Standing at the side of the horse, she gave a great sigh, the force of which almost turned her lungs inside out. "I guess there is no hope that this aunt of yours has children that I can play with."

Jamie snorted. "All of them grown."

"Grandchildren?"

He had his hands cupped to help her onto the waiting horse. "No," he said impatiently. "Aunt Mary has six grown sons, none of them married."

"Oh?" Axia said, and for the first time, she thought that perhaps visiting his aunt Mary might not be so boring after all. She put her foot into Jamie's waiting hands, but he didn't lift her onto the horse. When she looked at him to see why, he had the oddest expression on his face.

"Jamie?" she asked. "Are you all right?" When he didn't answer, she said louder, "Jamie!?"

"You are going with me," he said quickly, then tossed her into the saddle so fast and with so much force that she nearly went over the other side.

It didn't take Axia half a second to add up the facts. "No," she said with resolution, "I think you are right. I should go to your aunt's house."

Jamie didn't answer but grabbed the reins of her horse and led it out of the courtyard toward the road.

"But this is south," Axia said at the crossroads. "Jamie, I think we should talk about this. You are always taking me away from marriageable men. First that dear Lachlan and lovely Rhys and now your very own relatives. I really think you should take me to your aunt's house and leave me there in safety. It is not right that an unmarried couple such as you and me should travel alone. And, besides, to meet six full-grown Montgomery young men would be a magnificent opportunity for me! You can go and save Frances, and maybe Maidenhall will be so grateful that he'll reward you with her hand in marriage, and meanwhile, maybe I could find myself a handsome husband. And a Montgomery at that! Such a fine old name. And to think of it, Jamie, we will be relatives."

Halting his horse, Jamie turned to look at her. "Axia, if you don't close that pretty little mouth of yours, I am going to sell you to the gypsies. And I'll sell you to whichever one offers me the lowest price."

When he'd turned his back, Axia wiggled her shoulders and gave a silent laugh of triumph, then smiled at the sunshine.

Chapter 21.

Four hours later, Axia was wishing that Jamie had kept to his original plan and left her somewhere soft and safe. As it was, it seemed that she'd never been off the horse, for her legs were stiff and sore. She very much wanted to beg Jamie to stop, but she knew she'd die before she did. With a crooked smile, she thought that Jamie really did have a soft heart. If she worked at it long enough, she was sure that she could talk him into anything.

She was riding beside Jamie, they were moving too fast to talk, and besides, it took all her concentration to stay on the horse. It was a beautiful day, and they were surrounded on either side by dense forest. Axia had asked if they could stop and eat the bread and cheese they had purchased in one of the villages, but Jamie had said they couldn't. She'd argued with him about that, but he'd warned her there were bandits in the forest, and he didn't want to encounter them.

Frowning, Axia had glanced into the dark forest, looming on both sides of them, wondering what was lurking inside there. From the way Jamie spoke he was very afraid of the bandits and didn't want to risk an encounter. Since she'd known Jamie, for all that he'd had enormous difficulty with her and Frances, he had been the soul of sweetness. For all that he had turned her over his knee-and she'd never forgiven him for that-he seemed to be a nonviolent man. He seemed to fight with words rather than a weapon. She could imagine Rhys and Thomas fighting, but she couldn't imagine Jamie in a fight.

This was one reason she was adamant about getting him away before he met her father. If a sweet man like Jamie met Perkin Maidenhall, Jamie would never live through it. Thinking of this, she smiled, because if she told Tode what she was thinking, he'd say she was a sn.o.b. He'd say that Axia believed that only people who were not born with money could actually do anything on the earth. The sons and daughters of earls would starve if their pretty clothes and houses were taken from them.

So now, glancing at the dark forest, she urged the horrible creature between her legs forward.

But only minutes later, she was startled by two men jumping out of hedges growing alongside the road, one of them grabbing the reins of her horse. "Your money or you won't see the sunrise," the man said, looking up at her with an ugly grin on his face.

Another man, a huge, bearded ruffian, his little eyes glittering, held the reins to Jamie's horse. "Ain't you a fine gentleman?" the man said, eyeing Jamie in his spotless black velvet doublet. "Get down."

"Please don't hurt us," Jamie said softly. "We will give you what you want if you'll just let us go free."

Axia saw that the man holding the reins of her horse had a pistol. Feeling real fear for her life was not something Axia had bargained for when she said she wanted to experience the adventure of life. In fact, fear was not an emotion she was very familiar with, so now she couldn't seem to move.

As Axia sat, staring, Jamie dismounted slowly and came to her, holding up his arms to her to help her down.

"I like this horse," said a third man behind them, a man Axia had not known was there. "Think I'll take it."

"Say nothing, " Jamie whispered to her with warning in his eyes.

Axia did not have to be told that, for she was too afraid to say anything. What would she and Jamie do if the bandits took everything they had and left them alone on the road? Or what if they decided to kill her and Jamie?

She had to think of something to do, some clever way to get them out of this mess.

"Over here," said the man with the pistol, motioning toward the shadow of the trees. "Come over here, rich man, and empty out your pockets."

"We have nothing," Jamie said in a voice full of fear. "We are merely traveling from one place to another. Please do not hurt us."

Axia, standing to one side, heard the fear in Jamie's voice and was disgusted. Even if he was afraid of them, he should not show it. He should stand firm and show them who was in charge.

"How dare you a.s.sault us!" she said loudly, her shoulders back, her chin high. "We are on the business of the queen and if you touch us, you will be drawn and quartered."

At that she had the satisfaction of seeing the three bandits and Jamie pause and stare at her. Now they will leave us, she thought in triumph.

But unfortunately, her words seemed to have the opposite effect. Whereas before they had paid no attention to her, now the biggest of them grabbed her from behind, one huge hairy arm about her waist, the other about her neck.

"On the queen's business, are you? Then a ransom for you should be high," said the man holding her.

Axia's eyes were full of terror as she looked at Jamie, and for just an instant, she saw his anger at her disobedience.

"We don't really know the queen," she whispered, but no one listened to her.

"Empty your pockets," the man with the pistol said, waving it at Jamie. "And do it quick before she dies." Turning, he grinned at Axia. "I'll make use of her before she goes, though."

To her shame, Axia could feel her knees weakening. She'd always hoped that in a situation like this she would be brave, but these horrible men were so awful and so frightening. Were they going to kill her and Jamie?

"There's nothing in my pockets," Jamie said, and his voice was nearly trembling now. "Please do not hurt her. She is an innocent, and she has no value."

"I'd say that parts of her have a great deal of value," laughed the man holding Axia so very tightly. She could smell his foul breath, and to her horror, he began to move one hand upward toward her breast.

"My money's in my boot," Jamie said loudly. "I keep all our gold in my boot, and I will give you everything if you will but leave us with our lives."

At that the man with the pistol laughed as he looked toward Axia. "I love these fancy gentlemen. Such fine clothes, such fat purses, and such weak stomachs."

Axia could feel her heart sinking as she watched Jamie bend down toward his boot. He was right to give in to the men, of course, but part of her wished that he'd show a bit of spine.

Everything happened at once, and it happened so quickly that Axia almost saw nothing.

Jamie did not draw a purse from his boot, but a thin dagger that she had never seen before, and with a flip of his wrist, he threw it. At Axia! She saw it coming, but it was so unexpected and so fast that she had no time to get out of its way. But, thankfully, it missed her, sailing right past her head.

In the next second, Jamie whirled in a blur of moving arm and flashing steel. He always carried a long sword at his side, but all gentlemen did. It had never occurred to Axia that the sword was for anything but show. Now Jamie seemed to extract it from its sheath in one blinding, fluid motion, and in the same movement, he stuck it straight through the man holding the pistol.

With her eyes wide in disbelief, Axia saw the man look down at the sword, where it was up to its hilt in his belly. What he could not see and Axia could was the long pointed tip of the blade protruding from his back.

The third man, standing on the other side of Jamie, could also see the tip, and with a glance at Axia and the man holding her, he disappeared into the forest.

But Axia did not move, for the man who had grabbed her still held her as tightly as ever, both his arms clutching at her in a deathlike grip. Now that Jamie had killed his companion, what would this bandit do to her?

Axia was too scared to speak as she watched Jamie withdraw his sword from the dead man, then saw the man crumple to the ground. She still did not try to speak while she watched Jamie clean the blood off his sword and resheath it at his side.

Axia didn't speak nor did the man holding her. Was he as afraid after what he'd just seen as Axia was?

When Jamie had his sword resheathed at his side, he walked toward her, unconcerned with the man holding her. To her disbelief, he put his hand on the man's arm and pulled it from under Axia's breast.

It was only then that Axia turned her head and saw the man, still in exactly the same position, but he had a knife sticking out of his throat. And he was very dead.

"Don't faint on me now," Jamie said as he pried the man's other hand from around her waist. "I think we should get out of here in case these fellows have friends."

Axia could only stare at Jamie.

He gave her a little smile as he pulled her away from the man, for her body was rigid with fear. "Do not look at me like that. There were only three of them."

She did not know what to say. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined such action as Jamie's. He was like a prince out of a fairy tale come to save her.

"Hold on to me," he said, smiling in amus.e.m.e.nt at her expression. "I think your legs have gone again." He was chuckling at the way she was staring at him.

As Jamie bent slightly, Axia slipped one arm around his neck, then the other, then on an impulse she could not control, she put her mouth on his and kissed him. She kissed him long and hard, kissed him to say thank you, and kissed him to let him know what she was feeling about him.

After a long time, Jamie pulled her arms from around him, and his eyes locked with hers. "Axia," was all that he could say, and he kissed her chin and nose. Then with great reluctance, he pulled away from her. "We must go."

But Axia's legs didn't move, so Jamie swept her into his arms and carried her to the waiting horse, as usual, dropping her into the saddle. Within seconds he had mounted his own horse, and after urging her mount forward, they rode faster than Axia ever had before, and it was all she could do to stay in the saddle.

It was nearly sundown before they reached the end of the forest, and there was an inn where they could spend the night. During the hours of the ride, Axia had given her concentration to the horse and not to what had happened. In fact, she did her best not to think of it. But images kept flashing through her head: Of the man holding her, of his threats, of his malignant little eyes. She remembered Jamie tossing the knife and how close it had come to her head. But instead, it had sunk deep into the man's throat, just inches from her own head.

It seemed that the farther they got from the scene, the more frightened Axia became with her thoughts of what could have happened. Maybe she was better off locked away in the Maidenhall estate. At least there she'd never had to contend with bandits with pistols.

As the hours wore on and she grew ever more tired and more hungry, the forest seemed more threatening and more horrible.

When at last Jamie pulled the horses to a stop and helped her dismount, he frowned at her. "You are pale. Come and I'll get you something strong to drink." Putting his arm about her shoulders, he supported her as they walked into the inn. "Axia, it is over. Do not think of it more. I will keep you safe."

With that he pushed open the heavy oak door and went inside the warm, well-lit dining room, where a fat, cheerful-looking woman came bustling forward.

"Good evening," she said cheerfully, then looked at Axia. "Oh, my, the young lady has been hurt. Come, dear, sit down, and I will see to you."

Axia didn't know what the woman meant, but then she turned her head to the side and saw the blood on her shoulder and neck. She was drenched in the man's blood, blood that must have come from the knife that Jamie threw into the man's neck. And in that moment everything that had happened became completely real to her. All the danger, all the risk and threat, came before her eyes, and it all seemed to block out the light.

As she crumpled in a faint, Jamie caught her in his arms.

Chapter 22.

When Axia awoke, it was to Jamie sitting beside her on a bed in an unfamiliar room. It was dark, a single candle on the far side of the room, but she could tell that dawn was close at hand. She must have slept all night, and given how exhausted Jamie looked, he'd never left her side.

Opening her eyes more fully, she smiled at him, then startled, she tried to sit up, but Jamie pushed her back onto the bed. "Is it gone?" she whispered.

"Yes," he said softly. "All the blood is gone. I cleaned it off myself. Even washed it from your hair." As he said it, he looked at her lying there with great ma.s.ses of soft brown hair spread around her. During the day she kept her hair pulled back and covered so he didn't see much of it, but now it lay about her like a soft, shining cloud.

"Why are you looking at me like that? You're ashamed of me, aren't you? I have been a nuisance to you, haven't I? Ever since I met you I have been horrible."

"Yes," he said, reaching out to touch her hair. "Truly horrible. Before I met you my life was so calm and sensible, but now nothing is sane or logical."

"Are you teasing me?"

He gave her a little smile. "Of course not," he said as he leaned toward a table and picked up a bowl and spoon. "The landlady made you some soup, and I want you to eat it." Carefully, he brought a spoonful to her lips.

Whereupon Axia burst into laughter. "Oh, Jamie, I'm not an invalid." She was not going to allow him to see her embarra.s.sment, for truthfully, no one had ever found it necessary to wait on Axia. She prided herself on never having been sick a day in her life, and it was she who nursed others, not the other way around.

"All right," Jamie said, setting the bowl down. "You are healthy and well, so I will go to my own breakfast. I bid you good morning."

She could tell by his voice that she had hurt his feelings, but she'd not meant to. Throwing back the covers, she leaped from the bed, then put her hand to her forehead and began to sway on her feet. "Oh, I think..."

When Jamie did not run to her rescue, she opened her eyes and saw he was smirking at her.

"Go on," he said. "You may finish your faint. The bed is behind you."

She laughed. "Oh, Jamie, I am starved. I do not want thin soup. I want beef and a couple of chickens and a great huge pudding. And-" She broke off as the images of that afternoon suddenly came back to her, and she sat down hard on the bed. "You killed them," she whispered.

Sitting beside her, Jamie put his arm companionably about her shoulders. "It was the only way. I had to do it. I never like killing anyone."

Turning her head, she looked at him. "I did not think you were capable of such a thing. You are so very nice."

"I am what?"

"You are very kind to everyone, such as Tode and Frances and your men. Everyone likes you."

Jamie was smiling at her as he stood up. "But you knew I was a soldier, did you not?"

"Yes, but I thought you sat on a horse in pretty clothes and-" Jamie was laughing too loudly for her to continue.

"Get dressed and I'll go see what the kitchen has to offer in the way of breaking our fast," he said, still laughing as he turned to leave.

Rising, Axia caught his arm. "I have never had anyone take care of me before," she said softly. "But you do. You see that I have hot water for a bath; you make sure I have paper for my drawings; you take care of Tode; you save me from bandits." In a very natural gesture, she stood on tiptoe and put her arms around him. "Oh, Jamie, I-"

"Axia, please do not say it," he said, and there was pain in his voice. "Please, I could not bear it. You do not know what is in my heart, the fight I have between duty and-and love. I must remember my obligations to others. Please," he said again, then firmly took her by the shoulders and held her away from him. "Get dressed and come downstairs. I will be waiting for you there."

With that he was gone. For a moment Axia felt bereft, but then she smiled as she leaned back against the door. It seemed that in the last weeks her mind had come to be filled with nothing but thoughts of Jamie.

Her dreaminess lasted only moments before she looked about the room and saw that Jamie had put clothes for her across the back of a chair. A dress of deep red wool with black embroidery all along the hem and up the front.