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OUTSIDE THE LIVERY, the cathedral bells rang matins. Inside, Drake’s dappled gray nickered as its owner passed the crupper beneath his tail and secured it to the cantle. Despite all he had drunk, his senses were uncommonly alert. He knew she was standing there before she spoke.
“You’re going then?” She stepped out of the shadows. A chance moonbeam illuminated her cameo face. She hugged a cloak around her shoulders. “To join Richard?”
An intake of breath seared his chest. “Aye,” he said simply.
She stood like a statue frozen forever in his memory. The cloak fell away. The woad blue of her kirtle matched the darkness of the night while a safflower bodice gave off the illusion of bare skin crisscrossed with blue laces. Her feet glided toward him. She reached behind her neck and loosened the silver crucifix at her throat.
Body against body, her inner hearth fire seeped into him and roused more than heat. Fingers like butterfly wings secured the thong at the back of his neck. Her lips floated close to his. The drift of lavender encased his spirit. The feel of her heart beating so near to his nearly broke his resolve.
“Godspeed, Drake fitzAlan.” She took one, two, three steps backwards, still facing him, the skirt of her gown sweeping along the straw, her eyes tight on his. She reached for her cloak and wheeled around to make her escape.
She nearly made it, but in a swift, agile movement, Drake chased after her and gathered her into his arms. She didn’t resist his mouth as it sought, found, and consumed hers.
When the wordless farewell ended, she tore her lips away. “You’ve a nerve.”
“Will you wait for me?”
She fought to remove herself from his embrace. “I have better things to do with my days than wait for a reckless knight who may or may not return God knows how many years from now, nay, nor in what bodily capacity.”
“For you, ma demoiselle, my bodily capacity shall remain ever at the ready.” Her cross expression made him smile all the more. “Then you will? Wait for me.”
She threw her arms around his neck, set his lips on fire, and ran like the wind.
