Kade’s gaze moved over her face slowly as if savoring her. She was beautiful. But it was more than that. She was brave and protective, all the things he was not. She was caring and compassionate. “You helped my mother.”
Lia’s gaze softened, and she nodded, releasing him.
Kade turned away from her and moved out of the chapel. He realized he couldn’t save his mother, but he could save Lia. Maybe somehow, someway, that would atone for his abandonment.
They walked down the road. Kade’s mind began to work on the treasure. “I searched the knight. There was no treasure on him.”
Lia walked beside him. “A ring? A pendant?”
Kade shook his head. “I must have missed it.” He paused to glance back at the chapel. A group of soldiers stood in the graveyard near the church with Father Stephen, digging up Sir de Rolleston’s freshly buried grave. He had searched de Rolleston’s body quickly. Maybe too quickly. Would his father find the treasure?
“Maybe it wasn’t treasure,” Lia said.
Kade swiveled his gaze to her.
“I have a confession to make.” Lia glanced at the soldiers and Father Stephen in the graveyard. She looked back at Kade and stepped closer to him as if to tell him a secret. “The knight was alive when I found him.”
Kade tried desperately not to smile. He knew that already. But it was a start. At least she was beginning to trust him. He glanced down at the top of her dress where the dots of blood were. “He was wounded.”
She nodded as her eyes widened in surprise. “Yes. I wanted to treat him, to help him. But he wouldn’t even let me bring him back to Maeve.” She lowered her remorseful gaze and a lock of her hair fell forward.
Kade caught it, and when she looked up at him he tucked it behind her ear. “I’m sure he knew he couldn’t be saved.”
“He should have let me try.”
Kade watched the way her lips formed the words. So lovely, so… He mentally shook himself. He had to focus to save her. “He gave the treasure to you.”
She began to shake her head, to deny it, but then stopped with a sigh. “I’ve been warned numerous times that it was dangerous. That I should tell no one that I have it.”
She did have it! “Whatever that knight gave you is dangerous. Give it to me. I can stop this. I’ll give it to my father and he won’t look for it. You’ll be safe.”
Lia was silent for a long moment, weighing her options. She scowled fiercely and turned, walking down the road. “It’s my responsibility.” She stopped suddenly, and he almost ran into her. “I’m only telling you this because you offered to help me. I don’t know what to do with it.”
“Give it to me.”
She shook her head again. “He gave it to me to keep safe.”
“He gave it to you because you were the only one around. He didn’t want it falling into the wrong hands.”
“Your father’s.”
Kade nodded. “It seems that way.”
Lia was silent again, considering. “I don’t want anyone hurt because of it. How do I know if you give it to your father that more people won’t be harmed?”
“What did he give you?”
She hesitated. “What if I tell you and you are in danger because of it?” She shook her head. “I couldn’t live with myself. I couldn’t do that.”
He wanted to embrace her and hold her and kiss her for her concern. She was amazing. And the fact that she was worried over him made him desire her all the more. “How do you think I would feel if you were harmed, if my father hurt you to find this treasure. Please, Lia. Give it to me.”
She shook her head. “I’ll destroy it.”
Kade looked at her in sympathy. “It won’t stop my father. He will take his wrath out on everyone you love, everyone who helped you. The bailiff, the innkeeper, those two young men. Even Maeve. And then you.”
Lia was silent for a long moment. “If I go away with you, will the others be safe?”
Kade felt a welling of warmth expand from his heart through his body. She would sacrifice herself for the ones she loved. For Maeve, the innkeeper, for the village. He admired her. She was frightened and afraid, but so brave. “We can make sure Father knows you have the treasure. He’ll leave them alone and come after you.”
“I have to say goodbye to Maeve.” She stared at the chapel and the soldiers working to dig up the grave. Her voice was thick and heavy. “Then I’ll go with you.”
Chapter Six
Lia quietly helped Maeve with the evening meal, chopping the vegetables to put in the stew. Her heart was heavy, her sadness all consuming. She didn’t want to leave Maeve. Maeve had raised her, had always been kind to her, and she loved her as if she were her own mother. She would protect Maeve any way she had to. When she saw those soldiers digging up the Templar knight’s grave, she knew she had to leave. The situation was far more serious than she could have imagined. For men to dig up a corpse in pursuit of some believed treasure was sacrilegious. What words could possibly be on the parchment to cause this much chaos and death? Why did Kade’s father want that parchment with such desperate urgency?
Maeve sat beside her, her weathered face looking concerned. “You are quiet, child.”
Lia frowned, moving her wrist to slice the knife through the carrot.
Maeve placed a hand over hers, stilling her movement. “It doesn’t matter what others think. You must do your own thinking.”
Lia looked at Maeve. She had thought about the parchment over and over, about what it held for her future. She couldn’t decipher any other way out. She didn’t know what to do. She wanted to confide in Maeve, but she knew that knowledge would only put her in danger.
“James’s mother does not want our help and we must accept that. The boy will recover,” Maeve said.
James, the child with the stomach ache. Lia felt a bit of the tenseness leave her shoulders. Of course, that would be what Maeve was speaking about. Lia dropped her gaze to the sliced carrot.
“Or are you thinking of that young lord?”
Lia’s gaze snapped to Maeve’s. Was she speaking of Kade? How did she know?
“Many saw the two of you speaking in the village. He is handsome, is he not?” Maeve smiled her gummy grin.
Lia felt a heated blush of warmth spread over her cheeks. Yes, he was indeed handsome, but he would never think of her that way.
“There is nothing to be ashamed of. You are a beautiful girl.”
Beautiful was not a way people described her. Her red hair lent many of the villagers to believe she was a spawn of the devil, or a witch. Beautiful was not a description they used for her. And then she thought of a way to make this believable, thinking of a way to use this gossip to make what she needed to tell Maeve make sense to the old woman. She sat in the chair. “Yes, we were talking.”
Maeve patted her hand, patiently.
“And he is handsome. Very handsome.” Lia was startled at the truth in her statement. When she pictured Kade, his deep blue eyes, his confident stature, the way his grin sent warmth through her body, she realized exactly how handsome he was. She stared at the chopped carrots on the wooden table without really seeing them.
Maeve grinned. “He seems nice.”
Lia had to look away before Maeve saw the lie in her eyes. “I love him.” She was surprised at how easy the words came to her.
Maeve sat back. “Oh, child.”
“He is kind to me and says he loves me. He wants to take me away. He said he will keep me safe.”
“You are safe here.”
Guilt settled heavily in Lia’s stomach like a large rock. She wished she could tell Maeve the truth. That she was leaving to protect her, that she could think of no other way. She grasped Maeve’s hands tightly. “Maeve, I would do anything for you, you know that.”
Maeve nodded. “Love is powerful, child. But it is dangerous. It blinds us to darker things. Are you sure he is who you think he is?”
Lia nodded. “Yes. I’m certain.
Maeve tried to peer deeper into her eyes. “Are you certain?”
Lia nodded her head again, but couldn’t meet Maeve’s eyes. “Yes.” Her chest tightened. How she wished she didn’t have to leave with a lie between them. “He said he has enough coin for a cruck. We can live there and raise a family.”
“Lia,” Maeve said softly. “He is a lord. He must marry a lady. He will keep you in the cruck until he tires of you.”
Her throat closed, and tears filled her eyes at her uncertain future. She rose to her feet. “How can you say that? He loves me!” No. No. No. This was not the way she wanted to leave. She took a deep breath. “I have to do this, Maeve. I’m sorry.” She hurried to the door and paused to chance a glance back at Maeve. Her mother, for all sakes and purposes, sat in the chair looking so much older than she had ever seen her. Her shoulders were hunched; her gray hair had come free of the knot at the top of her hair and strings hung down around her face.
Lia’s heart ached, and she raced to Maeve’s side, dropping to her knees. “Please Maeve. I’ll be fine. Kade will protect me.” She wrapped her arms around her waist. “I love you and could never, never repay all you’ve done for me.”
Maeve stroked her hair. “I’ve done nothing but love you.”
The tears rushed to Lia’s eyes. Her very soul cried out. Of everyone in the entire world, she loved Maeve so. That was why she had to leave. “Please, Maeve. Let me go,” she whispered into Maeve’s cotton smock, her voice catching on the lump in her throat.
“Of course,” she whispered soothingly. “I can’t hold you here.”
Lia rose and moved to the door, wiping a hand across her nose.
“Take care, child,” Maeve whispered through a thick voice.
Lia hurried from the cruck, sobs welling inside of her.
Kade waited outside the cruck. It was dark when Lia emerged. Her eyes were swollen with sorrow; tears ringed them with sadness. He felt her agony and instinctively opened his arms to her. She fell into them, her entire body racked with weeping.
He silently held her, rubbing her back, stroking her hair. He rested his cheek against the top of her head, squeezing his eyes closed. He wished she had never become involved in this. He wished she could have gone on living her life in quiet harmony. “I’m sorry,” he said softly.
Lia shook her head and stepped back from him, wiping her cheeks. “It has to be this way,” she said firmly. “There’s only one thing I want to know.” She reached inside her dress and pulled out the piece of parchment, presenting it to Kade. “What does it say?”
Kade stared at the parchment gripped in her fingers. For a moment, he was confused. He eased the parchment from her hand. It was old, crinkling in his grip. He stared at the folded parchment and then looked at Lia.
Her eyes were red from crying, her lashes clumped together, her cheeks lined with the path of her tears.
“I have to know what is so important, what’s worth life and death.”
Understanding dawned in Kade as he looked back at the parchment. He was startled it was so simple. Just a piece of parchment. Not really a treasure at all. What had he been expecting? Diamonds? Jewels? Incredible wealth? Gold beyond reason? Maybe it was a map. He opened it. He stared at the words there, reading them. With each word he read, understanding slowly trickled into his disbelief, along with an incredible sense of doom. This was no simple treasure. This was something he could not even fathom. He reread the words. When he was finished, he knew they were in deep trouble for he knew with absolute certainty he could never give the parchment over to his father.
Lia watched Kade as he carefully read the parchment. She saw the transformation in his features. His furrowed brow slowly eased and rose in amazement. When he lifted his gaze to hers, there was wonder and trepidation in his stare.
“What does it say?” she demanded. She had to know. Even through all the danger and warnings, she had to know what was on the parchment, what was written there. What was so important that men were willing to kill to get it? What was so important that she had to leave her home, so Maeve would be safe?
“It’s a list,” Kade murmured, looking back at the parchment, then up at her.
“A list of Templar knights?” Lia asked, encouraging him to continue.
“You don’t want to know this. It will only put you in more danger.”
Shock raced through her. How many men had told her that? No, that was unacceptable. She snatched the parchment from his hands. “I deserve to know. For everything I’m giving up, I deserve to know!”
Kade sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” He nodded. “It is a list of Templar knights. And their treasure. It lists what each knight has in his possession.
Lia looked at the jumble of strokes on the parchment, her brow furrowing. “It must be a lot of coin.”
“None of it is coin. Look.” He eased the parchment from her fingers and flattened it against his hand. He pointed to a line. “Here. This knight has the crown of thorns from Jesus’s head.” He pointed to another line. “This knight has a ring with God’s name on it. And here.” He shifted to the last line. “The ark of the covenant.”
Like a curtain being drawn aside to reveal the sun, the powerful knowledge of what the parchment held was revealed to her. “This can’t be real.”
“I think it is.”
Lia stared at the black lines on the parchment. Suddenly, the danger was real. The information was deadly. Men would kill to possess these items and their rumored power.
“And my father will think it is real. He will want to get his hands on these powerful relics.” He looked at the parchment again, his brow furrowed in concentration. “I don’t even know what some of these items are. If the Templars had them, I am sure they are important. My father can never get this list. He can’t be allowed to know who has possession of these relics. He would hunt them all down, kill every knight to have this kind of power.” Kade shook his head, running his hand through his dark hair.
Lia nodded. “That is why we are leaving.”
“It’s not enough. He will never stop looking for it.” He took her hands into his, touched the side of her face. “I had hoped you might be able to live a normal life, starting over in a new village.” He scowled. “But this…” He crumpled the parchment in his fist. “He will never stop looking for it.”
A sinking feeling pulled her down, but it had nothing to do with the parchment. It was Maeve’s words: ‘He will keep you in the cruck until he tires of you.’ She was under no illusions of what her life would be. But the thought that Kade would not be with her, made her feel lost and alone. She had assumed he would stay with her. How foolish she was. She didn’t want to be alone. She wished she had never received that parchment. She wished she had never found that knight. “Burn it.”
“What?”
“We should destroy it,” she suggested.
Kade looked at the parchment in his fist thoughtfully. “And lose all those relics?”
“No. They would not be lost. They would be protected.”
“Is that what de Rolleston would have done? He gave it to you instead of burning it. He died protecting it, but he didn’t destroy it.” Kade looked at the parchment again. “It’s too valuable to destroy.”
She sighed softly as she thought about the Templar knight. He had died alone. Was that her future? “That poor knight,” she whispered.
Kade looked at her.
“Sir de Rolleston. He knew what he had. And he died defending it.”
“He was a coward,” Kade grumbled. “He should never have given it to you.”
“He was dying. He could do nothing else. He knew he had to protect it. He couldn’t keep it. Your father would have found it. He would have searched his body just like you did.” She looked at him with suspicion, taking a step away from him. “Did you know about the list?”
Kade shook his head. “No!” He chuckled bitterly. “My father would never have given me that precious information.”
�
�You don’t get along with your father.”
Kade grinned, but it was cold and humorless. “No.”
It was strange how she had longed for a mother all her life and Kade had longed to be fatherless.
“I have an idea.” Kade said as he began to move toward the forest where his horse was tethered.
Lia followed him. “Are you going to destroy it?”
“No.”
Anxiety swirled through her. “Are you leaving me?”
Kade stopped and turned to her. His gaze moved over her, and he stepped toward her. “I’m trying to help you.”
“I’ve given you the parchment,” Lia mumbled. “It’s what your father wants. And even though I was charged with protecting it, I haven’t done such a good job.” He took a step closer as she rambled. “I told Maeve I was leaving her. And I would to keep her safe. But now, you have the only thing that will protect her and –”
He pulled her against him. “I won’t leave you.”
His deep voice resonated through her with promise. His hold was warm and strong. She watched his lips form his words; the sensual way they moved. All she could think of was kissing his lips. Instead, she murmured, “What’s your plan?”
He brushed a strand of red hair from her cheek. He cupped her face and eased his lips to hers. The strength of his lips set her body aflame. Instantly upon meeting his mouth with her own, her world tilted, and every worry evaporated. She felt her knees weaken as he explored her mouth, moving over every inch. She sighed against him, parting her lips for his exploration. And he did explore her. He thrust his tongue forward, sweeping it into her mouth. She pulled him closer, his entire body flush against the length of hers.
He eased his head from hers, groaning softly. “I wish we had more time,” he whispered and stepped back.
She instinctively reached for him as the chilled air filled the space where he had been.
He untethered the reins of his horse from the tree branch and mounted. He moved his horse in a circle around her before heading off toward town.
Lia watched him disappear, his kiss still wet on her lips. She touched her swollen lips; her heart beat with aching. And then she remembered he had not answered her question.
Super Summer Set of Historical Shorts Page 56
