Outlaw King

by Julie Johnstone

  When de Beauchamp entwined her fingers with his smooth, fine-boned ones for the dance, she recalled Robert’s large, calloused hands. Robert’s hands were those of a man not afraid to go into the trenches where he ordered others to go. He was a man of the people who cared deeply for them and their welfare and would risk his life to gain freedom for all. Whereas de Beauchamp was a man who would lord over the people with no regard for them.

  By the time de Beauchamp had twirled her around the floor for a fourth time, as he droned on about all the animals he had hunted and killed this year, and about the Scots they had taught a lesson, she desired nothing more than for the dance to end. She was so preoccupied and distracted by the thought that she did not even realize they were dancing beside Robert until they nearly collided.

  “Watch yourself,” de Beauchamp snapped at Robert.

  “It is ye who would be wise to pay mind to those around ye,” Robert said, his eyes sharp like a sword and trained on de Beauchamp. “I’m nae the sort of man to relinquish what I consider mine.” His gaze flicked to Elizabeth, and the look he gave her was so scintillating that a tremor went through her.

  De Beauchamp flinched before he hastily turned her away. “How dare Bruce speak to me that way,” he snarled, “and look at you in such an uncouth manner.”

  She bit down on the inside of her cheek to stop herself from snorting at his ironic statement. He glanced toward Robert and the lady he still danced with, who were still very near to them. De Beauchamp pulled her tightly against him, a triumphant smile coming to his face. She started to press a hand to his chest to push him back, but he caught her fingers and smiled. “This morning, the king gave me permission to court you.”

  She felt her jaw drop. Her godfather was playing games—again—and she had no doubt it had something to do with Robert.

  “Did you hear me?” de Beauchamp asked rather loudly. She was sure his aim was for Robert to hear. “There is every possibility we will be wed. I’d prefer you not to speak with Bruce anymore.”

  She glanced to Robert. His lip twitched, whether from amusement or anger she was unsure; the rest of his face revealed nothing. She found herself hoping he might be a tad jealous, and then she mentally scolded herself for such thoughts. She had get away from de Beauchamp, and hopefully, Robert would find a way to discreetly follow.

  “I feel unwell,” she blurted, and without waiting for de Beauchamp to reply, she twisted out of his embrace and fled past Robert, cutting her gaze sideways at him. His eyes held hers, and her breath hitched at the possessiveness she saw there. She continued on, making her way out the door and through the halls until she exited the castle and made her way down the stone path to the gardens.

  “Excuse me,” Robert said to a gaping Lady Blanchard as he bowed and left her on the dance floor while the music still played. He strode toward the door of the great hall, from which Elizabeth had just fled, but paused in the empty corridor, unsure which way she might have gone. Before he could make up his mind, Angus appeared at the north end of the corridor. His face was illuminated by the torches blazing on the wall.

  “She went to the gardens,” he said with a scowl.

  Robert covered the distance between them in several hurried steps. “Ye’ve been watching her,” Robert said, surprised, though he realized he should not be.

  “Aye. I told ye I would be. I ken ye trust her, but I dunnae, and now I have proof that ye should nae, either.” Angus motioned Robert to follow him. They departed the castle and went to the courtyard that was deserted, save for the guards in the distance who were too far to overhear them.

  “What proof is that?” Robert demanded.

  “I overheard her speaking with her father. She said she told ye that she wants freedom for herself and for our people, and that ye believed her. Robbie, she’s lying to ye!”

  “Nay,” he countered. “She is saying what she must to her father.”

  Angus’s lips pressed into a hard line. “She is saying what she must to ye! Ye clot-heid!”

  Doubt sprang in Robert’s mind, though he fought it. Had he become entangled in her web as he had vowed he would not? Had she cleverly tricked him? Made him think she understood desiring freedom and that she needed him to aid her with her cousin? If so, how far would she take the scheme? To the bedchamber? To marriage? Was she his most dangerous enemy, or was she merely a woman caught in this game for the throne?

  “I’ll nae call her a liar until I have definite proof,” he said, giving himself time to decide.

  “God’s teeth, Robbie,” Angus growled. “Is what I just told ye nae proof enough?”

  “Nay. The king and her father are clever, and they play games,” Robert said, thinking on Guy de Beauchamp’s announcement that there was a possibility that he and Elizabeth would be wed. Was it true, or was the king simply trying to stir Robert’s jealousy for Elizabeth so he’d be distracted? “I’m going to go speak with her.”

  Angus nodded. “I’ll come with ye. Ye’re under her spell already. Ye’ll need me to ferret the lies from the truth.”

  “Nay,” Robert replied. “I vow I’ll keep my guard firmly in place.”

  His old friend sighed. “I’ll wait for ye in my bedchamber.” He gave Robert a long look that clearly communicated that he’d expect Robert to come there and tell him what had occurred immediately afterward.

  Robert chuckled. “I vow to report to ye all that occurs.”

  With that, he strode through the courtyard and to the garden. Elizabeth stood among the flowers with her back to him. The moonlight shone down on her flowing pale hair, and she had her arms wrapped around her waist. She looked so vulnerable that the need to protect her surged within him. She had not only managed to make him feel soft emotions again but she made him feel with an intensity he could not explain or even understand.

  He made his way to her, thinking she would hear him and turn, but she didn’t. When he was close enough that he could reach out a hand and touch her on the shoulder—or better yet, encircle her waist, and tug her to him for another kiss—he spoke. “Elizabeth.”

  She whirled toward him with a gasp. “Thank God! I was worried you would not be able to slip away. Did de Beauchamp see you?”

  “Nay. I was careful. Did I hear correctly that he said the two of ye might be married?” He studied her, not sure what he hoped to see, but the look of disgust that swept her features pleased him immensely.

  “You heard correctly. I believe the king wishes to stir your jealousy, to make me appear more enticing to you,” she said, her embarrassment clear in her tone.

  “The king does nae need to bother making such an effort,” he murmured, the desire to kiss her once more so strong he could taste it.

  “He doesn’t?” she asked.

  She was not deceiving him as Angus believed; she was an innocent pawn. The sheer intensity of what he felt for her in that moment seemed to vibrate the very air around them. He hoped she did not feel it. It was too complicated for them to have a real future, never mind that it was too soon for him to feel so strongly toward her. He was not frightened of battle or warriors bent on killing him, of a king determined to destroy him, but of her, the wee lass that she was, he felt real fear. He wanted to trust her completely, and that was a very dangerous thing. That would make him vulnerable to her in a way he was to no other, in a way he did not have the luxury to allow. He wanted to, nonetheless.

  Need for her beat like a hard drum within him. It flowed thick through his veins. Perhaps it was too late to stop what was occurring. Perhaps it had been fated on the very day she had shown her courage to him. He closed the distance between them, intent on satisfying the clawing need within him.

  “What are you doing?” she whispered as he slipped his hands up her arms to press the length of her body to his.

  The need within him became so painful he had to clench his teeth for a moment. “Ye affect me,” he said, his voice rough. “I did nae wish it, but ye do. I did nae mean to allow it, but ye have stole
n into my head and I can nae get ye out.” He slid his hands over her dainty shoulders and up the long column of her neck, and entangled his fingers in her silky hair.

  She stood silent, except her breath had become heavy, and her body trembled beneath his fingertips. “You are in my heart and head, as well, but I’m fearful. My father and the king are dangerous, and they will do all in their power to use me to hurt you.”

  “Do nae fash yerself for me, Elizabeth. As long as ye tell me only truths, they can nae hurt me.”

  With that, he brushed his lips over hers, reveling in the shiver that he felt run through her. He wanted to devour her mouth, yet he also wanted to go slowly and savor each moment, each touch. Her thick eyelashes fluttered against the perfect slope of her creamy cheek before she raised her gaze to his once more.

  “You are wicked, my lord,” she said, placing her hand over his heart. “And I must be wanton, for I surely like you exactly as you are.”

  He captured her mouth fully this time, and her lips parted eagerly for him. He drank in her sweetness and her uninhibited response to him. He moved his hands down her back to explore the delicate curve of her spine, and then the enticing roundness of her hips. She moaned from deep within her throat but pulled away from him. “My cousin has been released from the dungeon. She is in her bedchamber with orders to make herself presentable. Do you have any ideas of how we can help her escape or to where she could possibly flee? Her mother was a MacLeod. Do you think they would take her in?”

  “Aye,” he replied, allowing his hands to rest on her shoulders, loath to release the contact with her. “I will have my man Angus take her to them. She will be safe there. I just need to find the perfect time and determine how we will get her away from the guards I’m sure have been set to watch her by yer father.”

  “Robert, I cannot thank you enough for aiding me and Lillianna.”

  “Would ye wish to flee with her?” he asked, thinking of what Elizabeth had revealed in Ireland about wishing to choose her own husband. If she could flee from here, from her father and the king, and disappear into the wilds of Scotland, then she would have that choice. He did not want her to go, but he could not, in all honor, hold her back from doing so.

  Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “No.” She bit her lip and cocked her head as if contemplating what to say, and then she spoke. “My father warned me that if I were to flee, you would suffer.”

  Robert frowned. “I do nae fear yer father.”

  “You should,” she said flatly. “For he has no honor, and a man without honor is a thing to fear.”

  Her words made his chest squeeze. He tugged her to him, and suddenly his mouth was on hers, hot and seeking. Their tongues tangled, leaving him wanting more, but he forced himself to pull away. “I do nae wish ye to go, do nae mistake me, but I’d give ye the chance to disappear and choose yer own future, yer own husband, if ye wish it.”

  Elizabeth felt the warmth of his hands upon her shoulders acutely, heard his intake and exhalation of breath as he waited for her to answer. She was astonished and deeply touched that he would offer her such a thing, but she could no more leave him now than she could abandon her cousin. She swallowed, feeling tethered to this man as if a thick rope had been tied to each of their wrists. “I wish to stay and take a chance that, though a choice may be forced upon me, it would be one I would have made myself.”

  His fingers on her shoulders curled into her skin and pulled her closer so that when he breathed out, she breathed in his air. He reached up and brushed his fingers across her cheek. “I can nae say what time we will have. I may have to depart rather quickly.”

  “Oh!” she suddenly gasped, recalling what else she had to tell him. “Robert, Queen Margaret and my father said that the king needed you distracted so that his attack on your men in Ettrick Forest would not be foiled.”

  “God’s blood!” Robert swore. “If Edward knows my men are hiding in Ettrick Forest I have to get word to them immediately.” He raked a hand through his hair. “I’d go myself, but I fear it would arouse suspicion.”

  “I fear you’re right,” she said. Suddenly, a plan came to her. “I have an idea! One that could possibly get Lillianna away from her guards and with Angus, so that he could flee with her.”

  Robert smiled. “I’m listening.”

  “What if I can convince my father that he could use Lillianna to seduce Angus as he thinks he’s using me to seduce you? Then he might possibly allow Lillianna to be alone with Angus. I could suggest riding in the forest tomorrow, and then they could simply ride away and not return!”

  Robert frowned. “It sounds too easy.”

  “And that makes you frown?”

  “Aye. In my experience anything that sounds as if it is too easy is fraught with a problem I have yet to see.”

  “I cannot imagine what,” Elizabeth said, taken by excitement at the prospect of Lillianna escaping her father’s clutches and Angus being able to warn Robert’s men. As they stood in silence, Elizabeth considered everything.

  “It would link ye directly to Angus and Lillianna disappearing for one thing. Yer father is certain to suspect ye played a part if they simply disappear after being together. Besides that, yer father has men watching Angus and me. I doubt he will tell them to cease that simply so Angus can ride with Lillianna.”

  She nibbled on her lip, thinking for a moment. Then her eyes went wide. “I can disguise Angus as a priest, which will allow him to ride out of here with me and Lillianna! The stable hands will likely not question Lillianna riding with me, as my father has not made it known that she is under his watch, except for the guard assigned to her. He will be a problem.”

  Robert’s brows dipped. “I believe I know the perfect person to distract the guard—if she will agree to it.”

  “She?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Aye. Gwendolyn Fraser.”

  “Queen Margaret’s lady-in-waiting?” Elizabeth asked, surprised.

  “Aye. She is for our cause.”

  “Is Simon her cousin?” Elizabeth asked, thinking of the conversation she had overheard between the man and her father.”

  “Aye.” Robert’s gaze probed her. “Why?”

  “I overheard him speaking with my father on the day you arrived, and he seemed to be working with him to convince you to come here.”

  “Then Simon plays his part well. Now, even if ye manage to ride away with Lillianna and Angus disguised, yer father will still likely suspect ye had a hand in allowing yer cousin to escape.”

  “I’m willing to take that risk,” she said, though fear did coil in her belly.

  “I can nae let ye do that.”

  “It is not your choice to make,” she said quietly. “Freedom is just as important for me and Lillianna as it is for you and your people.”

  Robert sighed but nodded. “Come,” he said. “One good thing about the plot twining around us is that we can be seen together without it raising questions. I’ll walk ye back to the castle, and then I must go speak with Angus. If ye can, try to discover when the king intends to send men to Ettrick so that Angus does not encounter them.”

  “I’ll do my best,” she promised. “Hopefully, the queen will be in a mood to talk when I return to her chambers shortly. I’ll give you word in the morning of what I have discovered. Meet me here.”

  His answer was to pull her to him again. Their eyes locked, and their breathing seemed to come into perfect unison. He cupped her cheek, and heat rushed to the spot he touched. Slowly, he leaned in and pressed his lips to her, caressing her mouth more than kissing it. Yet, his nearness, his touch, sent waves of passion washing over her. She rose to her tiptoes and twined her hands around his neck, wanting to keep him near and make the moment last. When his tongue touched her lips, she parted them eagerly. Her need to be touched by him was so strong that she could not even feel embarrassment for what was certainly wanton behavior. It seemed so natural with him, so perfectly right. She swept her hands over his broad shoulders and the
n threaded her fingers into the heavy locks of his hair. He did the same to her, and when he ended the kiss, they stood face-to-face, surrounded by darkness, but a light of understanding seemed to glow between them.

  Chapter Nine

  “I dunnae like this,” Angus said as he faced Robert, who had arrived at Angus’s bedchamber when he was done in the garden. “I dunnae care to rely on the wench. I dunnae trust her.”

  “Careful,” Robert growled. “Ye’re one of my oldest and closest friends, but do nae disparage Elizabeth.”

  “I hope yer loyalty is well placed,” Angus snapped. “I’ll nae be pleased to say I told ye so if it’s nae. In fact, I may nae be able to if I’m killed in an ambush!”

  “She is helping us,” Robert said slowly, “nae leading ye to an ambush. She warned me of what her father and the king had planned, for Christ’s sake!”

  A brittle silence descended in which Angus glared at Robert. Then his friend said, “Do ye nae see it could all be part of a larger plan?”

  “Nay,” Robert ground out. “I do nae. I’d stake my life on it that she is nae working with her father and the king.”

  “Nay,” Angus said in a hard voice. “Ye are staking my life on it.”

  Angus’s words struck Robert like a blow. He was putting Angus at risk based on his belief in Elizabeth. He trusted her, yet was he willing to risk Angus and his men for such blind trust? He yanked a hand through his hair and began to pace the room. His mind turned as he thought. Finally, he stopped and faced Angus. “Get word to Gwendolyn to go to Fraser and ask him if he knows of any plan.”

  Angus let out a relieved breath. “I’ll go now.”

  Robert nodded as Angus departed the room. One guard would likely follow him, but the man would think nothing of Angus meeting a pretty lady-in-waiting. Robert took to pacing the room once more, feeling as if he could not sit still. He went through every moment he had spent with Elizabeth and everything they had said, and he came to the same conclusion: he still believed her. He also had no notion how he should proceed given what he was starting to feel for her. He moved to the window and stared out into the starry sky. He desired her, but it was not simply desire. He was drawn to her, intrigued by her, and awed by the strength and compassion she had shown. He wanted to unravel her secrets and know her in a way he had never longed to know another.