Page 51 (1/2)

The sun was lowering and soon the forest would be dark ’Twould be next to impossible to follow the trail in the dark, and this realization was the impetus that drove him on

He could not lose her

Dirick sed back the une to cry in frustration She was his, she was to be his…tonight, he was to ith the only woman he’d ever wanted with such deep, certain need He drove his heels into Nick’sthe destrier even harder than he did in battle This was the ht, he realized nu the shadow that rushed out from a deep thicket, until it was nearly beneath Nick’s hooves

"Help me!" it cried

"Maris?" Dirick pulled back on the reins, wheeling Nick aside on his hind legs, landing just next to her He was out of his saddle in an instant, aware of the rest of hisaround them in the forest

"Dirick?" she cried "Is that you?"

He pulled her into his ar, and her face was suspiciously wet She was running her hands all over his face and shoulders as if to ensure that it was really he

"My God, I thought I’d lost you," hethe roseles of her hair "Maris, Maris," he said her name over and over "Beloved, have they hurt you? How did you escape?"

She sniffled in the first shoomanly weakness he’d ever witnessed "I areen eyes "But ’twas Bon de Savrille who saved uided her back to his horse as the others gathered around, listening and yet re at a distance

"Aye, he caet away It wasn’t far fro in that direction, "and no one came after me I do not knohat happened"

With a curt nod, Dirick sent several of theto see what they could find "Are you truly not hurt?" he asked, drawing the Nick so that he stood between the men "My beloved, I cannot tell you what fears I had for you!"

She reached up and s a scrape from his fall "They told me you’d been hurt, that you’d fallen from a horse I was afraid you were dead"

He nodded "Aye And I suspect it was Michael or Victor who slit the girth ofNick’s hooves I am fine, now that you are safe"

She pulled hi his lips with her own He felt the dampness of her tear moisten his cheek When she pulled back after a sweet, tender kiss, Maris was looking up at hiold eyes

"What is it?" he asked, so his chest

"I--I nearly didn’t have the chance to tell you…but you must know I am well pleased to be your wife I‘ve come to love you, Dirick, and I auer to his lips, shaking her head "Nay, do not speak ’Tis enough for me that you came after me…I do not expect that you should feel the same And, in sooth, Dirick--I do not care"

He would have spoken, but a shout drew his attention Gathering her into his arave her a well placed kiss on her lips and lifted her into his saddle Vaulting gracefully up, he settled behind her and they started off toward the shout

A group of , and when they drew near, Rayhtly Maris should not see, was the aze But it was too late

She slid fro crowd of reeted her was one that would surely leave nightmares, but nevertheless, she moved forward She had to see it

Victor d’Arcy lay on his stomach, head turned to one side, and his back soaked with blood Bon de Savrille was arranged so that he lay in a si eerily for Victor’s His beard ith the blood that oozed from the spot where his nose had been, and his neck was bent at an aard angle so that, although he lay on one cheek, his face was tilted back and his eyes looked at nothingness

Nausea gathered in the back of her throat, but Maris was able to keep it at bay until she saw the horse Then, she could control it no longer, and she turned to eht her in the middle of her wild retreat and held her while she vo and tre, and in the wake of her experience, Maris felt unaccountably weak