‘However?’
‘I believe I should know how to defend myself, just in case we find ourselves again in a situation where it would be prudent that I did.’
Will crossed his arms across his chest, watching her for a moment. ‘My good friend Hugh de Villiers was once given a similar request by his wife, Eleanor, but that particular lady was actually exceptionally skilled in combat.’ His eyes glossed over with a faraway look, as though he were recalling a moment from his past. ‘Not that Hugh had any notion of it at the time,’ he chuckled softly, shaking his head at the memory.
But his smile vanished just as quickly, as if it was too painful to think of his friends. They were clearly people that Will cared for.
He nodded once and met her eyes. ‘I hope that we do not encounter anyone else, Isabel, but you’re quite right. You should know how to defend yourself.’
‘You’ll show me?’
‘If you wish. First lesson is after we break our fast.’
* * *
Will knew that the decision to teach Isabel a few rudimentary defensive moves was sound, but it didn’t mean that he should have readily accepted her request. Nor should he have betrayed anything about his past, especially disclosing anything about Hugh de Villiers and his wife, Eleanor of Tallany. That was all far too painful and a reminder of a life he had left behind when he went willingly into exile in France.
The truth was that he no longer deserved friends like Hugh De Villiers. Will was now a different man to the one he had once been. But that didn’t mean that it wasn’t painful when Will thought about them. He missed them—he missed Hugh, Eleanor, and his family. Will shook his head to rid himself of these unwanted recollections and took a step towards Isabel.
‘Now, for today we will think about the different ways to get away from an assailant, who would more than often attack you from behind.’ His hands on her were on shoulders, turning her slowly. ‘So, imagine I am approaching you without you seeing me.’
Isabel turned fully as he pressed against her back and drew his arm around her neck and inhaled deeply, trying not to notice the enticing scent that wrapped around him with its warm summer floral notes and the essence that was simply her.
What was wrong with him this morn?
‘Good, so this is the position that the man had you in last night, if you remember.’
‘Not a wonderful memory, but one I am hardly able to forget.’
‘Indeed... Now, always remember that any assailant will want to grab you from the back as it’s the most expedient way to capture you, so at all times be vigilant. Don’t allow the rear to be exposed. Failing that, you shall find yourself in a position like this.’
Will certainly did not need to hold on to Isabel for this length of time or to press this closely to her, but he couldn’t help being enveloped by her soft curves, or the silkiness of the exposed skin at her neck. His breathing became a little constricted as he noticed a few smatterings of freckles on her skin and the loose, honey-coloured tendril of hair that had escaped from under the sheer veil brushing against the curve of her neck. It was all he could do to prevent himself from pushing it away and touching her skin to satisfy his curiosity.
‘Yes? What next? Will?’
He cleared his throat, giving his head a little shake. ‘I am going to tighten my hold while you try to break it. What should you do first?’
‘Since you’re holding me this tight, it’s difficult to know how I can pull away.’
‘Exactly, you should not try to pull away from me, Isabel,’ he whispered in her ear, feeling her faint shudder. ‘You must do the very thing that would be unexpected by your assailant.’
‘Which is?’
‘If you are ever held as closely as this, with your captor overpowering you from behind, there really is only one course of action. You lean to the left, only slightly, yes...like that. This allows you to manoeuvre your hands below to be able to grab his...his, er...well, his unmentionables and you squeeze as hard as you can. Imagine that it’s fruit, such as ripened plums.’ This conversation was getting more uncomfortable by the moment. ‘Trust me when I say you’ll surprise him enough to release you.’
Isabel turned her head around slightly, her face and neck flushed. ‘I... I see. Well, I am grateful that you have not concealed such a defensive move from me on account of my being a woman.’
‘God, no. If you are ever in such a position, then you must use any means to escape effectively. I hope it would never come to it, but as I said, it would be a wholly unexpected way to defend yourself so it is useful to have in your arsenal.’
Isabel smiled. ‘I shall. Anything else?’
Will chuckled, his mouth still close to the curve of her neck. ‘Are you telling me that the thought of having to employ such a move does not deter you?’
‘Not if it means I can get away.’
‘Very good. You are thinking in a pragmatic way.’ He hesitated before continuing. ‘Now, there is another similar move, just as devastating and just as unexpected. Make a fist with your hand, like this.’ He covered her hand, curling her fingers under, with his free hand. ‘You’ll need to punch like the devil and in the same area as before.’
‘Shall I refrain from employing that on you?’
He released Isabel and turned, walking away from her. ‘I’ll be grateful if you didn’t, my lady,’ he said with a spark of amusement.
What was he thinking?
These rather unconventional defensive moves that he’d once shown his mother and his sisters were a good idea, an astute idea but really... Did he have to start with such a move? The mere mention of that part of a man’s body was making all the blood in his body swoop there, making him feel exceedingly uncomfortable.
Hell! He should not be thinking about the soft curves of her glorious body, the freckles on her neck or her delicious scent. It was all highly unseemly.
‘I’ll try to remember that,’ she muttered. ‘Is that it?’
He cleared his throat, turning to walk towards the stream. ‘No, I shall give you further instruction every day if you wish, my lady, but I really do believe that we should continue moving now.’
‘Yes, of course...are you well?’
‘Perfectly, we’ll pack up and leave after I drag myself to the stream and fill up the flagons. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Lady Isabel.’ He ambled along, conscious that he also needed the water to douse all of these pent-up feelings about Isabel de Clancey. It damn well would not do!
* * *
After many hours of riding had passed, Will acknowledged that despite his attempts to keep their exchanges light and friendly, he couldn’t simply ignore the lady he was travelling with, just because he was reckless and misguided enough to feel the stirrings of attraction for her. He would just have to suppress and ignore these unwarranted feelings.
Will had a job to do and it would be best to put all his efforts into accomplishing that, especially since Rolleston was bent on dishonouring their agreement. But then, men like him seldom had any honour.
‘Do you wish to rest soon, my lady?’
‘I’m not fatigued, if that is your concern. We could continue for a while longer in the hope that there won’t be any more disruptions along the way.’
‘And if there are, Isabel, we will overcome them.’
‘Having witnessed what you are capable of, Will, I am in no doubt, of that. And...now that I know I would only need to crush a man’s...private area as though they were mere plums, I hope to rise to that challenge.’
‘Oh, God, Isabel, what have I done!’ He snapped his head around to meet her amused gaze. ‘Promise me you’ll forget everything I’ve taught you once you’re back home?’
‘Once I am the lady I am expected to be?’
‘Precisely.’ He rubbed his brow, not knowing how to put this into words.
She looked
ahead. ‘I’m just happy you have consented to teach me how to protect myself properly. I value and appreciate that immensely.’
‘As long as it gives you some peace of mind. But remember, Rolleston won’t want to harm you as the reason he is trying to capture you is merely so that he can renege on our agreement.’
‘I see,’ she said stiffly.
‘You don’t believe me?’
She didn’t respond. Will noticed the way she sat on the horse, the way her jaw was set and how she clenched the reins of her young palfrey so tightly, that her knuckles were white. It seemed to Will that she was grappling with something that preoccupied her, or possibly scared her...
He pulled on the reins, bringing his horse to a gradual halt, making Isabel do the same.
‘What is it, my lady? What is this all about?’
She met his curious gaze and bit her lip. ‘I don’t think that you’ll understand.’
His brows shot up. ‘Whatever it is, I hope you know that you can tell me anything.’
‘I do—however, this is not something that can be so readily accepted.’
‘Just tell me, Isabel.’
She sighed deeply. ‘Very well. You once asked me what I was afraid of.’
‘Yes...’ he said slowly, his eyes never leaving hers.
‘Well, the truth is that I don’t believe that those men from last night were trying to renege on whatever deal you struck with Rolleston.’
‘Then what?’
‘I don’t think any of this is a coincidence, Will—the ambush when I was child, my father and my brothers’ deaths. Even last night, with those assailants.’
‘Are you trying to say that you believe the incidents are all somehow related?’ He shook his head. ‘You’re mistaken, Isabel.’
‘I told you that you wouldn’t accept what I had to say.’ She exhaled.
‘I’m sorry, but how do you know this and what makes you say it?’
‘I don’t know,’ she said in a whisper. ‘There are things that I vaguely recall in the haze of my memory. Things that I have tried to forget.’ She took in a deep breath before continuing. ‘I was a child whom no one noticed much, but I was naturally inquisitive, especially when I was told I was being sent to France to live with my betrothed and his family—the second son of the Count d’Albret. I knew I wasn’t to marry him until I came of age, but can you imagine my concern and shock at being told that I would one day be wed to a man who was close to my father’s age. I needed to know why.’ She sighed before continuing.
‘I knew my father was out of favour with King John and needed to strengthen our family alliance, but I needed to know what would become of me. I needed reassurance. Instead, I heard other things. Voices in the dark spilling secrets and promissory oaths made that could not be unmade.’
‘Can you recall who and what that could be?’
‘No, I can’t remember that—not yet, anyway. And until you appeared in St Jean de Cole, I hoped I never would need to remember my old life...but now, everything has changed.’ She gulped, looking down at her hands before lifting her head. ‘All I know is what I have told you and the fact that somehow, in some way, it is all related to that pendant you have around your neck, Will.’
He stared at her in disbelief and clutched his hand around the pendant unwittingly, drawing it out from under his tunic and looking at it several times. ‘Is that why you gave it to me? For safekeeping?’
‘No—’ she shook her head ‘—I wanted you to have it for saving my life, but also with the knowledge that I had found an identical pendant in my satchel, before we were ambushed.’
‘An identical pendant?’
She nodded. ‘That was what rendered that man unconscious, last night, I believe. It’s at the bottom of my satchel, as I never wear it, and must have caught him on the head when I whacked him.’
Will hissed an oath under his breath. There couldn’t be anything to what Isabel said, could there?
She tilted her head and smiled wryly. ‘I can see that you have a problem believing in what I am saying.’
‘To be clear, all you have said, my lady, is that there are two silver and ruby pendants, one of which you gave me all those years ago, and a handful of disturbing memories, which you can’t recall very easily.’ He paused and dragged his fingers through his hair and softened his tone. ‘I’m sorry, Isabel, but there doesn’t seem to be anything in this except your unsubstantiated fears of the unknown. Which I do understand, by the way.’
She dropped her head and made a single nod. Her whole demeanour tugged at Will’s chest and he almost jumped down from his horse to comfort her. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be. I didn’t think you’d believe me, but then you did ask.’ She sighed, pressing ahead with her horse, edging forward down the path, surrounded by shrubs and coppices. ‘Although there is one thing I forgot to mention,’ she said from over her shoulder.
‘Oh, and what is that?’
‘The pendants should never, ever be kept together and must always be kept apart.’ She turned her head slightly, affording him a view of her profile against the shadows. ‘That, I have remembered.’
Chapter Seven
Dusk had settled. They had ridden for many long hours avoiding towns, villages and small hamlets where people might be encouraged to remember a man and woman travelling together on horseback.
Eventually, they had set up a small camp in another sheltered area of yet another part of a secluded woodland, close to a fast-flowing river.
It had been Isabel’s insistence that they pushed ahead without stopping for respite. The more they stopped, the more time she would have to think. The more time she would have for lengthy conversations with a man who was starting to invade far too much of her inner sanctum.
Will was a frustration that intrigued Isabel even though he shouldn’t. He was confounding and, with everything in her life as precarious and uncertain as it was, this was something that should not be worth her time. Yet, she couldn’t help it.
Isabel splashed in the river, glad of the opportunity to wash away the day’s dirt and travelling grime. She poured the river water over her head and applied a cleansing oil and soap that she had prepared and brought with her from St Jean de Cole, inhaling the calming scent.
The journey already felt much longer than the two days since she had left home. She missed and mourned that life once again, but knew there was no use thinking of it. That life was no more, but what the new one waiting for her in England would entail, she could only wonder.
Isabel finished bathing and paddled out of the river, ringing the water out of her long hair and using lengths of linen to dry herself. She removed the wet tunic that she’d bathed in, putting on a clean, dry one, and finished dressing. After taking a big glug of chilly air into her lungs, she wandered back along the leafy path to where they had set up for the night.
She shivered, moving towards the fire that Will had kindled, watching the flames lick the lengths of wood. It seemed that the first cold bite had finally arrived as one season was giving way into another.
‘You’re cold, my lady.’ Will strode towards her and draped a blanket over her shoulders. ‘Here, take this.’
‘Thank you.’ Isabel glanced up and noticed his swift intake of air, his eyes fixed to her unbound and unveiled hair. ‘It’s still wet,’ she said and flushed instantly, knowing it was plainly obvious. Needing to do something instead of standing there feeling self-conscious, Isabel drew the long length of her hair over one shoulder, allowing it to fall to her front, her fingers prising through the wet strands, untangling it.
For some unknown reason Will was still watching her, as if beguiled under an enchantment. She raised her brows in question and, as though he was pulled back to his senses, he gave his head a firm shake and offered her a place to sit by the fire before perching on the other side, leaning ag
ainst a tree.
They descended into an uncomfortable silence, with Isabel unable to think of anything to say. She huddled close to the fire, allowing the warmth into her weary bones, listening to it crackle and spit as she rested her chin on her raised knees.
It was different now they were sated from the last parcels of food that she had brought, had washed, cleaned and were now ready for...sleep.
This time, it was very different to the way she had passed out last night. This time, she was very aware that she was alone in the middle of the woods at night with a handsome warrior. A man whose very presence made her stomach plummet to her toes. Isabel trusted Will implicitly, but not her own reaction to him, which made her feel quite ridiculous. She knew nothing of men, but did understand that her feelings were muddled up at a time when she was in need of a friend. Yes, that’s all this was. Nothing more than needing someone to converse with.
Will picked up a small object and Isabel watched in fascination as his big, strong hands moved carefully, carving intricate shapes into a piece of what looked like a bit of slate with a small knife.
‘What are you making?’ she muttered, after a while.
‘Nothing in particular.’ He shrugged. ‘This is something I always do when I need to think.’
‘What have you to think about that would necessitate for you to be this assiduous?’
A faint smile played at the corners of his lips. ‘Am I being assiduous?’
‘Oh, I believe so and I believe it is what I said earlier today that has you in such a quandary.’
He lifted his head and dragged his fingers through his hair. ‘It is all so...’
‘Fanciful?’
He shook his head. ‘Your fears are natural, Isabel, and they stem from what happened to you when you were a young maid. However, that doesn’t mean that there is some conspiracy against your family involving a couple of silver pendants.’
‘I thank you for your summary, but you will, I hope, understand if I don’t share your opinion. Whatever you may believe, there’s far more to the pendants than meets the eye.’
Her Banished Knight's Redemption--The follow-up to award-winning story the Rebel Heiress and the Knight Page 8
