The Highwayman of Tanglewood (34 page)

“I-I did,” Faris breathed, wiping at the tears on her cheeks. Her heart was breaking! Still, she looked to him when she heard the low chuckle begin in his throat.

He donned his dazzling smile and said, “Were ya thinkin’ I would turn ya out, lass? What chambermaid ever was there who did not dream of kissin’ her handsome young master? What woman ever was there who should have withheld such a blessing as a thankful kiss from her rescuer?” His smile faded, and he took her in his arms as he gazed down into her face. “And what Highwayman has the right to claim a woman he has met only on five nights in twilight? A woman he has promised no future to? A woman deservin’ of all life’s joys?”

“You—you will not abandon me?” she whispered, unable to believe he was forgiving her. Far more than forgiving her—he seemed nearly to be condoning her behavior.

“Never,” he whispered, placing a kiss on the tip of her nose. “He has done more than ever I have in rescuin’ ya from a ruined reputation and indeed twice from the likes of Kade Tremeshton. Yar pretty young master took him to task on both occasions, he did—before ever I heaped humiliation on him after.” The Highwayman paused to press a tender kiss to Faris’s forehead. He chuckled and said, “Lochlan Rockrimmon has never been so furious over a woman, it is said in the village, as he was the day at Loch Loland Castle when Kade Tremeshton laid hands on pretty Faris Shayhan.”

Faris laid her head on the Highwayman’s strong chest, feeling blessed in his understanding forgiveness. Yet as she closed her eyes, it was Lochlan’s likeness that grew in her mind. She frowned trying to dispel the vision of his handsome face, the brilliance of his emerald eyes, and the moist passion of his kiss.

“And now, ’tis me own turn, lass,” the Highwayman whispered. “One kiss from yar sweet lips—and then I have me own secrets to reveal to ye.”

Faris’s heart leapt. Could it be? Did he mean to reveal his identity to her? She sensed he did, and as his head descended toward hers, she inwardly vowed to surrender to him—to stay with him—to follow him to the ends of the earth. Lochlan Rockrimmon could never be hers, never. But the Highwayman of Tanglewood, with all his strength and forgiving nature—perhaps he could.

He paused in kissing her, however, a smile of pure mischief spreading across his face.
“I do find it a bit disturbin’, however,” he began.

“Which part of it?” she asked. Was he only just realizing the weight of it—the weight of the manner of kiss she had shared with Lochlan? Her heart seemed to miss several beats, and she was breathless with renewed anxiety.

“The part of it concernin’ Bainbridge Graybeau,” he said.

Faris gasped as fear anew washed over her.

“Bainbridge,” she whispered. She had quite forgotten her moments with Graybeau—her begging of him to confess to her—the kiss she initiated with him. Her mind had been so taken with the fever set upon it by Lochlan Rockrimmon, she had quite forgotten she had once thought Bainbridge to be the Highwayman of Tanglewood.

“I did think he was you,” she began, frantic to explain. Had she won his forgiveness only to lose it in the next moment? “I thought so sure he was you that I endeavored to coax his confession.”

“I well know it,” the Highwayman said. “For I was there when ye did.”

“What?” Faris breathed.

“It was I witnessed yar endeavors to Bainbridge Graybeau, and indeed, I am flattered ye would think I be sooch a man as he,” the Highwayman said.

Faris frowned. Confusion pricked at her mind. “Then you…you are not angry in it?” she asked.

His smile faded, yet his embrace tightened. “What right have I to be angry with ye far any of it, fair Faris?” he said. “’Tis ye who owns that right, and after I’ve had me taste of yar kiss—after I strip this mask from me shameful face—it may be me who loses his lover this night.”

The first touch of his lips was tender, gentle, and almost timid. He seemed tentative—as if he thought she might refuse him her kiss. Oh, but she never would! Never! As he kissed her upper lip lingeringly, she sighed. As he kissed her lower lip in the same fashion, she was breathless. He had never before kissed her in so careful a manner. Lochlan’s image intruded in her thoughts. She fancied this had been his manner of beginning their first shared kiss. Faris knew it was Lochlan’s residual presence in her heart that found the similarity, and she tried to banish him from her mind. As the Highwayman’s mouth coaxed hers into a deeper, more passionate exchange, she tried to dispel the memory of Lochlan’s similar manner in even this. Yet even as desire rose in her, even as her hands caressed the broad expanse of the Highwayman’s shoulders, she could not push Lochlan’s image from her soul. Would she ever purge his presence from her being? Yet she must! She must abandon all thoughts of him—for here was her heart’s desire, here was the Highwayman of Tanglewood, her rogue champion and lover.

“I should have well known of this!”

Faris gasped, breaking from the Highwayman and whirling about to see Kade Tremeshton standing behind her. He brandished his sword, its blade capturing the illumination of the moonlight.

Panic leapt to Faris’s bosom! The Highwayman was in danger! Her greatest fear for him was at realization before her: in loving him with such desperation, she had placed him in peril. It was for her sake he had appeared. It was for her sake he lingered.

“The favored chambermaid of Loch Loland Castle in tryst with our favored villain.”
He threw his head back a moment, laughing with utter triumph. “Secretive lovers, is it?” he asked. “And to think, Faris, I had begun to believe you had set your eye on Lochlan Rockrimmon—”

“Ye well know better than to scrap with me, Tremeshton,” the Highwayman said. Drawing his rapier, he pulled his black cloak from his shoulders, swiftly discarding it. He was readying for a duel, and the fact frightened Faris beyond imagination.

“Ah, but it’s I who have taken you by surprise this time, Highwayman!” Kade laughed. “And you so distracted by Faris. She’s has weakened you—weakened your heart, your mind, and no doubt your back.”

“The lass but strengthens me, she does,” the Highwayman said.

Kade shouted, lunging at the Highwayman. The Highwayman of Tanglewood shoved Faris aside as he leapt backward in defense, Kade’s blade just missing his midsection.

Kade laughed. “The blade of a rapier is no match for the blade of a dress sword, Highwayman,” he said. “It is a wonder you wield such an archaic weapon.”

Faris watched as the Highwayman tipped his head in consideration of his rapier. “It is, in fact, a treasure of me family,” the Highwayman said. “And though it has served me well in besting you before—” Faris stepped back as the Highwayman of Tanglewood tossed his rapier to the ground at her feet. “Perhaps I should match a heavier blade with ye this night.” Faris eyes widened as the Highwayman of Tanglewood then drew the silver blade of a dress sword from a sheath at his hip. “In fact, it should drain yar blood mooch faster and hurt far worse when I run ya through.”

At that, the Highwayman of Tanglewood advanced! Kade’s eyes widened with surprise and fear as he defended. The ensuing match of blade against blade caused Faris to stand breathless, paralyzed with trepidation and fear for the Highwayman’s safety. She trembled, winced, gasped, watched the two men duel. It was obvious the Highwayman was the better swordsman, yet he seemed to toy with Kade, allowing him to advance on occasion, playing with him as a cat did a mouse before chewing off its head. Furthermore, Faris sensed her lover was indeed distracted, for he kept glancing over at her as if anxious of her well-being.

Minutes passed—long minutes, each of which found Faris near to fainting with fear. At last, the Highwayman disarmed Kade, sending his weapon tumbling into the thick heather. Faris sighed, relieved at his besting Kade. Yet she gasped when next the Highwayman of Tanglewood tossed his own weapon to join Kade’s.

“Aye, but this is not task challenge. I’ve bested ye at swordplay before,” the Highwayman of Tanglewood growled. “I like most to best ye with me fists.”

Faris looked to Kade’s face—studied the bruising of it, his swollen nose—all evidence of Lochlan Rockrimmon’s fists having already bested the blackguard.

“You’ll not best me in fists this night, Highwayman!” Kade growled. “For there is in me a deep hatred of you, and it will advance my skill and determination. The stakes are far greater than you imagine this night.”

Faris shuddered as Kade looked at her. Her instinct was to flee. Yet fleeing may put the Highwayman in further risk somehow. And so she stood helpless, trembling, and terrified.

“In that ye finally prove ya have one wit in yar head, Tremeshton,” the Highwayman growled. “For the stakes of crossin’ me here this night…may well be yar very life!”

Kade’s fist led toward the Highwayman’s head. Yet the Highwayman easily avoided it, landing his own powerful fist to Kade’s already bruised chin. The force of the Highwayman’s strength knocked Kade to the ground. Yet his fury was great in having been provoked, and he quickly leapt to his feet. Kade bent at his midsection, rushing at the Highwayman and hitting him square in the stomach with his shoulder. The Highwayman of Tanglewood stumbled backward, and Faris gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. The Highwayman fell hard to the ground, and Kade managed two brutal fists, one to either side of his jaw. The Highwayman of Tanglewood’s great strength rallied, however, and he pushed Kade aside, rising to his feet once more.

“Me patience is far spent with ye,” the Highwayman said. Faris gasped as the Highwayman’s powerful fist landed at Kade’s left cheek. The great force of the blow sent Kade reeling backward and sprawling to the ground.

The Highwayman of Tanglewood advanced, crushing the sole of one black boot to Kade’s throat. Faris could hear the villain choking as the Highwayman’s foot kept him pinned on his back.

“Yar no more than a filthy, maggoty dead skunk, Kade Tremeshton!” the Highwayman growled, his breathing labored from the altercation. “I should slit yar throat and leave ya to bleed out on the ground, I should.”

“Please! Please!” Kade Tremeshton begged. “I fold! I fold!”

“Coward!” the Highwayman growled as he delivered a brutal kick to the side of the villain’s head. Kade the Heinous was rendered unconscious.

With shallow breath and legs weakened from fear, Faris rushed to the Highwayman. She threw herself into his powerful embrace, clinging to his shirt with her small fists, sobbing against the strength of his massive chest.

“He might have killed you!” Faris cried as the Highwayman of Tanglewood held her against him. The feel of his hands weaving through her hair sent goose bumps rippling over her neck and arms.

“Never,” he breathed. “Such a coward could never—”

Faris gasped as the Highwayman stiffened, growled as if in great pain.

As the Highwayman shouted, “Aye! Aye!” pain constricting his body, Faris looked down to find the cause. Kade Tremeshton knelt beside them, fully conscious and with his hand on a dagger protruding from the Highwayman’s right thigh. The blade was already buried deep in the Highwayman’s leg, but Faris screamed as the villain pulled down on the knife, causing it to tear brutally through the Highwayman’s flesh.

The Highwayman was yet the more powerful man. Even for the great agony of the wound, he reached down, covering Kade’s hand with his own. Overpowering Kade’s own strength, the Highwayman of Tanglewood pulled the dagger from his leg, twisting the weapon in Kade’s hand, and drawing it quickly across the villain’s throat. Kade Tremeshton’s body fell limp and lifeless to the ground, his blood staining crimson the heather beneath.

Yet there was other blood seeping into the heather—the blood of the hero Highwayman of Tanglewood.

“He’s—he’s finished me,” the Highwayman breathed as he collapsed to his knees, blood streaming from the wound at his leg.

Panic overtook Faris! She could not think with any coherence! She could not think what action to take! He would die—bleed out in the ruins of Castle Alexendria! She would lose him to heartless death’s whim!

“You need a physician,” Faris said, dropping to her knees beside him. “I must find assistance else you will surely bleed to death!”

“Ya must help me mount, lass,” the Highwayman panted. He was breathless and in obvious, excruciating pain. He whistled, and his great black steed appeared from just beyond the ruins. “I-I must get ya safely back to Loch Loland…and meself to some assistance.”

“I will see you mount,” she told him, brushing the tears from her face. “But we will seek a physician at once. We will not make for Loch Loland!”

Never before had the Highwayman seemed so massive in his size. He was weak, and it gave him great difficulty in mounting.

“Where do I take you? Is there a physician you trust?” she asked him. She was trying to be brave, trying to be calm and strong, but in truth she was afraid she would faint into a despair.

“The harse will know where to take us,” the Highwayman whispered. Even for the dark of the night, Faris looked at the blood spilling from the Highwayman’s wound. The loss was quick and profuse. She feared his blood would be spent from him long before they reached a physician.

As if having read her thoughts, the Highwayman said, “Ya must tear a strip from yar petticoat…tie it about the wound to slow the bleedin’.” His voice was weak and strained.

Faris struggled to tear a long strip of cloth from her petticoat. Her hands trembled and she found she had difficulty drawing breath. Yet she was successful and tied the cloth tightly around the Highwayman’s leg just above the wound. Leading the Highwayman’s steed to a nearby rock, she mounted behind her lover. For a moment, Bainbridge Graybeau’s face passed through her mind. She was more confident on horseback because of his lessons in riding, and she whispered her thanks to him on the night air.