‘You stay put, my lass. I take it you want us to look after him?’
‘Please.’
‘That’s all we need to know. You rest, we’ll deal with your lad.’
Lufu and Edwin bent over Oliver and began to strip him, slinging his damp clothes over a line near the fire. Her pink gown was already drying there.
Your lad. Rosamund smiled despite herself. He’s a knight. Gathering a blanket around her, she clambered to her feet. ‘I want to help.’ The cottage shifted and her vision blurred.
Lufu set her hands on her hips. ‘Sit down, you daft woman.’
Rosamund subsided, but her eyes never left Oliver. Lufu and Edwin worked briskly, rubbing him dry and wrapping him in a blanket.
‘Shift over, Rose,’ Edwin said, as he and Lufu heaved Oliver into the bed. ‘There you are, lass. One dry lad.’
‘He...he’s very still.’ She touched his cheek, it was icy. ‘And cold.’
‘You can warm him.’ Chuckling, Edwin shook his head. ‘There’s no need to sigh and fret over that one, he looks as strong as a horse. He’ll be right enough come morning.’
‘He’s too cold.’ She piled more blankets on top of him and smiled at her friends. ‘Thank you for helping us.’
‘What happened, Rose?’ Lufu asked, sitting down on the edge of the mattress. ‘Why didn’t you stop when I called?’
She stared. ‘You called? When?’
‘I was behind you all the way up the Blue Bank. I called and called and Tatters was barking herself into a frenzy, but you never stopped. I couldn’t make out if he...’ Lufu jerked her head at Oliver ‘...was abducting you, or if you were going willing-like.’
‘You mean it was you? We were running from you?’
‘It would seem so.’
‘But the outlaws...we heard them in the wood. They were following us.’ Rosamund’s forehead felt as though it was encased in a tight metal band. She rubbed her forehead. ‘All that crashing about, all that barking...’
Lufu pointed at a brown mongrel chewing determinedly on a ham bone. ‘Meet Tatters.’
‘Tatters? Surely one small dog couldn’t make that amount of noise?’
‘Tatters was hunting. She rarely catches anything – her claws have been clipped – but she does enjoy the chase. She’s right noisy about it.’
Rosamund felt her jaw sag. ‘You’re saying we nigh on killed ourselves to escape from you?’
Lufu grimaced. ‘Strangers were abroad, I saw them down in the forest, but they never got past the waterfall. How could they know about the ledge?’
‘Poor Oliver, he ran all the way up the path for nothing. We were on our way here to beg for shelter.’ She smoothed a dark lock of hair from Oliver’s face and sighed.
Lufu tipped her head to one side. ‘I heard tell you’d been kept at the castle as the squire’s lover. Is he the lord’s squire?’
‘He was.’
‘You love him?’
Rosamund nodded sadly, her eyes travelling over Oliver’s still face.
Edwin dragged a stool to the fire and sank onto it. ‘Rose, lass, what do you mean he was the squire?’
‘He’s been knighted. I saw his spurs.’ Rosamund’s voice broke and her eyes swam with tears.
‘There’s no need to cry – you’ve a knight for a lover,’ Lufu said, patting her arm. ‘Many would deem that an honour-’
‘Not our Rose,’ Edwin said. A knife flashed – he was carving a twisted stick, enhancing the curve to make a shepherd’s crook. ‘She’s married. Do you have so little regard for sacred vows, wife?’
Lufu blew him a smiling kiss. ‘It’s not the same. We love each other. Rose has never loved Alfwold.’
Hot tears ran down Rosamund’s cheeks as it all tumbled out. ‘Oliver’s to marry Lady Cecily. He wanted me to live at the castle. I agreed, but I felt so bad betraying Alfwold.’ She sniffed. ‘I tried not to break my marriage vows. Truly. I...I ran away. I went back to the mill. I thought to ask Alfwold for an annulment.’
‘And...?’
‘Oliver came after me before I found Alfwold.’ She dashed away more tears. ‘We were caught in a trap. Attacked by outlaws – rebels, I think. Oliver was hurt, and he can’t remember anything.’
‘The knight remembers nothing?’
‘He doesn’t know who he is. Nor who I am, and...and-’
‘You are glad for it,’ Lufu said softly.
Startled, Rosamund met Lufu’s honest eyes. ‘How do you know?’
‘I know you.’
Rosamund wiped her eyes with the blanket. It smelt of wood smoke. ‘It’s as though I’ve been given a second chance.’ She stiffened her spine. ‘And I’m intending to make the most of it.’