Page 68 of The Knight’s Reward

“But then I learned of your plight. And with God as my witness, I promised then and do so now, the man who killed your father will see justice served. The rage I felt at the thought of you making your way to The Wild Boar alone as you mourned your father . . . I felt that again, last eve.”

Kathryn’s brows drew together in question.

“I could not bear the thought of you marrying another man.” He shook his head. “I cannot allow that to happen.”

“What are you saying?”

“You will be with one man in this lifetime, Kathryn Wyld, and that man is me.”

He did not mean for the words to come out so forcefully, but he was as convinced of this as he was that, somehow, they could find a way to pacify the king.

“Do I have a say in the matter?”

Nay. She didn’t. Not if she loved him the same way he loved her. But Neill knew that was not the answer for which she waited.

“Aye,” he lied.

“The implications are vast.”

“Indeed.”

“You are risking everything.”

“I am.”

“For me.”

“For love.”

He’d never said those words to a woman before, and he was determined she’d be the only woman to ever hear them from him.

“I love you,” he repeated, “more than my own life.”

She didn’t hesitate. “And I love you.”

They stood there, hand in hand, declarations made and accepted.

But the moment was tainted by Geoffrey’s words running through his head.

Do not do this, brother. At least consider it more carefully. Once you declare for her, there is no way to take the words back.

But it was done.

Neill was now pledged to two women.

One he’d never met.

The other he loved.

And though Adam had always told him confidence was almost as imperative as the skill required to be crowned champion, for the first time in a long while, he was unsure if this was a contest he could win.

Chapter 22

It had been the most glorious week of his life.

Neill had spent the mornings avoiding his brother’s lectures, if not the man himself. The afternoons, with Kathryn. He learned more about her unusual upbringing, which had forged her into the woman that he now adored. It was no wonder that she had been so unconvincing as a serving maid.

She told him of the times she’d been kissed. And of the time one of the king’s men had attempted to take that which she had no interest in giving. Her father had arrived just in time to protect her, but he’d insisted that she be trained to use the dagger as skillfully as any man. He knew the claim was an honest one, for he’d put her skills to test in the training yard.