“That’s good, but not so much stabbing motion,” Maira instructed one of the villagers two days later. She had spent the last few days at the camp and had brought Ricker who now seldom cried at all. It was almost like he was happy here with Jacob. “That motion makes you vulnerable by exposing your entire upper torso to your opponent. And don’t forget to step away from your opponent’s attack. It’s the simplest method of defense.”

“Aye, I understand,” said the man. “Thank you, Lady Maira. That makes it so much clearer.”

Maira stopped to catch her breath, loving the way it felt to teach others her skill. The training was coming along nicely with the new weapons. But everyone had been so busy and focused these past two days that Maira hadn’t had any private time to talk with Jacob. Between teaching the fighting moves to his small army and stopping every so often to play with Ricker, Jacob seemed to barely notice she was there.

“Nay, don’t touch that. It’s sharp,” she heard Jacob tell the child. He hurried over to the tent where Ricker was about to pick up a dagger. “I made something for you last night,” he told the boy. “Will? Where is the present I made for Ricker?”

“I’m not sure, my lord. Was I supposed to keep track of it?” Will called out, dueling with Roger.

“Nay, never mind. I’ll find it,” Jacob answered with a swish of his hand through the air. Then he disappeared into the tent. Maira took this opportunity to approach Will.

“Will, can you watch Ricker for a few minutes?” she asked him. “I’d like to talk to Jacob privately.”

“Of course,” said Will, bending down and talking gibberish to the boy.

“Squire, he’s two years old, not a baby,” came Jacob’s voice from inside the tent. “Ah, I found it.” He pushed open the flap of the tent just as Maira was about to enter. They stood face to face, their bodies slightly touching. In his hand, he held a carved wooden wolf.

“Lady Maira,” he said, his breath caressing her forehead as he spoke. “Was there something you needed?”

“I wondered if we could talk in private for a moment.”

“Of course. Just let me give this to Ricker first.” He headed over to Will and the boy and hunkered down, holding the carved animal behind his back. “Guess what I’ve got, Ricker? I think it is something you might like to play with.” He held out the wolf and the little boy’s eyes shone with excitement as he took the piece from Jacob.

“Doggie,” said the boy, hugging the wolf and then giving Jacob a hug as well.

Maira’s mouth fell open.

“Aye, I suppose it’s like a dog,” Jacob told the boy. “That is yours to keep.” He stood up and brushed off his hands. Maira stared at him in shock. “What are you looking at?” he asked, glancing down to his groin and then back at her. He flashed her a cocky smile.

“Nay, not that,” she said, making a face. “Jacob, Ricker spoke. Didn’t you hear him say doggie?”

“Aye, I guess he did.” Jacob nodded at the boy. Will was still talking gibberish and making the wolf bark now.

“He hasn’t spoken a word since his mother passed away,” she reminded him.

Jacob’s face turned solemn. His whole demeanor changed. “He looks a lot like his mother,” he told her. “It only makes me miss Catherine even more.”

“I don’t know what Lady Catherine looked like, but I will say Ricker looks nothing at all like the High Sheriff.”

“Thank God for small miracles,” mumbled Jacob. “I feel badly for any child who has that bastard – er, demon, as a father.”

Maira knew the reason he changed his word was because she told him her father and uncles were bastards. She smiled slightly. “Thank you, Jacob, but my father and uncles were also known as the Demon Thief as well.”

“I give up,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders and holding his palms upward. “Did you want to talk to me?”

“Aye. Can we go inside the tent?”

“I have a better idea. Why don’t we take a few minutes and go for a walk? I know a secluded, soft knoll near the river that I’d like to show you.” He held out his hand.

“All right. I’d like that.” She took his hand and they strolled over to his horse.

“You’ll need to leave this here.” He reached around her and slid her sword from the holster on her back, setting it atop a rock.

“Nay. I don’t go anywhere without my weapons.” She reached for it, but his fingers closed around her wrist to stop her.

“Trust me,” he told her. “It’ll only get in the way.” Then to her surprise, he lifted her up atop his horse and followed by mounting behind her.

“Oh, we’re going to ride there.” She still didn’t feel comfortable about leaving her sword. She looked over her shoulder for it but when she did, she saw his smiling face up close.

“Don’t worry. Will is there and will look out for it.”

“But what about Ricker? I shouldn’t leave him.”

“The boy is busy playing with his new toy. Besides, he is safe with Will.”

“You put a lot of trust in Will, don’t you?”

“A knight trusts his squire with his life.”

“And you trust Will?” She turned forward, feeling the slight stubble of his cheek against hers when he leaned closer, pressing up against her to grab the reins.

“Aye,” he answered, so close to her that it sent a shudder of delight right through her. The scent of pine and a freshness like morning dew drifted from his body, filling her senses. In Jacob’s arms, she felt safe and secure. And it oddly felt right, instead of wrong. She never thought she needed a man, but his presence in her life right now seemed to fill a dark void with light.

“You are very good with children,” she said to make conversation as they rode.

“I have a brother who is quite a bit younger than me,” he told her. “He idolized me and I looked after him all the time since my mother was often ill.”

“What was the matter with your mother?” asked Maira.

“She always became deathly sick whenever she was pregnant.”

“How often was that?”

“She was pregnant four times. My sister died when she was only two. My mother died birthing another daughter. The baby didn’t make it either.”

“I am so sorry,” she told him as they got to a creek and he slid off the horse.

“It’s part of life, and I had no choice but to accept it,” said Jacob, holding out his arms for her to dismount. “It’s never easy to get used to death. My father died in battle before I was old enough to fight alongside him. What about your family, Maira?”

“Well, you know about my father, and my mother is a noblewoman named Cordelia. She was a widow when she married my father and thought she couldn’t have children. But that proved to be wrong. I am the eldest and I have four brothers, William, Philip, Theodore and my ten-year-old brother, Michael.”

“It must be nice to have so many siblings.”

“What about your brother? What happened to him?” Maira let him guide her to the ground.

“Frank decided to join the church. His life turned to prayer. He’s a priest now in Hartlepool. So, you see, I am the last chance to carry on the family name since my brother is worthless.”

“Worthless? Is that really how you see him?” It surprised her that he would say such a thing.

“It is.”

“Do you ever talk with your brother?”

“Nay. I became angry with him when he left to join the priesthood. I wanted him to learn to fight and be a knight like me. We haven’t spoken in years.”

“Fighting isn’t right for everyone, Jacob. Mayhap, you need to let your bygones go.”

“I admire anyone who can handle a blade. You are a woman and yet you can fight like a man. My brother is weak and could never protect himself or anyone else. He’ll never amount to anything. My father wanted both of us to be warriors, and he’d stir in his grave to know that Frank let him down.”

“He’s a priest!” she reminded him. “How is that letting anyone down? He is doing the work of God. Besides, you’re no longer a knight. The way I see it, you’re naught but a thief. So, mayhap, you let your father down as well.”

“Don’t say that. It’s not the truth. I told you I was framed.” His jaw ticked in aggravation.

“I’m sorry, Jacob. I didn’t mean that. Shall we visit the knoll now?”

Jacob guided Maira to the knoll of soft grass, feeling shaken by their conversation. He had wanted to bring her here to possibly spend a little intimate time with her. But now, disturbing thoughts filled his head, ruining the moment.

Maira sounded as if she thought he were worthless, when it was the furthest thing from the truth. Or was it? Perhaps she was right in saying he let his father down. His father wouldn’t have waited three years to make matters right. Nay, he would have turned right around and had his revenge with the High Sheriff on the spot if this situation had happened to him. This whole thing made Jacob feel ill. But Maira’s next question made him feel even worse.

“So, were you in love with Lady Catherine?” Maira bent down and picked a daisy as they walked.

“What?” He stalled since he didn’t know how to reply.

“It couldn’t have been easy to lose her to the High Sheriff.”

“Nay, it wasn’t.” Jacob’s throat went dry and he shook his head. It was an extremely warm day for being so late in the year.

The sun shone down on Maira’s strawberry-blond hair, making it glow like an angel. She wore that crown wherever she went, and the gemstones winked in the light, almost taunting him, making him remember all that he once almost had and then lost.

“I heard from the cook that the jeweled dagger was once your mother’s and you gave it to Catherine.”

“I did.” His eyes went to her waist belt but the jeweled dagger was no longer there. “Where is my dagger, Maira?”

She sniffed the daisy and looked up at him with wide, blue eyes. Then she twirled the flower between her fingers as she spoke.

“I don’t have it. The High Sheriff stole it from me right after our sword fight.”

“You fought with him, Maira?” asked Jacob with concern.

“He ordered me to, right after he told me that I wasn’t allowed to wear my weapons anymore.”

“Then why do you still have them?”

“I used the name of my father and uncles to force him to let me keep them. After all, no one wants the wrath of the Legendary Bastard Triplets on their head.”

“Nay, I suppose not. Your father and uncles are legends and also still feared by most in the land.”

“Sometimes, that works in my favor,” she said with a smile that lit up her whole face.

“Sir Gregory didn’t hurt you, did he?” asked Jacob, feeling his blood boil at the thought of the man.

“He didn’t, but he almost forced himself on me. Thank goodness a page came to the door and interrupted.”

“He – he almost . . . raped you?” asked Jacob, barely able to even say the words.

Maira’s smile turned to a frown and she threw the daisy to the ground. “It doesn’t matter because it won’t happen again.” She turned to walk away but he reached out and took her by the shoulders to stop her.

“It does matter, Maira. No man will treat you that way and get away with it. I’ll make sure of it.”

She glanced back over her shoulder at him and then her gaze fell to the ground. If he wasn’t mistaken, she was holding back her tears. “I only hope my father will get here before the High Sheriff returns to marry me.”

“Marry you?” Jacob turned her around to look in her eyes. “What are you talking about? No wedding banns have been posted and you told me you’d never marry the man.”

“Sir Gregory said he doesn’t care that I have the power to agree to a marriage or not. It sounded as if he were going to get King Richard to renege my privilege from me. That’s why he left to fetch the bishop. He said when he returns, the bishop is going to marry us right away.”

“The wretched cur,” spat Jacob, pulling her closer. He had thought the High Sheriff went to get the bishop for the celebration of St. Catherine’s Day. But now, it seemed as if there would be a celebration that was a marriage instead. He hugged Maira and looked over her head, devising a plan to beat the High Sheriff at his own game. “There is a way we can keep that from happening, even if your father doesn’t show up in time.”

“How can we do that?” Maira looked up in question, her glassy eyes reflecting the sky above them. “We have no power to stop him, or the wedding.”

“Then let the church do it instead,” he said.

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

“My brother is a priest, Maira. His church is only two hours’ ride from here. We can beat the High Sheriff at his own game.”

“Jacob, what are you suggesting?”

“If you’re already married when the High Sheriff returns, there is nothing he can do about it.”

“Already married?” she gasped.

Jacob nodded. “It can be done tomorrow morning, before the High Sheriff returns to Durham Castle.” He bent down on one knee, holding Maira’s hands in his. This was a risk, but one worth taking. “Lady Maira, will you marry me and become my wife?”