Free Noble Hearts 03 - The Courageous Heart by Merry Farmer Page B

threatened to swallow her .
    The waifs who had been staring through the gate with awed eyes spread out as it opened . When the first of the finely dressed nobles who had spent the night in the Tower exited , the children jumped into action, thrusting out their hands and begging.
    Joanna couldn’t stand to watch it, couldn’t bear to comprehend how close to those children she was now. Her eyes searched wildly within the Tower complex for any sort of clue as to Aubrey or Crispin or Jack’s whereabouts. There was simply nothing to see.
    A lone rider trotted through the gate. He was swathed in a cloak, his face mostly hidden. Joanna looked closely at it as he passed. Her heart stopped. She knew the face. She had seen it once before, heard Aubrey’s story of how he had worn a disguise when he first came to Derby. Prince John.
    A jagged shard of hope pushed her to leave the gate and trail him. The prince steered his horse on a slow walk through the people that had gathered near the Tower. He kept his broad shoulders low and moved with purp ose, trying not to be noticed.
    Joanna walked only a few paces behind him, willing him not to kick the horse into a run. Prince John could help her. Crispin was his friend . He had been there when the arrest had happened. Surely he could speak to his brother on Crispin’s behalf .
    Without warning the prince kicked his horse to run. Joan na’s hope plummeted as the steed burst forward. She opened her mouth to stop him but nothing came out. Panic welled in her chest, choking the air from her lungs. She was alone. Everyone had left her, just like before.
    S everal yards on the horse stumbled and broke stride. The prince cursed and dismounted. Joanna shot forward.
    “ Your highness !” She was so overwrought that when the prince turned to blink at her that she grabbed his arm with both hands. “ Your highness , you must help me!”
    The shock in Prince John’s eyes flickered to amusement. He scanned the immediate area to be certain no one was paying attention, then he swept an assessing gaze up and down her body. “Have we met?”
    Joanna gasped as she realized she had laid hands on a prince. She dropped to a curtsey, faltering and sinking to her knees. “I am Joanna Dunkirke, your highness, lady’s maid to Countess Aubrey of Derby.”
    Prince John’s amusement melted into a frown. A few curious merchants were beginning to look too closely. His horse limped a step back, threatening to trod on her. He lifted her to her feet, moving her out of the animal’s way.
    “My mount appears to have thrown a shoe,” he said, patting the horse’s flank to calm it. “How very inconvenient.”
    Joanna licked her lips, twisting her fingers together in front of her. The prince hadn’t dismissed her, but he hadn’t reacted to her announcement of who she was. She shifted her weight, watc hing as Prince John examined his mount’s foot.
    “Your highness,” she put e verything on the line and spoke. “I need your help. My master and mistress have been arrested and imprisoned.”
    Her heart pounded against her ribs as she waited for him to acknowledge her answer.
    An hour seemed to tick by before he straightened . “I know.” He said nothing more. Instead he pulled the hood of his cloak forward and searched up and down the street.
    The prince was anxious. Joanna’s gut quaked as it dawned on her. He was the prince of England, next in line to the throne, and he was alone and disguised in the street at dawn.
    “My horse needs attention,” he said with the barest hint of tension in his otherwise commanding voice. “It is a matter of some urgency. Forgive me.”
    He nodded without seeing her and grasped his horse’s reins, leading it forward at a fast walk.
    Whatever Prince John was doing, Joanna had no right to waylay him or even to speak to him. Sh e had no right to look at him.
    She lunged after him.
    “Your highness, the earl, Sir Crispin , needs your help as no man has ever needed it