Lord Balvoire swung her around, clasping her tightly, pressing her back to his chest, with his dagger drawn and held against her throat. Eleanor peered from under her lashes and was surprised to see the figure in front of her... It was a man whose head and face were hidden under a fox-trimmed hood.
He dismounted effortlessly and prowled towards them, an arrow stretched and nocked against his bow, aimed at Balvoire’s chest and ready to be released.
The man was evidently dressed as Le Renard. But that was not possible. Unless...
No, her eyes must be deceiving her.
‘I said, let the lady go.’
Balvoire took a small step to one side. ‘You...? It can’t be... I have the real Fox here.’
‘I don’t think so.’ The imposter smirked.
Oh, Lord, could it be...?
Hugh?
‘I don’t believe you. The outlaw Le Renard is small and wiry. I have met him before,’ Balvoire spat, tightening his grip on Eleanor.
‘Frankly, I don’t care what you believe—although it has been known for boys to develop into men,’ he drawled. ‘Now, I’m going to give you one last chance, Balvoire. Let her go.’
‘I don’t take kindly to demands, you know...because they make me do this.’
Balvoire drew the tip of his dagger down Eleanor’s neck, cutting her, making her gasp as she bled.
‘The next one won’t be so light. Now, this is what you’ll do, whoever you are: you will leave quietly and go back to wherever you came from. I will then take Lady Eleanor with me, and you are not going to stop me or follow me. I will otherwise have no choice, sadly, but to kill her.’
‘No, I don’t think so. This is what you will do: you’ll step away from my lady and only then will I allow you to leave. But I swear if you come near her, or touch her again, you will be cut from here...to here.’
Le Renard—or rather Hugh—indicated from Balvoire’s neck to his navel with the tip of his arrow.
‘And I suppose you would be the one to do that, eh?’ Balvoire snarled.
‘Oh, no, not I...’ He chuckled. ‘But him.’
Lord Balvoire jerked his head in the direction Hugh had tilted his head—only to encounter the sharp tip of a sword jabbing him under his chin. And the man holding the hilt of the sword was none other than... Anselm.
‘Missed me, my lord?’
‘You!’ he breathed. ‘What are you doing here? You have some nerve.’
‘As do you, ’olding up my lady, ’ere. And you dare call me the villain.’
‘Lady Eleanor Tallany is the traitor I’ve been seeking—as you well know.’
‘So, you’re dishin’ out justice where no one can see what you’re about, eh? Truest villain I ever did see.’
‘How dare you? When I get my hands on you again, I’ll enjoy cutting your entrails out while you’re still alive and—’
‘Enough!’ Le Renard strode forward, closer to Balvoire. ‘I said, let my lady go—now!’ He aimed his arrow close to the man’s chest. ‘It’s over.’
‘Never!’
It happened so quickly.
Balvoire took a small step backwards and slipped on the wet, grassy edge, losing his balance. His eyes widened with shock and he fell, plummeting down below, dragging Eleanor with him.
Hugh hurled himself at her and grabbed her hand just as she felt the ground disappearing beneath her. For a long moment they just stared at each other as she dangled over the edge, suspended in mid-air. But she could feel her grip slipping.
‘It’s no use, Hugh, I can’t hold on,’ she whispered.
‘I’ve got you!’
‘I’m slipping...’
‘Hang on tightly so I can pull you up.’
‘It’s too difficult to hold on,’ she said, as one finger after another slipped away from Hugh’s grasp.
‘Damn it, Eleanor, I won’t let you go.’
He pulled her up with a strength from somewhere deep inside, hauling her back to safety and into his arms.
‘I will never let you go, do you hear?’ he said softly. ‘Never, my love.’
‘Balvoire’s dead good and proper, Fox.’ Anselm looked down to the stream. ‘Cracked his ’ead on a boulder.’
Hugh looked up and nodded at Anselm grimly, wrapping his arms around Eleanor, who was shivering, and dropping a kiss on the top of her head. ‘Hush, sweetheart. It’s over now.’
Eleanor fell in and out of sleep on the ride back to Tallany Castle. Hugh had parted ways with Anselm, who had now paid his debt by helping Le Renard with his rescue mission, and he had left Balvoire’s accomplice tied to a tree.
Once the Tallany guards were dispatched they would find Balvoire’s body, and the accomplice, from whom they’d get a confession about the attempted abduction of Eleanor.
That was as much as Hugh was willing to do, so as not to expose Eleanor’s complicity with the outlaws. And, although it didn’t sit right with him that he would have to bend the truth for King John, the alternative was inconceivable.
All that mattered to him was that his wife was safe. When he’d watched Balvoire threaten her, and cut her with his dagger, Hugh had had to use all his resolve to keep himself from pouncing on the bastard. And when she’d almost fallen down that gorge...
It didn’t bear thinking about.
Yes, all that mattered was that she was safe and back where she belonged...with him.
‘Hugh?’ Eleanor muttered. ‘I still can’t believe that you came to save me.’
‘You’re awake, sweetheart?’ he said gently. ‘How do you fare?’
‘Tired, sore, and my head is ready to burst—you didn’t answer my question.’
‘We’ll be home soon and then you can rest properly.’ He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. ‘You must have a low opinion of me if you believed that I wouldn’t come for you.’
‘Oh, I have a high enough opinion of you—but that’s not what I meant. I can’t believe that you came disguised as Le Renard.’
Hugh tugged at the reins, bringing her palfrey to a halt, and sighed. ‘A wise woman once told me that sometimes there are no choices when there’s a desperate need.’ He shrugged, smiling. ‘Besides, I thought it was about time you received
