Free The Loyal Heart by Merry Farmer Page A

asked while Toby stifled a laugh behind his hand.
    “Don’t ask!” Tom chimed in from his place several yards away by the fire, his eyes wide and his expression warning. “Believe me, you don’t want to know.”
    “You’re just jealous cuz none of them offered to hide you in their beds,” Jack wiggled his eyebrows. Tom looked mortified.
    It was several more seconds before Aubrey remembered what she had been saying. She blinked and pressed her lips together before going on with, “OK then. Civilians. So it could get messy. We’ll have to be careful.”
    “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Ethan stopped her. “First of all, no. Second of all, NO!”
    Geoffrey sighed and rolled his eyes when he saw the indignation that crossed his little sister’s face.
    “Excuse me?” Aubrey asked, crossing her arms.
    “Haven’t you rescued enough people for one month?” Ethan asked her.
    “So you’re not going to try to rescue an innocent man condemned to die?”
    Ethan shook his head. “Where did you get this information anyhow? Crispin ?”
    “Yes!”
    “And you trust what Huntingdon says?” Ethan frowned.
    “Of course I do. Crispin likes me.”
    “Yeah?” Ethan took half a step towards her. “And what did you do to get him to like you?”
    Aubrey opened her mouth to snap a come-back when Geoffrey blurted, “That’s enough! From both of you.” He nudged his horse between them, forcing each to step away from each other. He made eye-contact with the both of them like a father scolding disobedient children.
    “Aw, mate,” Jack protested, “you can’t pay for entertainment like this!”
    “Yes, well,” Geoffrey snapped, “are we here to provide entertainment for Jack Tanner? Is that why we’re here? Because if it is, I’m going home.” He proved his point by tapping his horse forward.
    “Wait, Geoff, wait!” Ethan called after his friend. Geoffrey stopped and turned back to Ethan, his sister, and Jack, who was still grinning even though the other two had gone serious. He leaned forward on his saddle and raised his eyebrows, waiting for an answer. Ethan sighed. “Alright. We should rescue the man. I’ll give you that. But Aubrey-”
    “Don’t you dare, Ethan Windale,” she stopped him before he could get started.
    Ethan turned to Geoffrey but got no help there. “You saw her shoot,” he defended her.
    “Yeah, an’ you saw her nearly crack me in half!” Jack added and went further to say, “I don’t care who she is, mate, I want her watchin’ my back.”
    Aubrey rewarded Jack with a smile and a nod. Then she turned to Ethan. She didn’t have to say anything, she just crossed her arms. He seemed to be the only one who thought that she was some delicate flower that needed the boys to protect her.
    “She can take my place.” Even Toby came to her defense. Ethan swung to glare at his man and Toby glanced off at the trees as if the wind had spoken instead of him.
    Ethan sighed. He closed his eyes in defeat and said, “Alright, you can come.”
    “Thank you,” Aubrey smiled.
    They began to move in their separate directions. Geoffrey said his good-byes and started home. Toby returned to his sewing and Jack reset the daggers in his belt to continue practicing with them. Aubrey went to fetch some of the supplies she had brought, Tom helping her. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Ethan unstrung his bow and went to store it, and was surprised when he then marched over to her and took her arm. He lead her several yards away from the camp, just out of hearing of the others. She tried to fight the butterflies that filled her stomach at the sight of him looking so serious.
    “I need to talk to you,” he began, his voice low, looking her in the eyes.
    “If this is about tomorrow….”
    “It’s about Huntingdon.”
    She rolled her eyes. “Ethan, you have nothing to worry about there, believe me.”
    “I think I do.” He stared at her.
    “No, really.” She switched tactics and tried to reassure