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Bria pushed away from him so she could look him in the eyes. “Grandfather, am I really betrothed to Knowles?”

Harry looked away from her, and Bria could see the agony etched in his furrowed brow. “I never meant for this to happen. When I was lord of Delaney, old Lord Knowles, Terran’s grandfather, was a powerful man. We wanted our lands united. I was just as greedy as he was. We pledged our first girl to his son, or the other way around. Knowles and Delaney lands would be united. But he had a son, and so did I. You were the first girl on either side.” He looked into her eyes. “Do you understand? I was young then. I wanted more power. I wanted more wealth. I didn’t care about the future. I didn’t care about... anything. Bria,” he said desperately, “I would give anything to destroy those papers, to take back the betrothal.”

Bria stared at him for a long moment. He seemed infinitely older, the weight of her destiny on his shoulders. Finally, sympathetically, she patted his hand. “It’s all right. We’ll find some way out of this.” She took his arm and together they followed Terran into the castle.

Tonight it begins, Bria thought. Her grandfather leaned on her as they moved up a slope. Betrothed to Terran or not, it begins tonight.

Terran watched Bria enter the hall, holding on to her grandfather’s arm. Her face was covered with soot and her hair was in a wild disarray of curls, but she still managed to hold her head high, her back straight. Damn, he thought. She still manages to look beautiful.

He shook his head, trying to see beyond her beauty. He’d underestimated her. He wouldn’t have thought her capable of burning his tents. She was an opinionated woman, yes, but it took strength of character to act on such beliefs, a strength no woman he’d met thus far had. She’d be a difficult woman to keep firmly beneath his rule, a woman who would need to be watched every moment of every day.

He found his eyes lingering on the way her brown curls reflected the light of the fire from the hearth, found his gaze captivated by her lips as she spoke soothingly to her grandfather. And he remembered their kiss. It had fueled the spark she’d started with her defiance -- passionate, uninhibited.

He had thought briefly that one kiss, one taste of her lips would be enough. Far from it. That one dangerous kiss only made him want to taste the rest of her. It was a feeling unlike any other woman had given him, and there’d been many willing to give themselves to the victor of the tournaments. One taste of their practiced lips and bodies had been more than enough.

But Terran could watch Bria every moment of every day and never be bored. He shook his head, trying to free himself from the spell she was casting on him.

That wasn’t why he wanted her as a wife. He needed her dowry. If she were the ugliest woman in the universe, he’d still marry her in order to pay the king’s tithe, to save his lands. It didn’t matter she had eyes as infinite as a clear blue sky, eyes he could lose himself in, or that her kiss was earthshaking.

The only thing that mattered was her dowry.

Chapter fifteen

“Stupid peasants,” the tax collector muttered, weighing the sack of coin in his hand as he glanced up at the half moon high in the night sky. All of their pleading for leniency, all of their groveling for mercy, had made him very late. His wife was going to yell and curse him, accusing him of stopping at the inn for a round of ale with the boys. It was almost midnight already.

If Kenric wasn’t paying him so well, he’d be damned if he’d do this dirty work. He spit on the ground in front of the farmer’s house he’d just left. He turned to his horse and was about to mount when he heard a sound behind him, a soft sound like the fluttering of cloth. He whirled toward the noise, his hand going to the hilt of his sword. But the field before the farmer’s house was empty. He shrugged slightly. Probably just the wind.

He turned back to his horse and put his foot in the stirrup. Again the muffled sound of fluttering clothing, now louder. Closer. He whirled and drew his sword. “Who’s there?” he demanded of the darkness.

But no one stood before him. A gentle wind blew about him, moving through the trees with a whispery softness. The shadows thrown by the trees shifted and transformed as the moonlight filtered through the swaying branches. He relaxed slightly. He was hearing things.

Then he felt something sharp against his throat. He shifted his gaze to his side and his eyes went wide as he saw a man dressed all in black, a cloaked hood concealing his face. Where had he come from? He wasn’t there mere seconds before. It was as if he’d formed out of the darkness itself. Fear gripped the tax collector’s heart.

“Drop it,” the masked man said in a firm whisper.

The tax collector held up his sword and released it. It thumped against the earth.

“The bag,” the masked man ordered again in a whisper, holding a black-gloved hand palm up.

The tax collector began to tremble as he handed the bag to the robber. The robber palmed it, then grabbed the tax collector’s hair and shoved the tip of the blade against his throat.

“Tell Lord Knowles his tyranny will no longer be tolerated,” the masked man whispered against his ear. “Tell him the Midnight Shadow will see to it.”

The Midnight Shadow shoved the tax collector into the dirt.

The tax collector lay still for a long moment, terror keeping him pinned to the ground. He slowly lifted his head and looked about him for any signs of his assailant. But the field was empty and still.

The Midnight Shadow was gone.

“I’ve been waiting for you. You awaken late.”

Bria whirled to see Knowles moving toward her. The red light of the hallway torch flickered over his black hair, casting his face in shadows. Does he know? she immediately wondered. Has he come to confront me?

She lifted her chin slightly. “Do you always hide in the dark waiting to accost ladies as they emerge from their rooms?” she demanded. Her heart pounded in her chest. He startled you, she told herself, that’s all.

He straightened at her barb, but feigned disinterest. “I was waiting to accompany you to break your fast.”

A rush of relief spread through her. He doesn’t know. The relief was followed quickly by a moment of excitement -- to sit next to him, to speak with him of his castle and lands. What am I thinking? Bria wondered. I have to keep in mind who he is. “I don’t think my father would care to have you in his hall.”