Chapter Twenty

T he sun was high in the sky when Guy left Rossfarne, but the skies began to darken as he travelled further up the coast. His horse was high-stepping and co-operative, carrying Guy back to the life he had once loved with long, unfaltering strides. Guy sat deep in the saddle and forced himself to focus on the future. He had grown accustomed to holding himself still, so as to protect his injured arm, but now there was no need for caution. He was whole and healthy, ready to serve the king to the best of his abilities.

Just weeks ago, this was all he'd wanted. To return to his band of brothers on the battlefield. To fight for king and country. To feel the adrenaline rush of excitement while charging towards an enemy, knowing that his fate rested in his skills with a sword and the unity of his fellow knights.

The Knights' Code was writ large in his memory. A motto he had learned in training, now as familiar to him as his own name.

"Without trust in one another, we are nothing."

Sorrow darted through him. He trusted the men he rode towards, but all trust in the woman he'd left behind was eroded.

He frowned with annoyance and tightened his grip on the reins. Would his thoughts forever be cursed to return to Kitty? Might there come a day when the memory of her smile did not bring him pain?

His horse's ears flickered backwards and forwards, as if listening to his internal debate. They were rounding a bend in the coastline when some sixth sense compelled him to twist in the saddle and look back in the direction he'd ridden from.

Shafts of slanting sunlight pierced the skies to illuminate the battlements of Rossfarne Castle, dark in the distance. If Guy shaded his eyes, he could make out the huddle of the village where the sparkling sea met the jutting cliffs.

Home.

He reined in his horse, shocked by his instinctive pull towards a place he still scarcely knew.

Not a place, a person.

It was no good. His inner turmoil could not be quietened. Guy cursed and swung himself down from the saddle, allowing his horse to crop at the grass while he stood amidst abundant purple heather and breathed deeply to calm his racing thoughts.

She had deceived him.

No matter how often he circled the matter, he couldn't get away from that one dreadful fact.

But could he not find it in his heart to forgive her?

Guy sighed deeply. His heart had been barricaded away for so long, he knew not what it was capable of. But as a trained knight, he realised that he would be no use on the battlefield until his mind was clear and focused.

Rossfarne Castle shimmered on the horizon, taunting him with all that could have been. Viewed from this distance, Guy was taken aback by its romantic beauty. The castle had been filled with darkness, yet it could be spectacular. For a brief time, while he held Kitty in his arms, he had entertained thoughts of banishing the gloom and making it a comfortable home, but it had been within his power to do so sooner.

Instead, when he first arrived in Rossfarne, he'd followed in the footsteps of his ancestors, clinging to the shadows and hiding behind the notoriety of his family name. On that cursed night in the tavern, he'd done nothing to shake the other men's assumption that he was as great a villain as his uncle.

Nay, he'd gone so far as to encourage it.

His family coat of arms had provided a foil for his temporary vulnerability.

Guy clenched his hand into a tight fist. If he had chosen a different approach, so much could have been different. But he could only deal with what was, not what could have been. He had regained his fitness and the future was his for the taking. This brief time in Rossfarne would soon be far behind him, but was that what he wanted?

Could he imagine living the rest of his life without Kitty? That was the crux of it. The question he hadn't allowed himself to ask. Because if she was guilty of distrust, of hiding behind a facade, so too was he.

The sun came out from behind a cloud, enveloping him in light and warmth. He tilted his face towards it and closed his eyes.

What would happen if he lowered his guard?

*

They rowed back to the mainland in silence. The boatman was likely irked by her sudden return, but Kitty had no care for his opinion. The despair that had washed over her at the gatehouse had been replaced by a desperate, burning conviction.

She had to find Guy. She would do whatever it took.

Where once she had been determined to fight for her sister's future, now she would go into battle for her own. She may appear foolish, but what of it? Better a fool than a deceitful thief. Better to try and fail than spend the rest of her life immersed in regret for what might have been.

She thanked the boatman and pressed one of her hard-earned coins into his hand, the flash of which appeased him. He tugged at his forelock and wished her a pleasant afternoon. She turned her face towards the village and pondered her next move.

She could go home and change out of this cumbersome dress, but to do so would waste what little time she had left to her. The sun was already dipping in the sky. Within hours, it would be dark.

She needed a horse, but they had none at Shoreston. The carriage had gone soon after Mother died. She looked around impatiently. Was her only option the earl's own stable yard? He kept a pair of horses on the mainland. It was an option, but the prospect of bribing another of the earl's servants made her toes curl. As if in answer to a prayer, she heard the faint clopping of horse's hooves on the cliff road and with no thought to her elegant gown, Kitty began to run.

The slight young man with soft brown curls was open-mouthed in surprise to be accosted by a red-faced woman in a dress more suited to a ballroom than a cliff top.

"May I assist you, miss?" he asked, holding out an arm to steady her as she bounded around the corner towards him.

Kitty wheezed in her restrictive bodice. "Your horse," she spluttered, gesturing to the well-fed chestnut brown cob standing behind him. "I must borrow him."

"My horse?" He frowned. His face was finely drawn, she noticed. And there was something familiar about his hazel eyes.

"Don't worry. I have coin. I can pay you for your trouble." Kitty fished for her coin purse.

"It is no trouble." The boy stepped forwards to look her fully in the face. "Katherine Alden?"

Only hours earlier she would have flushed with shame at being recognised, but now she merely nodded.

A huge smile broke across his face. "Richard Erkine." He held out his hand. "It has been many years since we last met, but we are soon to be related."

She took his hand automatically, her mind racing to keep up. Richard Erkine. The neighbour so recently betrothed to her sister.

"It is good to see you again." He gave her a short bow.

It had been so long since anyone paid such an act of respect to Kitty that she simply stood and stared, before recovering her wits and dipping her head.

"The pleasure is mine, sir."

"Your sister speaks highly of you."

"And of you." Her eyes darted back to the horse. Richard Erkine appeared to have grown into a splendid young man, but she had no time for polite conversation.

He seemed to read her mind. "You are welcome to my horse," he paused. "Unless, of course, you would prefer to take my family's trap? Have you a long journey ahead of you?"

He was too well-mannered to question her intent. Kitty was not dressed for a journey of any kind, but she would press his well-bred reticence to her advantage.

"Not far, I assure you. And I give you my word that I do not usually rampage about the country in such a manner. I will greet you properly, Mr Erkine, on my return. Forgive my impatience to be gone." She put a hand on the animal's neck in what she hoped was not too proprietorial a gesture.

"There is nothing to forgive," he said smoothly. "I can see that events have, mayhap, overtaken you? Allow me." He cupped his hands to give her a leg-up, and after a moment's thought she placed the tip of her foot into his palms. "There we go."

She caught her breath as Richard Erkine launched her upwards, but found her seat more easily than she'd feared. The cob had a broad back and she could balance quite well, despite her cumbersome gown.

"Thank you," she said, still breathless from the speedy ascent. "Fear not, Mr. Erkine, I will take good care of him."

She urged the horse forward and soon settled into his smooth stride. It had been some years since she rode, but it all came back to her. A voice in her head cautioned that her mother's fine dress would be ruined within minutes. She knew a moment of doubt at the waste, but Rosalind's prospects were secure and her own hung in the balance.

Besides, she would have no need of fancy gowns if her quest did not succeed.

She trotted up the cliff road. As soon as it levelled out, she would break into a canter. She would find Guy, even if she must ride into the night.

But her courage began to falter as the shadows lengthened and the day's strong sunlight grew dim. The horse's ears flicked backwards and forwards uneasily and the tight bodice of her gown chafed her skin. Evening insects buzzed around her, buffeted by a salty breeze rolling off the sea. Soon it would be dark and cold. If Kitty wasn't dressed for riding, she most certainly wasn't dressed for riding in the dark. Besides, the horse may stumble and fall, or ruffians could set upon them.

Stifling a sob, Kitty drew back on the reins and brought the uneasy horse to a halt.

She must admit defeat. To continue was madness. She should never have set off in such a hurry.

She was both a thief and a fool.

"It's no good." She stroked the horse's hot neck. "We will turn back."

The rumble of wheels and a distant sound of horses' hooves brought a new chill to her bones. What fresh challenge was this? There was nowhere to hide on the clifftop. She must take her chances with whomever had presumed to follow her.

"Whoa," a man's voice carried on the breeze.

Kitty stiffened. She could urge her horse into a gallop, but would that be wise in the failing light, with the sheer cliff edge just feet away?

"Steady there."

She heard the approaching cart come to a stop. Breathing as deeply as her dress would allow, Kitty turned to face them.

A kind-faced old man held a lantern towards her.

"Miss Katherine, thank goodness I've found you."

"Alfred." She was weak with relief.

"Come here to me now. I've got a blanket and a flagon of mead to warm you."

She slid from the horse, leaning against its belly for support. Her aching legs threatened to buckle beneath her.

"Oh Alfred, I've been so rash."

"None of that now." He was behind her, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders and taking the reins from her hands.

"How did you know where I was?"

"Mr Erkine came to us with a story which Lizzie and myself found hard to credit. Miss Rosalind, though, said it may well be true. So here I am, in the Erkines' trap. And not before time, by the looks of things."

"You must think me a fool," she said, though she hardly cared. It was enough to be safe with the prospect of rest and warmth ahead of her.

"I think you are brave," he countered, stoutly. "But two heads are better than one."

"You're here to help me?" she sagged against the wooden trap as hope unfurled in her chest once more.

"If Miss Katherine Alden thinks there's a need to follow someone over the cliffs, then who am I to question it?" Alfred helped her up to the front of the trap and folded the blanket over her knees.

"You're very kind." She swallowed back tears as he hitched the cob to the back of the car.

Alfred swung himself up beside her and patted her knee. "I only hope the Earl of Rossfarne is worth all the trouble."

*

Daylight was fading and the proximity of the cliff edge had reawakened the ghosts of his childhood, but he urged the horse on, encouraged by the twinkling lights of Rossfarne which grew closer with every stride.

Now that he had decided to turn back, he was seized with a frenzied impatience. He had to make things right with Kitty. To apologise for his anger and his hard-headedness.

He heard the approaching trap long before he saw it. He reined the horse in to wait for it to pass, but as soon as his eyes alighted on the familiar figure sitting up front, his twitching impatience ceased.

It was her. And yet it wasn't. The woman sitting in the trap was a lady in a beautiful silken gown. Her long red hair was scooped up elegantly on the top of her head. The old man handed her down from the cart as if he were escorting a queen.

Guy knew a rush of adrenaline, familiar from the battlefield. He dismounted from his horse, abandoned the reins and stepped towards her, hardly daring to believe she was not some wondrous mirage conjured by his fevered imagination.

This was the woman he had held in his arms. Those were the lips he had kissed. How had he found the courage? She was radiant, unattainable even.

"Guy?" she ventured, biting down on her top lip, a habit he recognised.

"Kitty." His voice wobbled. When last they met, she had worn the garb of a poor servant. She had bobbed her head to him and addressed him as "my lord," when all the time she was the daughter of a lady.

But hadn't he always known it? From her grace and her bearing, coin or no, Kitty had been a woman of importance.

Her green eyes arrested him. "Were you returning to Rossfarne?"

"Yes." To see you , his mind added, but his lips closed over the words. Her polish and poise had thrown him afresh. What right had he to profess his love to such a beauty?

What then, had he been riding into the night to achieve? Guy shook away the insecurities which had plagued him since childhood and summoned the confidence to step forward and take her gloved hands inside his.

"I realised I had forgotten something." His voice was strong again. He planted his feet apart and breathed deeply, even as her bewitching citrus fragrance washed over him.

"Oh yes?" Her face tilted towards his. Her rosebud lips parted. He fought an urge to lean down and kiss her. His body yearned for the feel of her pressed against him, but first he must put right what had gone wrong between them.

"You." He swallowed. "I could not ride away from you." She squeezed his hands. The smallest gesture of encouragement but it unleashed a damn inside him. "Forgive me, Kitty. I should not have spoken so harshly."

"No." She shook her head so violently a red-gold tendril of hair escaped to flutter around her shoulders. "It is I who must apologise. I should have told you the truth long before I did." Her voice was strong, but her heavy breathing betrayed her regret.

"You came out here to find me?" He hardly dared to believe it.

"First I ordered your boatman to row me across to the castle." A faint blush rose up to stain her cheeks but she pushed on with her tale. "When I discovered you had already left, I borrowed a horse to come after you."

"You rode out here, all alone?" He looked back at the waiting trap.

"For a while," she paused. "I acted in haste, but I would have done anything for the chance to see you one last time. To tell you how sorry I am. And to tell you…" Her words faltered.

"To tell me what?" He placed a hand in the small of her back, drawing her closer. It took iron self-control not to crush her into his arms.

She bit down on her lip. His thumb skimmed over her cheek, and she closed her eyes, leaning into his touch.

"To tell you that I love you," she said.

Her simple honesty floored him. It was as if he'd been waiting his whole life to hear those words.

"I love you too, Kitty," he whispered.

She smiled, a ray of sunshine through the darkness. "You told me after the storm that you were falling in love with me. I couldn't say it back, not when I was still deceiving you. But I couldn't let you leave without knowing how much you mean to me." She glanced back at the trap and the manservant who was studiously looking up at the clouds. "I guess that's what's happening, isn't it? You're going away? The castle is all shut up."

He shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere. Not if I have you to come back to."

"You do." She moved imperceptibly nearer to him, and he could no longer resist the compulsion to reach down, cup her face in his hands and kiss her.

But no sooner had their lips met than she pulled away. "But the king is waiting for you. Don't you have to return to his service?"

His hands travelled to her shoulders and skimmed the sides of her body down to her waist. He had never been less interested in the king.

"King Edward has many knights," he declared. "I think he can manage without me for a while longer. Although I may have to do some grovelling…"

"Oh, Guy." This time, she kissed him, standing on tiptoe and wrapping her arms around him until he was buffeted by desire. His fingers skimmed the pearl buttons of her dress. So many of them, he could never hope to undo them all.

The sound of the manservant clearing his throat brought Guy to his senses. However much he wanted Kitty, he couldn't take her here. Especially not before asking the question which burned on his lips.

"Kitty," he started, "or should I say, Miss Katherine Alden?" He pulled away from their embrace and she stumbled slightly on the uneven ground.

"Yes?"

He lowered himself onto one knee and grasped her dainty fingers.

"Will you marry me?"