Page 13 of The Guardian’s Favor

Did she really expect him to bring her to Sutworth Manor without so much as a hint of explanation?

“But we must not tarry. If my father—”

“If your father learns the very man who just begged him to oust Lord Caxton as warden has made off with his only daughter, there will be bigger troubles than this region has seen in years.”

Her eyes went as wide as two round trenchers. “He would never . . .”

“He would never what?”

Aidan didn’t like where her thoughts seemed to be headed.

“Never mind.”

Clasping her hands in front of her, Clarissa continued. “Lord Stanley appealed for an annulment. He cast me out, and my father does not yet know. I came home only because I had nowhere else to go. In order for my plan to work, I must get to Sutworth Manor. I didn’t know how I’d manage such a feat, but then you arrived—”

He heard the words, but could not believe them.

“Lord Stanley what?”

“He appealed for annulment. I know not how long these things take, but apparently it has already been—”

“I don’t believe it.”

Blood pounded in his ears, the words coming from her mouth . . .

Nay, it could not be.

“Why would he—”

“Aidan, please. I know you must be angry with me—”

“I stopped being angry with you a long time ago.”

It was not true, of course. But he felt as if he should say it anyway.

“If my father finds me here . . .”

Panic. Fear. Of course she was afraid. Better men than him shook at the very mention of the Earl of Theffield. That bastard was Lady Clarissa’s father, though Aidan had never quite reconciled himself to that fact.

Annulled.

Pushing aside the implications of that word, Aidan reached out and grabbed Clarissa’s hand, wishing immediately he’d not done so. When they touched, a warmth spread through him, the same jolt he’d felt the last time her skin was pressed to his own.

Ignoring the dangerous thought, he guided her back to the men. But just as he was about to lift her onto his mount, Aidan remembered the torture he’d been through since Theffield Castle. He gently pushed her toward Lawrence, who didn’t need to be told what to do. As he helped her mount, pulling his hands from her waist as if they were on fire, he cursed himself for the musings that danced through his mind.

It didn’t matter if she would no longer be a married woman. She’d abandoned him without so much as a goodbye. She was the daughter of the only man remaining who had the power to bring peace to the border. One who would surely be enraged to find his daughter missing.

An annulment did not matter.

Except that it did.

Chapter 5

Unlike with Aidan, she sat behind his companion, who had introduced himself simply as Lawrence. Holding on to his waist as he’d instructed, she tried to pretend it was normal for her to ride astride a horse with a strange Scotsman. She’d only been this close to a man six times in her life—precisely three times when her husband had attempted to beget a son with her, the day Aidan had kissed her, earlier when she had sat in front of him, and now. And while her body did not flush with warmth as it did whenever Aidan de Sowlis was near, neither did it recoil in fear as it always had with her husband.

No longer afraid they would be caught any moment, Clarissa allowed herself to consider what would happen next. At least, she attempted to do so, but every time she conjured Sutworth Manor or the priest who she prayed would help her, Clarissa found herself glancing to her right.

He never once looked her way. His profile may have scared her had she not known the type of man he was. Not that she knew Aidan well, but there was no mistaking his kind nature.