Her Christmas Knight

by Nicole Locke

  Alice’s eyes widened, and she gave a curt nod.

  ‘I’ve told nothing to the King,’ Eldric said. ‘I’m already taking risks.’

  Hugh exhaled, and looked to the ceiling. ‘I’m sharing secrets to protect the Clan Colquhoun and their families.’

  ‘And why would you have loyalties to a certain Scottish clan?’

  Hugh turned his gaze to Eldric, who was his friend. He’d been surprised that friendship was there, but it was.

  ‘I don’t have loyalties to that clan. In fact, having run into them, I wouldn’t mind if a few of them disappeared. But I do have loyalties to Robert of Dent, who is alive and married to the Laird’s sister.’

  Eldric whistled and leaned abruptly back against the wall. ‘Well, I wasn’t suspecting that.’

  ‘Now what?’

  Eldric shook his head. ‘At least I now know it was a good reason. But what a reason! And one I’ll not worry about for now.’

  ‘You won’t worry about a legend or the fact that Edward’s right-hand most faithful knight has been lying to him? That one of the most deadliest swords is now on our enemies’ side?’

  Eldric smiled. ‘I have my own burdens, remember? The Archer was here.’

  Hugh shook his head. ‘How do you know?’

  ‘He left an arrow on my bed.’

  ‘Maybe you shouldn’t have been distracted by that woman.’

  ‘I only danced with her once.’

  Hugh arched his brow. ‘And you didn’t try to look for her again?’

  ‘I was trying to look after you.’

  ‘I thank you for that,’ Hugh said, leaving out all humour from his voice. ‘You truly are my friend.’

  ‘That’s what I’ve been telling you.’

  ‘So tell me your idea.’

  ‘You won’t like it.’

  ‘Will it keep me with him?’ Alice asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Eldric said, ‘and if it goes according to plan no one will be hurt.’

  Alice looked to Hugh. Her wide grey eyes were filled with all the warmth they shared, and determination for the trials to come.

  ‘I’ll do it,’ she answered, her eyes never leaving Hugh’s.

  * * *

  The moment the door was closed Hugh grabbed the rest of his clothes. He threw Alice’s gown towards her, but she didn’t dress with the same alacrity. He didn’t know whether to be amused at her sudden lack of shyness, or frightened because of her serenity.

  Alice was never serene.

  ‘We can’t let Eldric do it,’ he argued. ‘The loss is too much for Swaffham and for your family.’

  ‘It can all be built again. My family has more silver and gold than they know what to do with. My father certainly doesn’t need another pair of breeches or shoes.’

  ‘Yet to set fire to your new barn! There could be bystanders. The loss of the spinning wheels, wool, tools and supplies will be significant.’

  ‘But it’s a plan that’s so natural—as if it was meant to be done on Candlemas. All the workers will be gone by then and the town is always flooded with candles. It will look like an accident. Believable, too, because I have already had a conversation with Mitchell about the barn being in danger of burning down.’

  The plan was eerily perfect. She shouldn’t be this full of relief. The building was new, and filled with all of her and Mitchell’s plans. And yet, she could see this as a viable way for her and Hugh.

  In one way it was like setting fire to her past so she could have a future.

  ‘And Eldric’s right,’ she continued. ‘The trap door underneath and the passageway will make the perfect escape in case someone stops the fire early. No one knows of it except for Mitchell. We could be on our horses at the tunnel’s entrance and out of the country before anyone even thinks to look elsewhere.’

  He turned away, his shoulders rigid. ‘So many years protecting Robert, so many years of openly fighting by the King’s side. There’s a part of me that feels like a coward even contemplating Eldric’s suggestion.’

  She could see that. As a child, his shoulders had gone back whenever the crowd had jeered. His head had been held high as he’d half-carried his father home. Then selling the land, taking the coin for armour, training to become a knight... He was a proud man, and planning a fake death, going into hiding, would go against everything inside him.

  ‘Eldric is no coward and he suggested it.’

  He shook his head. ‘I keep thinking there must be some other possibility.’

  ‘If you lived, if you stayed by his side, the King would order your death.’

  ‘But you don’t have to go with me.’

  ‘Of course I do. I can’t go to the King empty-handed. He was adamant about what he’d do to my family. You’re the one who pointed out that I’m not nobility. I won’t have the protection of a title and power. If I live, my family dies.’

  ‘He’s looking for the Seal, and our sudden deaths will be too suspicious.’

  ‘Maybe he’ll think the traitor is someone else—who got rid of us.’

  ‘He’ll send people here to investigate. More spies in Swaffham.’

  Her home town, with a population of more sheep than people. She could hardly contemplate any intrigue here, even though she was a part of it.

  ‘Which is why only us three know the truth.’

  He turned then. ‘I won’t stand for that. When we are at a safe distance, we’ll let your family know.’

  Her eyes welled at that. It was the hardest thing, knowing they would suffer. She put a hand to her mouth to hold back the other thought, of the even more painful separation.

  Hugh’s eyes softened. ‘And William, too. We’ll make sure he’s looked after. He loves you. That isn’t going to change.’

  ‘I’m going to miss so many years.’

  He strode towards her again, and she went into his arms. ‘You don’t have to go.’

  She’d go where her heart was. ‘I won’t be separated from you again. It’ll hurt, but I have to trust that William will find us eventually.’

  He rubbed her arms, exhaled. ‘So much could go wrong.’

  ‘And yet you saved the wrens.’

  ‘The wrens?’

  ‘The boys were there to capture them, and somehow you freed them before they could be tied to the poles. That’s what we’ll be—a couple of wrens.’

  ‘We have no feathers to satisfy those left behind.’

  ‘I have the horn the King gave me. If I leave that, he’ll believe I died.’

  Hugh looked to the sword at his side and nodded. ‘It’s winter...our passage will be dangerous.’

  ‘The ice and snow will only make it more difficult for someone to follow us.’ She patted his chest. ‘You worry much for a knight, a spy and a traitor to the crown.’

  He looked at her with heat and love in his blue eyes. ‘I have much to worry about. You are everything, and yet I now realise how easy it would be to lose you.’

  ‘Do you trust Eldric? Because all this comes down to Eldric and his words, his ideas for you and I.’

  He nodded.

  ‘Then stop worrying for me and my family; I worry more for you.’

  ‘There’s nothing to worry about with me.’

  She gave an exasperated sound and took some steps away to pace the room. ‘Leaving for Spain! Leaving England and Scotland and your vow to Robert! You started spying against the King to protect him.’

  Ah. It was good that they talked, and they needed to talk more. There were words he wanted to say, and she wasn’t going to like them. Alice fought to the death for those she cared about. And...he felt his heart swell...she cared for him.

  ‘I won’t be breaking my vow to Robert,’ he said, and waited for his words to be understood.


  She stopped and clenched her hands. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I can pass information from Spain. I’ll work together with Eldric and we’ll continue with the Half-Thistle Seal.’

  Her hands flew apart. ‘No!’

  Hugh crossed the room and entwined her hands with his own. ‘I must continue. There are too many changes in the world, too many chances. I can’t sit idly by while others sacrifice themselves—’

  She jerked her hands away. ‘But you’ll be free from all that. We’ll leave your sword, the horn, a few pieces of our clothing. It will be as if we died. If we don’t stay hidden you might be recognised, and then what? What of our children?’

  ‘Children?’ He choked the word out as if his throat closed on him.

  ‘You have to know we’ll have them. They’ll be at risk.’

  ‘I cannot break my vow.’

  ‘But this plan includes marrying me. To do so you need to be alive. You jeopardise our lives by doing this.’

  ‘I have already said I feel like a coward for going into hiding, I can’t just abandon my friend, my honour.’

  ‘Did Robert feel like a coward because he faked his death?’

  Hugh rubbed a hand down his face and across his nape. She was right, and Robert had never cowered from anything or anyone.

  ‘It doesn’t sit right with me. Maybe I’m wrong—maybe in this way I am flawed—but I know that if I turn my back on that vow it will be something I cannot recover from.’

  Suddenly she stilled, and a look softened her eyes. ‘I’m not trying to fix you. You’re still unflawed to me.’

  ‘I don’t understand—why are you arguing with this then?’

  Tears welled in her eyes, and he felt every one of them even before she said the words.

  ‘Because I love you. Because I finally have you, and we have a future. I don’t want it to—’

  He took the necessary steps and pulled her into his arms. ‘It won’t end. This is our beginning. This is new for you, but I’ve been here before. There are risks—’

  ‘Yes, there are risks. I don’t know how good a spy you are if the King suspects you—and now you say you’ll continue?’

  ‘I have to. I meant it when I said I regretted those lost years without you. The years you helped people here—I would have liked to help along with you. I liked that day at the barn, and I intend to have more of those days with you.’

  He did understand her need to help; he wanted to share it with her. ‘I do, too. Which is why I want you to stop. Which is why—’

  ‘What?’ Hugh said, at her sudden pause.

  She sighed against him, but it didn’t sound like resignation. It sounded like...acceptance, and something in him eased.

  Held in Hugh’s arms, it was hard to keep her anger and frustration, and even harder when she knew he was right. The difference of him being a spy before was that he hadn’t had her. Together, they would keep each other safe. They would share in this way, too.

  ‘Let him know,’ she whispered. ‘Send a message to Robert about what we do.’

  ‘Alice?’

  She pulled away and was caught in Hugh’s gaze. The storm inside his eyes had ceased, and they were more blue than ever.

  ‘Keep your vow. We will be helping together, just as we both wish to. We’ll be helping Clan Colquhoun and Robert’s family.’

  He cradled her face in his callused hand, his thumb tenderly brushing against her cheek. ‘I have to confess your words that day of the storm about my father aren’t what brought me peace. Aren’t what made me forgive the past.’

  ‘Then what?’

  ‘You were here.’ He gave her a soft kiss. ‘No matter what loss had brought me to Swaffham, no matter what trials I had living here, how could I ever hate this town where I met you?’

  She pulled him tightly to her, and rested in the warmth of his embrace.

  ‘I love you,’ he whispered. ‘The pain, the regrets, the trials ahead we must face—all of it is insignificant to my feelings for you.’

  She knew the thread, the years and the love that bound them would spin endlessly now that they were together.

  ‘I knew all along that you’d marry me.’

  A huff of held laughter, a shake of his head against the top of hers. ‘We’ll be careful. If it goes according to Eldric’s plan, we simply have to travel for the few weeks afterward before we find a home. If anything is discovered, we’ll be countries away from here.’

  They would be, and yet... Looking up, she shook her head. ‘Then how will Spain work in your vow to Robert?’

  ‘I have sources to follow. If it doesn’t work, we’ll move to France—but away from the Western border. I can’t guarantee to keep you completely safe from this.’

  She laid her hand on his cheek. ‘I don’t want safe. I want you. I never thought I’d have you at all—I’ll take what I can get.’

  Grasping her hand, he kissed her palm. ‘You may take all you can get, but I’m greedy now and I want everything. I want us this way.’

  She leaned her head against his chest and heard his heartbeat. ‘Me, too.’

  Chapter Eighteen

  Candlemas. A day marking the end of Christmas. For him, it was a day that would mark the beginning of his life with Alice.

  The sun was starting to set when Hugh finally spied through the crowds Alice’s chestnut-coloured hair against her green cloak.

  Entire families were carrying their candles into the church for a blessing and then placing them in the square until every bare spot was covered. The well and cross in the square’s centre dripped and flamed as bright as any sun and illuminated the snow-covered square.

  And there, as the flickering flames glowed brighter than the dying sunlight, was Alice, taking candles and helping William find places for them.

  It was weeks since he’d held her, kissed her. Weeks while he and Eldric had planned what needed to be done and how. What steps he would take to protect himself, Robert and the Clan Colquhoun. What he would do to protect Alice.

  Already Swaffham might be plagued by other spies, and they’d agreed they wouldn’t be together until every detail of the plan had been discussed. Even he and Eldric had limited their time in the open together. Nothing could be left to chance.

  Seeing her here, her grey eyes glowing like the flames, her chestnut hair haloed like some angel, her cheeks red with the cold, he knew nothing had been left to chance. He’d never risk it otherwise. She was too precious to him.

  He slowly stepped into the square, simply to prolong watching her take these last moments with William that she wanted so desperately. Theirs would be a difficult parting, but he was a child and wouldn’t be able to bear the burden of the truth.

  However, he and Alice had made contingencies and William and his family would be well cared for. William would be positioned as a steward-in-training with Mary, and when enough time had passed he would know the truth. Hugh would do everything in his power to ensure Alice would see him again.

  She shared a few more words with William, gave him a strong hug that took the child by surprise, before she stepped down from the well’s steps to walk towards him.

  She was beautiful. Tiny, fierce, determined. Her grey eyes wide, shining. He could barely contain his happiness as Alice stood in front of him. So close he could touch her, hold her. Against the cold of the dying sunlight he felt her warmth.

  Children played, animals grazed, adults laughed and chattered. The town centre was as full as he had ever seen it.

  They had planned every detail and every possibility. ‘It’s time,’ he said.

  She tilted her head. ‘You’ve said that to me before. I kept thinking you had a hidden meaning.’

  He tried to think of the past few months and their words exchanged,
but couldn’t recall.

  ‘I understand it now.’ Her lips curved. ‘You mean, it’s time for us.’

  ‘Always,’ he easily answered.

  She looked around her, her eyes taking in the beauty, the laughter, and this most familiar and treasured of Christmas traditions.

  For himself, he didn’t need to look anywhere else but at her.

  ‘Every person and most of the animals are here, and as far away from that barn as we could get them. When we light the fire, Eldric will ensure that all the animals nearby are free to run.’

  ‘I’m not worried. What I am is surprised at how much I’ll miss all this.’

  She took his hand and placed it on the side of her cheek.

  ‘You’re cold,’ he said.

  ‘Not for much longer,’ she said.

  ‘Don’t. Not even in humour. Eldric will ensure nothing happens.’

  She nodded. ‘We have to let them see us together now.’

  ‘How do you want to gain a crowd? Should we argue? And if so about what?’ he said.

  She bit her lip. ‘What do you think will get their attention?’

  His eyes on her lips, he said, ‘All I want to do is kiss you, and I don’t care if it’s in front of everybody.’

  Before she could answer he swept his hand along her nape and tilted her lips to his. What was meant to be brief, warm, tender, quickly turned to so much more—and still not enough. He would never get enough.

  When he pulled away it took Hugh a moment to hear the laughter and clapping over the roaring of his own blood. Even knowing that people watched them, he felt his body protest at pulling away from her.

  Smiling, laughing, enjoying the ribald jokes that were making Alice blush, his happiness overwhelmed him.

  Facing the crowd, he announced, ‘I want you all to know that Alice has agreed to become my wife!’

  Cheering overpowered the sound of his words, but he knew Alice heard.

  ‘Exactly who proposed to whom?’ she said.

  He glanced at her. Laughter was in her eyes. He could not love her more. ‘Are you ready? They’ve seen us together.’

  ‘With that kiss, they’ve more than seen us,’ she quipped.