Knight of Her Heart (Conquering the Heart)

by Alyssa James

  The taint of blood was already on his hands. He had already had his revenge upon one man who had been responsible for the murder of his parents, and his soul had been stained by the spilling of that blood.

  Nay. He would not succumb again to the same weakness. He was no longer a hurt and untried youth. Now he was a man with the strength to control his lust for revenge. Now he had so much more to live for than revenge. Lisette had taught him that love could heal the emotional wounds he carried and make him whole again.

  He pulled Malin off the wall then gave a savage thrust, pushing his half-brother away from him, sending him rocking backward and toppling over.

  Rowan fought for calm. “All is well, Lisette. You are safe now.”

  And he was safe. Safe from himself and the anguished bitterness and grief he’d carried around with him for far too long. There would be no more darkness in his world for Lisette had touched his soul with her light. ’Twas her love that provided the healing balm to the deep lacerations carved in his heart that he’d once believed were incapable of repair.

  No longer was he the impulsive young knight who had meted out justice his own way. He had matured and learnt from his mistakes. Now he had faith in his king and a deeper faith in God. Henry would bring Malin to justice in God’s name.

  “Get to your feet, Malin,” he demanded.

  “You always were a coward,” Malin snarled as he raised himself to his feet. “You don’t have the balls to kill me!”

  Malin’s taunts had no power to hurt him.

  “You will be taken to the king’s court. Our sovereign liege will try you and you will receive his justice.”

  “Henry has no right to rule. He will be brought down.”

  “If that is the case, I warrant you will not live to see it happen.” Rowan raised the tip of his sword to Malin’s neck. “Turn around and continue down the passageway toward the secret entrance.” As Malin turned, Rowan called into the shadows, “Come now, Lisette. Let us leave this place.”

  Lisette’s footsteps echoed as she raced down the uneven ground of the passage toward him. “Praise God this is over and you are safe.”

  With his left arm, Rowan hauled Lisette against him. Her arm went around his back at waist level. He winced. At the same time she exclaimed in shock as she touched the sticky wetness of blood that came both from the whipping Malin had given him, and from his open stab wound.

  “You’re injured!”

  “’Tis naught but a few scratches, my love,” he told her. Malin moved as if to turn around but Rowan pressed his sword tip firmer against his neck. “Don’t turn back, Malin. Keep moving. If I need to run you through in order to defend my lady I will not hesitate.”

  “I need to tend your wound,” Lisette implored on a whisper.

  “When we are to safety.” He used an authoritative tone that was always recognised and instantly obeyed by his men.

  As he’d almost come to expect, Lisette had the last word, insisting, “The very second!”

  But his lady wife did not get her way.

  The early morning light was almost blinding after the torch-lit illumination of the tunnel. Glancing up, Rowan saw the sunlight dancing off the tips of arrows from the archers who were lined up along the Baddesley battlements. A safe distance away there were knights on horseback at the edge of the forest. The knights wore the colours of Romsey and Winchester and were a magnificent sight to behold.

  “Archers of Baddesley hear me, Rowan of Romsey,” he cried out. “Do not fire! Malin of Baddesley has been captured. Throw down your weapons, raise the portcullis and allow the knights of Romsey and Winchester peaceful access to the keep. I wish to avoid more bloodshed.”

  A few moments later heads peered down from the cover of the bastions. As soon as the men saw that Malin was indeed a prisoner, a collective cry went up and bows rained over the walls. The sound of men rejoicing had Malin cursing savagely.

  “Traitors!” Malin cried. “Disloyal curs!”

  “You would know,” Lisette said pointedly.

  “I fed you. I gave you whores!” Malin’s whining was pitiful.

  Rowan looked hard at his half-brother. “Finnigan told me that most of your men stayed with you through fear. The end to your reign of terror is cause for celebration among their ranks.”

  Seconds later a loud clattering could be heard as the portcullis was raised.

  Rowan saw Richard give his destrier a slight kick in the flanks and watched as he and the combined knights of Romsey and Winchester approached on their cantering steeds. Richard signalled to the forces to ride into the keep, then he broke away. Flanked by two other knights—one Rowan recognised as Sir Bradford—he rode toward Rowan.

  Smiling broadly Richard asked, “Need some help, brother?”

  “What took you so long?” Rowan growled, but in truth he was relieved and more than a little overcome that his brother had shown his allegiance and rallied to his side in his hour of need.

  Richard dismounted. In one all-encompassing glance he surveyed Rowan and took in his injury.

  Rowan gave his brother a warning look, for he did not want Lisette to worry. He had deliberately kept her on his left side to hide the seriousness of his wound. Blood still streamed out, saturating his braies and hose, and he began to feel light-headed from the blood loss.

  “I thought you’d have my guts for garters if I were to storm the keep and rob you of your moment of glory in rescuing your wife.” Rowan appreciated Richard’s jovial tone and knew he forced it for Lisette’s sake. Pointing to Malin, Richard instructed the knights, “Guard this man well.”

  “I must attend Rowan’s wound, Sir Richard,” Lisette said urgently. Coming around to his right side, she gasped. “Dear Lord, I had no idea. I hadn’t seen it in properly in the darkness...” She shook her head. “Stitching will not do. This will need to be disinfected and cauterized.”

  Each of her beautiful features was etched with worry. Rowan wanted to reach out and soothe the lines away that furrowed her brow, but the pain in his side would not allow him to raise his arm again. Instead he teased, “You promised to kiss me as soon as we reached safety, now you want to place a burning iron on my side? Pray do not be so fickle, lady wife.”

  Lisette didn’t smile in response, but then she didn’t have a chance to, for in the next second Rowan’s whole world tilted and spun giddily, his knees buckled beneath him and Lisette and Richard lunged forward to stop his collapse to the ground.

  Chapter 23

  Rowan stirred some hours later. His side hurt like the devil.

  As he stared up at the ceiling he realised he was in a chamber at Baddesley.

  He heard Lisette asking, “How did you come to be here, Sir Richard?”

  “I was on my way to court when a messenger arrived to inform Rowan of your capture. Rowan had already left for Romsey. He must have left the main road and gone cross-country in his haste to be with you for he missed the messenger.”

  “He was riding back to me before he knew I’d been taken captive?”

  “Aye. He told me he needed to return to you immediately.”

  Lisette was quiet for a few moments then said, “The messenger told you I was in danger?”

  Sir Richard nodded. “Baddesley had sent a message to Romsey for Rowan. As soon as I learned that you were missing, I believed Rowan was walking into a trap with you as the bait.”

  Rowan heard Lisette give a shuddering sigh. “You were right and we are deeply indebted to you.”

  “Not at all. Rowan had rescued you and had Malin prisoner by the time I arrived.”

  “But you caught my former guardian as he was trying to flee. I cannot express how thankful I am that he is no longer free.”

  Rowan parted his lips to speak, but he was so dry his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth.

  “You and your forces also provided the distraction needed for us to gain freedom. Had you not arrived...” Her voice trailed off but not before Rowan had heard the quiver in it. He
knew all too well that had Richard not arrived Blake would have forced himself upon Lisette and Rowan would have been powerless to stop him. Malin may have been the half-brother he loathed, but Richard was a man to whom Rowan was not only deeply indebted, but a knight he was proud to call his brother.

  “Knowing Rowan would learn of your disappearance the moment he reached Romsey, I decided to send a smaller party ahead to deliver our news of Malin’s treachery to the king. I rode straight for Baddesley with most of the men,” Richard continued.

  “You are an exemplary knight, Sir Richard,’ she said, and Rowan heard the admiration in her voice. Irrationally he found he didn’t like it.

  “Of all the vows we take as knights, I find rescuing damsels in distress the most rewarding.” He gave her a small bow. “’Twas an honour to play even a small role in your rescue, Lady Lisette.”

  Rowan’s tongue came unstuck. “That’s what she has a husband for,” he half-growled and half-croaked in response to Richard’s mild and harmless flirtation with his wife.

  “Rowan!” The relief that was in Lisette’s voice was mirrored in her beautiful blue eyes as she was suddenly at his side. She took his hand in hers. “How do you feel?”

  “In need of that kiss you promised me,” he told her gruffly.

  “Your wound—”

  “Will heal in time,” he told her firmly.

  She raised her free hand to his cheek and trailed smooth, cool fingers down the roughness of his skin and the beard that was beginning to form there.

  Smiling at him, she said, “I am thankful beyond belief that you are alive. Your wound was deep, your blood loss great. It has been disinfected and cauterized and now you need to rest.”

  “I need the healing balm of your kisses.”

  Richard coughed. “I need to check on our prisoners.”

  Dragging his attention away from his beautiful wife, Rowan regarded his brother. “You caught Blake as well?”

  “Aye. He was captured trying to flee the keep, but there is more you should know. Your good wife learned of a plot to assassinate the king at Michaelmas celebrations. Blake confessed and has already named the co-conspirators.”

  Rowan struggled to sit up and instantly lay back down and winced in agony.

  “Lie still, Rowan,” Lisette ordered, an edge of steel to her voice that he’d never heard before.

  “All is well, brother,’ Richard hastened to inform him. ‘I shall inform the king and you must concentrate on your recovery.”

  Rowan wished he was capable of giving Lisette’s guardian the beating he so richly deserved. “Blake confessed to the murder of Lisette’s parents, Richard, and also to the forgery of documents which made him guardian of Lisette and her sister.” ’Though the effort of speaking cost him dearly, Rowan forced the words out. He needed to ensure Richard understood the full extent of the man’s wrongdoing. “He needs to be tried by the king on those counts as well as the count of treason.”

  “The man can only hang once, brother,” Richard laughed.

  “He deserves to suffer pain for an eternity,” Rowan said with another wince.

  Lisette’s cool touch soothed his brow. “He will have an eternity in Hell.”

  “On the morrow I will journey to the king and inform him of all that has transpired. Baddesley and Blake will be taken to the tower of London to await trial by the king’s court. We both know King Henry will see justice done,” Richard promised. “For now they are guarded and secure in the dungeons of Baddesley, and you, my brother, must rest easy. Sir Bradford is here and you could not wish for a finer knight to serve you.”

  Richard spoke the truth but as he made his move toward the door to leave them, Rowan detained him. “I also want you to remind the king of my petition for guardianship of Genevieve Blake, Lisette’s sister.”

  “I shall be honoured to convey your wishes to our king.”

  Despite himself Rowan felt the weariness and weakness of his body. Now all he could do was nod in acknowledgement while he battled to stay awake.

  “Your wound was severe, Rowan.” Lisette leaned forward and placed a fleeting kiss on his lips. “Think not of overtaxing yourself now.”

  “Stay,” he entreated her.

  “Of course, my husband. I’ll not leave your side.”

  “I, however, take my leave of you both forthwith,” Richard told them.

  Rowan heard his brother’s footsteps and the creaking of the door as it closed behind him. Sleep beckoned but time was so precious he did not wish to answer its summons. There was so much he needed to tell his love. “When I learned you had been taken by Malin’s men I was overcome with a deep fear unlike any I have never known.” The words were almost a whisper as he struggled to coordinate breathing and speech and to ignore the overwhelming pain from his side.

  “The men who were guarding me in the forest when I was captured...Pray, tell me they are unharmed?”

  Rowan gave a slight shake of his head. She gave a little cry of distress and bit down on her lip as he informed her, “They were ambushed and killed.”

  “I wandered too far into the forest that day. I placed them in danger. If only I’d—”

  “Hush, my love. ’Twas Malin’s wrong-doing. You must not blame yourself.”

  “Malin is deranged. I would never have forgiven myself had he succeeded in keeping you captive and carrying out all his sadistic tortures.”

  Hearing the wobble in her voice, seeing the anguish in her eyes, Rowan squeezed her hand. “All is well. You and our child are unharmed and I shall recover quickly.” He summoned the energy to reach out and place his hand over the very slight swell of her abdomen. “You were clever to manipulate that guard so we could escape. Now I learn you have uncovered an assassination plot against the king.” He could not disguise the pride he felt, nor was there any reason to try. “You are very brave, my lady, and I love you with all that I am.”

  She leant forward and kissed him and suddenly his body was not so weary. Her lips clung to his for a fraction longer this time and Rowan cursed his injury, wishing he could pull Lisette down and make love to her. Heat flared in his body and there was answering passion in the depth of her eyes, but the pain in his side was so intense he was unable even to pull her forward and have her nestle against him. “I must make a quick recovery. I long for you desperately,” he grated out urgently against her lush lips.

  He felt her lips smile against his own before she said, “Mayhap I should take a plank of wood to your head and put you out of your misery?”

  Despite himself, Rowan began to laugh. Laughter turned to a curse as the pain in his side intensified. As she soothed him with a kiss to his brow, he said, “I shall never banish the image of you felling your guard with a plank of wood!”

  She smiled. “I thought you were on your way to King Henry. I was endeavouring to free myself as I didn’t want you walking into a trap.”

  Shaking his head, he regarded her with admiration. “You are independent, capable and right now frustratingly beautiful.” They exchanged a long slow kiss. Whilst the passion still simmered between them, knowing they could not give in to the heady abandonment of lovemaking and sate themselves physically transported them to a higher plain of unity. A union of souls rather than a joining of the flesh. Everything in the kiss was a communion of their commitment, their desires and solidarity to meet the future together.

  “I love you, Rowan.”

  The words were simple. They were conveyed with such a depth of sincerity that a lump of emotion balled in his throat.

  “Even knowing what I did and knowing that I don’t fully repent of slaying the man who wore the cloth, you can love me?” Each word was heavy and the familiar weight of guilt settled once again.

  “That man wasn’t fit to wear the cloth,” she pronounced fiercely. “You ended the life of one who did not deserve to have it in the first place.”

  “’Twas not my place to pass judgement. I have now learned this lesson well.”

 
; “Rowan, you went to his abode intent on obtaining his confession to convict your brother, not with the intent of taking his life.” She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head slightly. “My love for you is absolute and I believe you have done no wrong. Still, ’tis not my place to forgive you. You must forgive yourself.”

  “I hardly believe my good fortune that you love me. I believed I was unworthy of receiving such love. You have opened me to both to the love I can receive and to the love I have to give.”

  Lisette beamed at him and placed her hands on his chest, over the spot where his heart beat solely for her.

  Slowly, he reached out for her hand and his fingers curled around hers. “My heart was heavily blockaded. Yet you disarmed me, my lady. You stripped away all my defences and left me totally unshielded.”

  “You have no need to shield yourself from me, husband.”

  “I know that now,” he nodded. “When your life was in peril, trapped under that beam in the fire, I knew I would rescue you or die trying. If you had perished, my life would have stretched out unbearably before me. ’Twas not until you filled my life that I realised how empty it had been.”

  He took as deep a breath as his pain level would allow. “Lisette, you are the centre of my existence. I love you with every breath I take and words simply do not convey the depth of my love. I shall, however, endeavour, to demonstrate the strength of my feelings for you every day in each thing I do.”

  “I am surely the luckiest woman in all of Christendom.” Sheer happiness sparkled in her face and bubbled breathlessly in each word she uttered.

  Ignoring the pain his movement caused, he raised the back of her hand to his lips and bestowed a gentle kiss there.

  A shadow flitted across her features and tension pervaded her slight frame as she spoke without looking at him. “You were betrothed to Lady Eleanor. Did you love her very much?”

  Ah. Eleanor. The spectre of the woman who had denounced him would not be allowed to haunt his marriage.

  “Her rejection of me cut deep at the time and I have carried the scar for a long time.” He observed the way Lisette bit down on her lip and gave a slight nod as though steeling herself to accept that he had loved Eleanor. “Only since I’ve loved you have I realised that I did not truly love Eleanor. What I felt for her was merely youthful lust,” he stated quickly, wanting to reassure her, to make her understand. “What she loved about me was the title I would have inherited.”