The Bravest of Them All

by Laurel O'Donnell

  “Apparently, so does Urien. He wanted me...er, Mel...to put our hands on the stain.”

  Her father’s eyes shifted to Luke and then back to Nessa. “And Luke saved you?”

  Nessa nodded. Urien would have killed her, she had no doubt. “He and Urien fought, and he won.”

  “I owe you a debt of gratitude, Luke. If anything had happened to Nessa...” He picked up her hand and kissed it.

  “I was charged with your daughter’s protection long ago. It was a duty I took to heart.”

  There was something in his words that called to Nessa. She locked gazes with him. His deep blue eyes stared at her with such intensity, with such accusation that tears rose in her eyes. She was going to lose him. And there was nothing she could do about it. Quickly, she looked away to the chessboard. She moved her rook across the board to take the queen. “Check mate.” She stood quickly, as her father gazed in shock at the board. She moved from the bed and almost ran to the door.

  “Nessa!” her father called.

  Nessa froze. She couldn’t control herself. Not now. She silently begged him to let her go.

  “Where is my kiss?”

  Her chest spasmed with a sob she refused to let past her lips. “Later,” she managed to gasp before racing from the room.

  Luke stared after her, confused. She didn’t love him. He heard the words from her own lips, but there was anguish in her eyes, and tears. Something was wrong here.

  Lord Tristan shook his head. “Women. I’ll never understand them.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Luke walked beside Mel through the gardens. Lovely flowers of all colors bloomed around them, but Mel was oblivious to their beauty. She was speaking of one of her ladies in waiting, laughing at the woman because she couldn’t embroider as well as she. Much the same Urien couldn’t fight as well as Luke, but Luke never put him down for it. Still, it was obvious through their fight that it caused Urien to blame Luke for his banishment. “Urien thought you loved him.”

  Mel stopped and turned to Luke in confusion. The setting sun bathed her hair in a red tint. She tilted her head coyly. “Many men believe I am in love with them. Are you jealous?”

  Luke’s mind was filled with questions, but not jealousy. Something bothered him about the fight with Urien. “Do you remember why Urien was banished?”

  “Of course! Urien, Nessa, and I were in the gardens, not far from right here. He hit Nessa.” She shrugged. “I couldn’t very well allow him to hit one of my own family. I told father and he was banished.” She narrowed her eyes slightly. “Why are you interested in Urien?”

  Luke walked over to a tree, scowling, trying to make sense of it all. “Why would he do that? In front of you? Didn’t he know you would tell? Or Nessa? Did he think he could get away with it?”

  Mel shook her head. “I don’t know. I can barely remember.” She took his hand in hers. “It’s not important.”

  He resisted. “Mel,” he said, pulling his hand from hers. “It is important.”

  “Why is it important?”

  “Something doesn’t make sense.”

  “Leave it off. It’s not important.” Mel stepped close to him. “I’m all that should be important to you.”

  Luke moved away, scowling.

  Mel sighed and flicked her hair. “If you don’t want to walk with me, I can find someone who will.”

  Luke hardly heard her words. He nodded. If Mel wasn’t going to tell him, maybe Urien would. He started off toward the keep and the dungeon, but suddenly stopped. “Come. I will escort you back to the keep.”

  Mel frowned her displeasure at him. She shook her head and walked stiffly before him.

  Urien sat in the darkness, chained to the wall by shackles around his wrists. Betrayed. Devastated. Alone. Mel’s refusal to see him crushed his heart. All he wanted to do was please her, make their dreams come true. She had told him of the caves; that must have meant something!

  He heard footsteps in the hall and his hope ignited. The door opened and a torch was thrust into the dark cell. Urien blinked and held up his arm to block the bright light. The dark shape that entered was not Melwyn. It was a man. He slowly dropped his arm and turned away with a grimace.

  Footsteps announced the man’s approach. They stopped before him. “I’ve come to ask you some questions.”

  Urien sneered. Luke of Brackley. He was the one who had put him in this cell.

  “Why do you want to kill Nessa?”

  Urien grunted. “Why should I tell you anything?”

  “You don’t have to. I just want to understand. We were all friends once.”

  “And it hurts your pride to know that the woman you are to wed loves another?” Urien knew a moment of triumph when Luke scowled. “She loves me. She has always loved me.”

  “Why do you think she loves you? Did she say she did?”

  “She told me about the caves. The caves of the lovers.” He smiled, remembering her words. “The caves of St. Agnes. She told me that perhaps one day we would get to put our hands over the stains to seal our love.”

  Luke narrowed his eyes. “When did she tell you that?”

  Urien smiled in victory. “That’s why I went back. To get her. To take her away from you. To take her to the caves. But that witch, Nessa, deceived me.”

  Luke squatted before him, holding the torch above his head. “When did she tell you about the caves?”

  Urien cherished the moment, knowing he was twisting the dagger deeper into Luke’s heart. “When we were young. When you brought the sisters to the cave.”

  Slowly, Luke stood, a frown of dismay etched into his brow.

  “Mel was so angry.”

  “Angry?” Luke echoed. “She was not angry when we returned from the caves.”

  “You wouldn’t know. You went with Nessa. And Mel told me everything.” Urien laughed, his cackle echoing off the dungeon walls. “She loves me! She will always love me!”

  Luke backed to the door of the cell. He paused in the entryway, gazing back at Urien.

  Urien laughed and laughed. Luke would never have her love. She was his. She would always be his!

  “She doesn’t love you, Urien. She only loves herself,” Luke said before closing the door behind him and leaving Urien in the dark.

  Urien was a defeated man now. Alone. But why? Why would he kidnap Mel to take her to those caves? He stared out over the lands. He had not slept the entire eve. He could not sleep.

  Nessa filled his thoughts. She didn’t love him, he told himself. He had heard her words himself. But she had to know the truth about how he felt, even if she didn’t love him. He silently cursed that day he had taken the girls to those caves. It all went back to those damned caves. Why would Mel have told Urien about the caves? And why would she be so angry?

  Suddenly, he sat up straight in the bed as a reason came to mind.

  Luke sought Mel out. He found her in the Great Hall, laughing with another knight. She put her hand on Sir Curtis’s chest with a deep chuckle as Luke approached. But her flirtatiousness didn’t bother him. Servants moved about the Great Hall, preparing the tables for the morning meal.

  When the knight saw him, he straightened and nodded to Luke, stepping away from Mel. Mel turned and greeted Luke with a smile to stop a heart, any other heart but Luke’s.

  “A word with you, Lady Mel,” Luke commanded.

  “Of course.”

  He led the way to the hearth. The warmth of the fire washed over him, but did not reach his soul.

  “Now you want to talk?” Mel asked, glancing back at the knight.

  “Remember when we put our hands on the stain in the cave of St. Agnes?”

  She scowled slightly in thought. “You mean when we were young? How could I forget? It was so romantic, so --”

  “Did you see Nessa and I put our hands on the stain?”

  Mel clamped her lips together; surprise widened her blue eyes.

  “I want the truth, Mel,” Luke warned.

&n
bsp; Her lips thinned and her blue eyes snapped with fire.

  “You’d might as well admit it. I have already guessed the truth.”

  She looked up at him. “Then why ask me?”

  “Because I want to hear it from your lips.”

  “Yes. I did. But that was so long ago --”

  “Were you angry when you saw it?”

  Mel shrugged casually, looking around as if in thought. “I suppose I was. A little.”

  “A little?” Luke echoed.

  “It was supposed to be a special time between you and me. You were supposed to pledge your undying love to me. Instead, I saw you put your hand on the stain with my sister!”

  Luke had his answer. She had been furious. “Did you seek revenge?”

  “Revenge?” she asked, startled. “On who?”

  “Me. Nessa?”

  “No! I loved you. And Nessa, well, I was angry with her, but that was a long time ago. I didn’t do anything to hurt her.”

  “No? Did you tell Urien how angry you were?”

  Mel stopped immediately. Frozen. She eased back, her mouth open in surprise. “I can’t... I don’t think...”

  “He was there when we got back, remember?” Luke asked. “He greeted us in the courtyard.”

  “Of course. I remember, now. I did speak with him.”

  “Did you tell him how angry you were?”

  Mel flicked a hand of indifference. “What does it matter? That was so long ago.”

  Luke caught her arms in a tight grasp. “You play with men’s feelings. You lead them along, flirt with them, without realizing the consequences. Did you tell him how angry you were?”

  “Yes!” Mel shouted. “I told him I was angry!”

  “What else did you tell him?”

  “It was so long ago...”

  Luke shook her. “What else did you tell him?”

  “I told him everything! I told him about the caves and the stains. I told him I hated her!”

  Luke released her suddenly as if the mere touch of her was like being pricked with poison.

  “And why wouldn’t I? She followed me around like an annoying gnat. She had to do everything I did. She had to be like me. She had to take you away from me!”

  Luke stared, horrified. It was as much his fault as hers, promising his love to a woman he was not in love with.

  Mel shook her head, reaching for him. “But that was so long ago. All of that is in the past. I’m not angry anymore.”

  Luke stepped away from her, away from her touch. “That was when Urien started pushing Nessa down. It was because of what you told him that he hit Nessa.”

  Mel shook her head again. “I never said to hurt her.”

  “You didn’t have to. He was doing it to impress you. To win your acceptance. Because he loved you. And then your father banished him not because Nessa told him, but because you told him Urien hit her. You destroyed his life. All because he thought he was in love with you.”

  “No. No!” Mel shook her head desperately. “It was Nessa’s fault. She followed us to the caves. She made you put your hand on the stain. She wanted you to be in love with her!”

  “I am in love with her.”

  Mel gasped, her eyes rounding in shock. Another intake of breath echoed across the room and Luke shifted his gaze to see Nessa standing near the door of the kitchens. She stepped back into the shadows.

  Mel shook her head and grasped Luke’s hand. “You don’t mean that. You’re just angry.”

  Luke eased his hand from her hold, his gaze on Nessa. “I just realized it now. How much Nessa means to me. She is beautiful and kind and loving. She would never intentionally harm anyone.” The realization struck him like a bolt of lightning. “Not even you. Especially not you. She would sacrifice herself, her love, to make you happy.” It all made sense now. He turned away from Mel and crossed the expanse of the Great Hall toward Nessa. She stood as if she wanted to flee, but could not move. Shock was written in the anguished lines of her beautiful face. Her mouth was open in surprise. That delectable mouth. Her hands twisted tightly before her.

  Luke’s heart swelled with love. All for Nessa. It had always been Nessa. “That’s why you told your father you didn’t love me. So I would marry Mel.”

  “She loves you,” Nessa whispered.

  Luke shook his head. “She loves herself more than anyone else.” He looked at Mel over his shoulder. She stomped her foot, her hands clenched tightly, and stormed from the Great Hall. She would find some other knight to pamper her and worship her. But that knight would not be him. “Is it true?” he asked quietly.

  Nessa shifted her gaze from Mel to him. “Is what true?”

  “Do you love me?”

  Nessa swallowed. She glanced in anguished longing toward the path Mel had taken, then back at Luke.

  Luke was confident now. He knew his assumptions were correct. He reached out and took one of her hands in his own. “I love you, Nessa.”

  Nessa’s brow furrowed. “How can you love me? Mel is --”

  He touched her cheek gently. “You are so much more beautiful than Mel.” She began to shake her head. “How can you not see that? Your eyes are stunning, your cheeks so smooth, and your lips... God’s blood, Ness! They drive me wild with want.” He tugged her against him. “Do you love me, Ness?”

  Nessa sighed, as if she could no longer deny it. “I have always loved you, Luke.”

  Luke smiled down at her bright eyes, his gaze traveling to those lips. “Enough to be my wife?”

  “But Mel...”

  “I don’t want Mel. I don’t love her. I want you. Will you be my wife?”

  Nessa hesitated, her lips parted as if she were looking for the right words.

  For a moment, doubt festered within Luke. Didn’t she want to marry him? Then she lifted her bright eyes to his.

  Warmth spread across his chest; his loins tightened with desire.

  “Nothing would make me happier,” she whispered.

  Luke pulled her into his embrace, unable to resist kissing her. His lips swept hers, and this time she didn’t pull away. This time she was his. This time, she would tell her father that she loved him and become his wife!

  Special Thank You

  A special thank you to Kathryn Le Veque for writing such a magical legend!

  Thank you for reading Nessa and Luke's story as they overcame the odds to find their true love. If you've enjoyed the story and have time, please consider leaving a review so other readers can find this delightful story and escape into the medieval world. Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to receive important information about my upcoming releases at www.laurel-odonnell.com.

  Laurel

  About Laurel O'Donnell

  Bestselling, critically-acclaimed novelist Laurel O’Donnell sold her first book, The Angel and the Prince, to Kensington after being a Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart finalist. She has gone on to win many more awards, including the Holt Medallion Award for A Knight of Honor and the International Digital Award for Angel’s Assassin.

  Born in Chicago, Illinois, Laurel began writing in junior high school when she carried a pen and paper around wherever she went. In college, she took fiction writing classes to further her skill. Her love of the medieval time period led her to work at King Richard’s Faire in Wisconsin where she learned stage combat and sword fighting. The Faire fed her insatiable appetite for the medieval era.

  Laurel has many books yet to write and hopes you will join her on her journey to bring the medieval era to life! Please visit her at her website www.laurel-odonnell.com for the latest information about upcoming releases, contests and to contact her.

  More Books by Laurel O'Donnell

  Medieval Romance

  Heroic Tales of Medieval Romance

  Heroic Tales of Medieval Romance contains four full-length medieval romance novels by Laurel O'Donnell! My Noble Knight, Midnight Shadow, The Lady and the Falconer, and A Knight of Honor.

  Heroic
Tales of Medieval Romance on Amazon

  A Knight With Grace

  A Knight With Grace on Amazon

  Book One in the Assassin Knights series!

  Lady Grace Willoughby defies her father’s orders to marry Sir William de Tracy and escapes with a friend. She has no intention of wedding a cursed man, a man ostracized from the church, a man who would only doom any future children they might have to the fires of Hell. She prays for a knight to rescue her.

  My Noble Knight

  A #1 Best-Seller in Medieval Romance!

  Layne Fletcher desires to joust in a real tournament, using the skills she has been taught by her brothers. Griffin Wolfe, an honorable knight discovers her facade and demands restitution. Will he be able to teach her how to behave like a lady and hide his attraction to her while keeping his focus on the jousting tournament?

  My Noble Knight on Amazon

  Angel's Assassin

  A #1 Best-Seller in Medieval Romance!

  Damien is an assassin, a man with no home and a tortured past. Sold into slavery as a young boy, he is trained to kill with cold calculation, without remorse. Lady Aurora of Acquitaine is the epitome of purity and goodness, beloved by all her people. When Damien enters Aurora’s life, tempting her with promises of dark passion and forbidden lust, he threatens to tear her peaceful world apart.

  Angel's Assassin on Amazon

  Cherished Protector of Her Heart

  Aurora, the honored lady of Acquitaine prepares for her upcoming marriage. Damien, her betrothed, battles the unwanted visitors that have come for more than just celebration. Will his past catch up to him and ruin all he has fought so hard to protect? This novella features characters from Angel's Assassin!

  Cherished Protector of Her Heart on Amazon

  The Angel and the Prince

  A #1 Best-Seller in Medieval Romance!

  In this exciting medieval romance, the French lady knight known as the Angel of Death wages a battle of wills and desires against her dreaded enemy -- the English warrior known as the Prince of Darkness