Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (128 page)

“
But you declared you knew
her to be innocent of witchery.”

The archbishop lifted a hand. “There ’tis
again, the evidence that you know too much to live.” And he turned
his back upon them all as Niall struggled visibly for an
argument.

Viviane squeezed his fingers as Monty piped
up. “What about me?” He was still sprawled on the floor, his eyes
wide and his face pale.

The archbishop considered him with disdain.
“And who might you be?”

Monty scrambled to his feet and offered his
hand. “I’m Monty Sullivan.” The archbishop surveyed Monty’s
outstretched hand and his lip curled slightly. “I’m like not even
from here and well, hey, I don’t even need to like
know
these people, if you know what I’m saying.”

Distaste flickered across the archbishop’s
features. “Aye, I know what you are saying. You are a man of no
account and thus infinitely expendable.” He shook his head. “I
shall see that you die first.”

“
But…” Monty
squeaked.

The archbishop waved off anything he might
have said and raised his voice. “Guards! Intruders in my chambers!
Aid me!”

No less than seven guards burst into the
chamber, their swords drawn and armor rattling. Monty moaned in
dismay at the sight and scampered backward until he hit the wall
with a thunk. Niall turned and thrust Viviane behind him, clearly
ready to fight.

Unfortunately, his armor was safely back in
her room over Barb’s shop. And those jeans, regardless of how
alluring Viviane found them, wouldn’t help him much here.
Undaunted, Niall faced the foursome who had drawn their blades on
them both, as though he was assessing their strength. Viviane
wondered whether he knew any of them.

She glanced to Monty, garbed as always in
shorts, T-shirt and polar fleece, and decided they must look like a
pretty odd group to the medieval eye. Monty already swallowed
visibly beneath the point of a wicked length of steel. His eyes
were as wide as saucers and he seemed uncharacteristically struck
dumb.

Viviane stepped forward to argue with their
assailants, but as soon as she stepped out of Niall’s shadow, the
tip of a sword nudged at her chin. It was a large and particularly
shiny blade - it looked well-honed and brought her to a full stop.
Viviane followed the length of the blade to a grim-faced guard
whose steely gaze was far from merciful.

“
Niall,” she
whispered.

He cast a glance over his shoulder and
inhaled sharply. “Do not wound the lady.”

“
Then do not fight us,” the
guard retorted, pressing the blade against Viviane’s throat to make
his intent clear. Viviane gasped and felt a warm trickle of blood
on her flesh.

“
Halt!” Niall insisted and
raised his hands. He managed to stand near Viviane and she was glad
of his presence.

The archbishop nodded approval. “This is
much better. I feel safe indeed with your enviable command of this
keep, Gaultier,” he nodded to the biggest guard. “Though no man can
defend himself against witchery.”

“
Witchery, my
lord?”

“
Aye, this is the condemned
witch who escaped our own dungeon but a month ago. She has appeared
magically in mine own chambers to wreak her vengeance, my emissary
snared within her spell and her minion at hand.”

“
No! That’s not
true!”

“
The lady is
innocent!”

“
I’m nobody’s
minion!”

The archbishop raised his hands to his ears.
“Gaultier, ensure your men are not so foolish as to listen to their
lies! She has turned even Niall of Malloy against me and not a one
of them can be trusted.”

“
What shall be done with
them my lord?”

“
They shall be executed
three days hence. ’Twill give them time to repent of their
wickedness and savor our hospitality.” With that, the archbishop
made to return to his bed and the guards urged the unhappy trio
toward the door.

How would her luck save her this time?

’
Twas in the midst of her
dismay that Viviane realized someone else lurked within that great
pillared bed.

“
Oh, Richard!” a woman
chortled sleepily from behind those heavy curtains, her voice low
and nearly inaudible. Viviane straightened in shock, though she
couldn’t decide why she should be surprised that this man who broke
his word to Niall would also break his vow of chastity.

“
I thought I had dreamed of
you,” the woman cooed, then laughed sensuously. An elegant hand
stretched out through the gap of the draperies, the skin flawlessly
creamy. “You have become so cold while I slept so warmly here! Did
I hear voices? Is something amiss?”

“
Duty, my dear,” the
archbishop purred as he joined his consort. “Duty, as always, must
be tended before pleasure.”

He did something in those shadows that made
the woman cry out with pleasure, the sound enough to make Viviane
blush. Then the woman laughed aloud, her voice louder than it had
been before.

“
Oh
Richard
!” she
cried. “You truly are a marvel!”

And Niall straightened with a snap. He
pivoted and stared at the draped bed, a dull flush rising over his
neck as he resisted his escort. The guards tried to pull him out of
the room, but Niall shrugged them off.

“
Majella?” he demanded,
outrage in his tone. “Is that you?”

Silence came from the bed for a telling
moment, then there was a rustling of linens. “Niall?” the woman
squealed. “Niall, is that you finally returned?”

Viviane knew the blood left her face.
Niall’s Majella was in bed with the archbishop? This couldn’t be a
good thing.

A fulsome beauty bounced out of the bed, her
copious charms on full display, and doing nothing for Viviane’s
confidence in her own charms. She was gorgeous! Her hair was
slightly more red than gold, its thick waves falling over her
shoulder in inviting disarray. She was all curves and silky skin,
the kind of woman that no man could easily forget.

As Niall clearly hadn’t. The stricken look
on his face told Viviane all she needed to know. The woman was
decidedly pregnant, the sight erasing any doubt Viviane could have
had of her identity.

This was the Majella who Niall had been so
anxious to protect. This was the woman who held Niall’s heart in
thrall.

“
Venus rising,” Monty
muttered incomprehensibly. Viviane glanced to him to find him
staring at Majella with wonder shining in his eyes. In fact, all of
the sentries were similarly enthralled by the sight of this beauty
and Viviane felt not only abandoned, but very plain.

But Majella was staring at Niall, her
features transformed with pleasure. She smiled, then she blushed
scarlet. “Niall! It
is
you!”

Viviane was ready to dislike the woman,
though the way her features softened with affection at the sight of
Niall made it hard to do so. She looked relieved and delighted, a
response to the sight of Niall that Viviane could truly
understand.

Majella spun back to the bed, tugging a
gossamer robe over her shoulders. “Niall,
Niall
is here. Oh,
Richard, this is the most marvelous news! Niall is returned!”

She flung herself across the room to embrace
the knight Viviane had once imagined to be her own. “Oh, Niall, I
have been so very worried about you, for one never can tell what
might transpire on such an adventure as yours.”

Majella planted a hearty buss on Niall’s
cheek that seemed somewhat inappropriate as a greeting for the
father of her child. Then she propped one hand on her hip and
looked him over assessingly, her manner almost maternal.

“
Look at you! You look to
have been eating well enough -” she conceded with a pinch of his
flesh “- but your garb is so very strange. Now, you must tell
me…”

But Niall gripped her shoulders, typically
cutting to the heart of the issue. “Majella, how long have you
shared the archbishop’s bed?”

Viviane’s heart twisted. She knew it
couldn’t be easy for Niall to witness his lover’s indiscretions,
even if he had been indiscreet himself. After all, Majella carried
his child, which wasn’t a small thing.

Majella blushed and her gaze flicked away.
Viviane knew she was going to lie and was surprised when it didn’t
seem as though she did.

“
Well, ever since I came
here, that day you left. Richard just swept us into the castle, it
was absolutely marvelous, we have been spoiled to bits. And after
all, you had told me to find a more wealthy man to ensure that
Matthew has the training he desires…”

But Niall set the lady aside, his angry gaze
fixing on the archbishop as that man stepped once again from the
bed.

“
You coupled with my
sister!” he charged, incredulity echoing in his voice. “What manner
of man are you, to take advantage of a woman in such a state as
this?

His
sister
?

The archbishop flicked one hand nonchalantly
in Majella’s direction and chuckled. “She could hardly lose her
virtue.”

“
She is with child!” Niall
roared. “I sent her to you for her
protection
!” He slammed
his fist into his palm. “I expected you to ensure her welfare on
account of my pledge to you! Did my oath of fealty mean naught to
you?”

“
She is well enough.” The
archbishop shrugged. “My protection does not come
cheaply.”

“
You are a man of God! You
are pledged to chastity! You of all men should be relied upon for
good works!”

“
I am a
man
,” the
archbishop said grimly. “And I take what is freely offered. You may
rest assured that your slut of a sister was not coerced in any
way.”

“
Richard!” Majella
gasped.

“
You had no right!” Niall
cried and lunged for the older man.

The guards snatched for him, but Niall moved
too quickly for them in his anger. He was on the archbishop in a
heartbeat, he landed two solid punches, one to the jaw and one to
the gut.

The older man dropped to his knees before
one guard leaped forward and beat a shield over Niall’s head.
Viviane’s knight slumped bonelessly to the floor as the archbishop
stumbled to his feet.

That man spit in Niall’s face. “Faithless
wretch! Kill him slowly!”

“
Nay!” Viviane tried to
break free of her captor but was wrestled toward the door.
Meanwhile, the guards dragged Niall across the chamber.

“
But Richard,” Majella
protested in obvious dismay. “What are you doing to my brother?
’Twas you who sent him on a quest, and now he is returned. He is a
good man and you know it well. What is the meaning of
this?”

The archbishop cast a glittering robe over
his shoulders. He felt his jaw where Niall had punched him and
granted the four of them a cold glance, before addressing the
guards.

“
My former mistress will
join the brother of whom she is so very fond,” he said with quiet
authority. “Let them become reacquainted in the dungeons - ’tis all
the time they will have together before their
execution.”

“
Aye, my lord.”

Majella’s eyes widened in shock.
“Richard!”

The archbishop’s gaze hardened though he did
not even deign to look at Majella. “And cast her brats into the
dungeon as well. We might as well be rid of the lot of them.”

Majella paled. “Richard! You assured me that
the children were safe here.”

“
They are no longer.” He
surveyed her with icy calm. “This would have been a good day for
you to slumber long, Majella. ’Tis a mistake you will regret,
though admittedly, not for long.”

And he climbed back into his bed, hauling
the drapes closed behind himself. Majella began to shriek, more
guards came running, Niall was dragged out of the chamber. Monty
managed to take the distraught Majella’s elbow and she clung to
him, wailing at Richard’s injustice and weeping copiously.

Children were herded from elsewhere in the
palace, their protests mingling with their mother’s cries. The
largest boy took one look at the scene and planted himself beside
Niall, his expression grim for a child of his age.

And they were all marched to the dungeons
that Viviane recalled all too well.

But through the chaos of it all, Viviane
could only think one thing. Majella was Niall’s
sister
, not
his wife or lover or lady. He had been worried about his sister and
her children - and that was an awfully nice weakness for him to
have. She worked her way through the throng to walk beside him,
keeping an eye on how he was treated.

Maybe, just maybe, Niall was destined to be
her knight after all.

Either way, Viviane was going to be the
first person he saw when he awakened. And she was going to give him
that chance to explain himself. It didn’t look as though they were
going to have a lot of time left and Viviane wanted to spend it
knowing the truth.

*

Odo looked up from his ledgers at the racket
in the dungeon corridor and his eyes nigh fell from his head, so
great was his surprise.

Not only had Niall of Malloy returned, and
not only was that man garbed as a foreigner, but he had fetched
back the witch Viviane herself. ’Twas well worth a look and Odo
rose from his stool to peek at the passing party, somewhat annoyed
to realize that he would owe Francis at the alehouse a hefty sum.
Odo had bet against Niall’s return and the odds had been long.

’
Twould be an expensive
debt.