to the long barrow—the largest of the ones on his lordship’s lands—near the fortress. Using his dagger, working as quietly as possible, he cut away the weeds and grass that had grown over the rocks piled at the entrance.

Long ago, the stone tomb had been breached, its contents stolen, and the site sealed up. It had been reopened time and again. Naught of significance remained now but the outer stones.

Or so most folks believed.

A shudder ran through him, for he knew this long barrow well. Years ago, he’d lost a bet to Sherborne. As a result, he’d had to spend a whole night inside the former tomb, which was rumored to be haunted.

Carrying flaming torches, Sherborne and some of the other squires had marched Pitt through the darkness to the long barrow’s entrance. While terrified, he hadn’t wanted to be seen as a coward, so he’d gone inside and curled up on his blanket on the ground, all the while trying not to think about the corpse that had been there before him. He’d barely slept. But, as dawn’s first light had stolen in between the stones, he’d made a discovery that would help him now.