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“I sat on the bed to wait for you.” She tried to hide the fear in her voice. “That’s when I thought I felt something sharp beneath me. Why do you have so many weapons under your mattress?”
“You were right when you said I am a hired assassin,” he told her. “I had to hide the weapons there when the guards were searching for the earl’s ruby. No one knows of my secret profession, and I can’t let anyone spill the secret. Do you understand?”
He stepped closer and put his hands on her shoulders.
“Are you going to hurt me?” she asked.
“Nay. I don’t kill women, only men. However, if you tell any man, I will have to kill him because I cannot let the secret out that I work for the crown.”
“The king?” she asked in astonishment. “My cousin, Richard, hires you to kill? How could he?”
“I look out for him and fend off those who plot to kill him. I am his guardian in a way, the same as Lord Beaufort or Lord Lochwood are to you.”
“I see,” she said, trying to still her breathing. “Of course, I won’t tell a soul.”
She saw him staring at her lips and anticipated his next move, although she was powerless to stop him. He bent over and kissed her hard, forcing himself on her.
She put her hands up to his shoulders to push him away just as the door banged open and someone started shouting.
“Take your bloody hands off of her, Bedivere or I’m going to kill you, I swear I will.” Conrad stood in the doorway breathing heavily as if he’d run up the stairs. With his sword gripped tightly in his hand, his jaw stayed clenched, and a vein throbbed at the side of his neck as he slowly moved forward.
“Conrad!” she cried, pushing away from Bedivere and taking a step away from him.
“Willow, what the hell is going on here?” asked Conrad.
“She came to seduce me, Lochwood. Didn’t you, my lady?” asked Bedivere. With his head turned so Conrad couldn’t see him, his eyes darted to the bed in a silent warning. If Willow said anything to Conrad that the man was an assassin, Bedivere would kill him. Besides, if he was working for Richard, she couldn’t say anything because that might put her cousin at risk. Nay, she had no choice. She needed to stay quiet.
“I think, perhaps, it is time we head to the joust now.” Willow hurried across the room and stopped beside Conrad.
“I’m not leaving before I give Bedivere a piece of my mind,” Conrad told her.
“Conrad, it’s fine. Now, let’s go.” She pulled at his arm, trying to get him to the door.
“Willow, what’s this all about?”
“It’s nothing, now come on.” She pulled Conrad out into the corridor and all but dragged him down the hall.
“Were you really seducing him?” asked Conrad, sheathing his sword as they walked.
“Aye,” she said, not breaking the pace.
“What?” He grabbed her arm to stop her. “How could you, Willow? You swore to me you weren’t that way.”
“I had to do something when he found me searching his room for the ruby,” she whispered, looking back to make sure Bedivere wasn’t listening.
“Oh. Did you find anything?” he asked.
She did, but could never tell him. Never would she endanger Conrad or anyone else’s life by telling them Bedivere’s secret. God’s eyes, she wished now she had never gone into his room to begin with. She was finding out secrets of too many people that she wished she didn’t know.
“I found out that I would never, ever consider marrying the man. Now, if we don’t hurry, you are going to miss the joust. Did you win the archery competition?” she asked, hoping he had.
“Nay,” he said, gritting his teeth and shaking his head. “I was too distracted by your absence to concentrate. Sir George was the winner.”
“Then we’d better hurry. You only have one more chance to win and choose a wife.”
“I know that. You don’t need to remind me.”
As they made their way to the tiltyard, Willow’s stomach churned. What if Conrad didn’t win the joust? And what if he did? She had been granted the ability to agree or disagree with any proposals of marriage. However, she was not sure if Conrad won if he would choose her or if he’d choose Lady Anabel or Lady Grace instead. If he chose one of them over her, she didn’t think she could accept it. Conrad was the only man she wanted to wed and if she couldn’t have him . . . she didn’t want anyone at all.
