Besotted (The Fairest Maidens #3) - Jody Hedlund Page 0,5
until the stranger was gone from the area. If Chester had accompanied me, he would have dragged me off. In fact, he would have heard this man coming and whisked me away to safety long before I was exposed.
As it was, Chester was gone for the week to the market. And though he’d bidden me to stay close to the cottage during his absence, I’d ventured from home each morn with my blackberry picking anyway. Aunt Elspeth and Aunt Idony hadn’t minded. Agreeable and good-natured, they never hovered over me, probably because Chester had enough caution and concern for all of us combined.
Nevertheless, my aunts would have wanted me to dash away the moment this man appeared as well. They wouldn’t approve of me striking up a conversation, much less taking dancing lessons from a stranger, no matter how harmless he might appear, especially since I’d wandered much farther from home than I normally did.
“Please?” The young man lowered himself to one knee and held out his hands to plead with me, his expression earnest. “I beg of you, my lady. Give me but a moment of your time, and you shall make me the happiest man to ever walk the face of the earth.” The soft smile playing across his lips made him even more handsome. And irresistible.
It wouldn’t hurt to have him teach me the next steps in the dance, would it? What could come of spending just a few minutes with him?
“No!” Chester’s command barked in my head. “Never talk to anyone. Don’t trust anyone. Stay far away from everyone.” Sir William had always said the same thing before he died, so his litany rose up and joined with Chester’s.
I understood why the father-son pair had always been so protective. They counted it their sole duty in life to watch over me. In fact, Sir William had given up comfort and prestige to move to the cottage and be my guardian, bringing his motherless son with him. Even if Chester was but a few months older than me, he’d taken over as guardian after his father’s passing, unwilling to think of doing anything else but protecting me.
“A lady of your loveliness must have an equally lovely name,” Kresten commented from where he still knelt.
I glanced beyond him to the forest, searching for anyone else who might be lurking. What if he was one of Queen Margery’s spies? Chester claimed she had more soldiers looking for me than ever before, since I was nearing my twentieth birthday, the age when I could rule Mercia in my own right.
With only two months to go, I couldn’t jeopardize my security. Not after my aunts and Sir William and Chester had worked so diligently to keep me hidden from the queen.
“I’m alone.” He followed my gaze. “I vow it.”
“You are certain?”
“Yes.” His expression turned solemn, his eyes even bluer.
My stomach did a strange flip, especially at the intensity of his full attention upon me. “Why are you here?”
“I was planning to do some fishing in yonder river when I accidentally came upon a boar. He wasn’t too happy about being disturbed and gave me a fair chase.”
“But how did you come to be here?” I motioned to the clearing.
“In my haste to outrun the beast, I stumbled upon a cavern that led me into this part of the forest.”
Those who happened into the area almost always came from the far western edge, which was inhospitable and difficult to traverse with its many crags and cliffs. But few ever discovered the whereabouts of the ravine entrance. Already in a remote spot of the forest, the ravine provided an extra barrier that had made the charcoal burner’s cottage an ideal place to hide a queen all these many years.
“I heard your singing and came to investigate.”
“Where are you from?”
“I’m a woodcutter several leagues away from here.” He hesitated just enough to let me know he wasn’t disclosing the full truth.
A shiver prickled the skin at the back of my neck. Had Queen Margery sent him? And if so, how could I possibly outrun him and make my escape? Now that he’d discovered the ravine entrance, next time he’d return with a whole regiment of soldiers.
“I can tell you don’t believe me.” He rose to his feet and took his axe from his belt. “So to prove to you I’m a woodcutter, point out the twig you’d like me to sever, and I’ll do it from here. No matter how high or far away.”