Page 24 of Falling for the Knight

“Tristan, will it be this bumpy the whole time?”

Every time Hannah said his name he wanted to feel her words against his mouth. Though he couldn’t see them now, he could imagine her lips gliding over his own. Their dinner conversation, and his sleepless night afterward, did little to distract from such musings.

“Aye, it will.” He took a deep breath and concentrated on his story instead of the sensation of Hannah’s curvy body pressed up against him.

“How did I come to be Lord Saxford? You might not believe the tale.”

“Is it more unbelievable than my own?”

Tristan chuckled. “Indeed, it is not.”

He slowed through a slog of mud, the marshland soon giving way up to the steepest incline they would face on this journey. If Hannah considered the ride bumpy on flat land, she would not be happy about the mountainous terrain ahead.

He gripped the reins, glad to be alone on the road, and thought back to that fateful day.

“Kenton’s family and Clan Sutherland have been enemies for longer than both groups have existed. In fact, none remember the reason for the feud, only that each generation of Kentons and Sutherlands continued to raid and plunder one another with such vigor that even their allies began to abandon them. Along a bloody border, their enmity stood out as the most vicious, until the wardens eventually appealed to the kings on both sides to see an end to it.”

“Wardens?”

“Leaders, on both sides of the border, to enforce March law.”

Hannah was never quiet, so he assumed she did not know what that meant.

“If indeed you traveled through time, you chose a dangerous location. The border between England and Scotland has not seen true peace in my lifetime despite the laws that were created to make it so. Reivers continue to wreak havoc on the weak, nobles and clergy use black mal to line their coffers, and only men like Kenton can secure safety for their people.”

“You mean blackmail? And what do you mean, men like Kenton?”

“The strongest men, the ones who can garrison themselves behind defenses—”

“Like Saxford.”

“Aye.”

“So what happened when the wardens appealed to their kings?”

Tristan resisted turning around. He could already see her face in his mind, sharp and expectant. He smiled. “They agreed on a most unusual way to reconcile the unrest. Twenty men from each side battled to the death. The winner claimed victory and set their terms.”

“That’s barbaric!”

“But it worked. Kenton slew every one of Sutherland’s men.”

He may have shocked her, but at least Hannah was distracted enough not to realize they were climbing to a peak that was high enough to afford them a view of the North Sea.

“So what does this have to do with you and—”

“I was one of the men who fought for Kenton.”

Hannah gasped.

“I’d gone to witness the event, though of course I could not fight. Kenton’s best knights had been chosen for that honor. But when one of those men ran off—he jumped in the river, if the rumors can be believed—Kenton was left one man short.”

“The best knights indeed.”

He agreed but remained silent.

“And so you fought that day instead.”

“In front of King Richard, who insisted on attending. It was, after all, his idea—”