Page 23 of Ena’s Surrender

He couldn’t have let that happen to Ena.

I did it to save her.

In a single motion, he squatted at the man’s side and pulled the shoulder, so the dead man rolled onto his back. A cry stuck in Renault’s throat.

The man was Walter. He had killed Walter. His only true friend in the world.

Bile rose in Renault’s throat as he staggered back. The hit to Walter’s head was supposed to knock him unconscious, not kill him. Mayhap the way he had struck the door…or mayhap how he’d fallen.

Walter’s eyes fluttered.

Renault froze. Even his heart had ceased to beat.

He dropped to his friend’s side. “Walter?” he asked.

A low groan sounded in the back of Walter’s throat.

Renault gave a sob and exhaled with relief. He grasped his friend’s gambeson and hauled him onto the back of the horse. Walter offered no protest or made any other sound as he was slung over the beast’s haunches. His arms and legs hung limp over either side, his head lying aside into the velvety brown fur.

An ache splintered open in Renault’s chest and rage spilled out. Why had Walter been trying to get into the cottage in the first place? He’d never been one for stealing from homes. He’d never been one for attacking unarmed women. Had he?

Renault had been so consumed with trying to impress the Earl of Bothbury that he hadn’t spent as much time with Walter as he had in their youth. Guilt tugged at his heart. He should have been there to stop Walter from such actions. Then Walter would never have been at Ena’s cottage. Then Renault would never have hurt him so badly.

He walked the horse forward and peered back at his friend again. Sorrow squeezed Renault’s throat.

I did it to save Ena.

It would have been so different if Renault hadn’t been there this night. What if Walter had gotten in? Would he have raped Ena? Killed her?

Anger lashed through Renault and he knew with certainty that if he had to do it all over again, he would.

He needed to get Walter back to Kershopefoot to be tended to by the healer.

Saving him would come with the risk Walter would identify Renault as his attacker, but it was one Renault was willing to take. He would do everything in his power to save Walter.

Eventually the village came into view with the castle standing like a sentry in the distance. Except the castle no longer seemed in his grasp. For the first time since Renault could remember, he didn’t fear he was not good enough to be a guard; he knew he was not.

He had held back information that might have helped his brethren. He had attacked one of his own, an Englishman who had loved him like a brother. He had lain with the enemy and gladly given her his heart.

Pieces of him had slowly broken away until he was left with the stark understanding of what he had become: a traitor.

8

Ena slept so deeply that she did not hear Bran enter. When she awoke the next day, she found him asleep on his pallet with Moggy curled contently in the crook of his arm.

It was perhaps the first time in their life Ena had missed his return home from a raid.

She nestled beneath her covers, savoring the trapped heat under her blanket and the hot memories playing in her mind. The way Renault had loved her, cherished her, pleased her.

A slow, steady thrum of desire hummed to life between her legs. She crossed her thighs and squeezed, just enough friction to heighten her recollection of Renault’s touch.

He wanted to marry her.

A jolt shot through her heart. Her, a wife. A mother. Seeking more than survival in the bare life she’d carved out of tragedy. Finally seeking happiness.

Did such a thing even exist?

She hugged her arms closer against herself, as if she could cradle her hope and encourage it to grow into reality. She wanted that hope, for it was the first of its kind she’d ever possessed.