Free Saving The Marquise's Granddaughter by Carrie Fancett Pagels

kiss her.
    She patted his cheeks. “I’ll never see you again in this life.”
    “Auntie…” He tilted his head at her. “Don’t say that.”
    Shaking her snowy head, she smiled and closed her eyes before pressing her hands against Johan’s brow. “May God bless you and keep His hand upon you and protect you and guide you.”
    Then she turned to Suzanne and blessed her, also.
    A chill raced down Suzanne’s spine as the frail woman’s whispered words took root.
    When she finished, Johan took both of Louisa’s hands in his and kissed them. “Mama will kill me if she finds out I was here.”
    The elderly woman stared up at Suzanne’s new companion. “Johan, don’t regret your choices. I haven’t. Never forget that doing God’s work is reward enough. We’ll all answer to God in the end—not to our earthly parents.”
    Earthly parents? Suzanne no longer had them. But her heavenly Father? And dare she look to this young man to protect her? If only her grandmother yet lived. But she didn’t.

5
    Far western border of France
    The sun hung above the evergreens, their freshness wafting down to envelope the two riders.
    Suzanne glimpsed blue jackets through a gap in the pines. Startled, she reined her horse to a stop. This was the fifth time they’d diverted their path because of obstacles.
    A trio of soldiers on the main road laughed and took turns juggling green plums. Their coats were ragged, unlike those of the soldiers who’d taken Pierre.
    Johan shook his head at her and raised a finger to his lips.
    She shrugged at him in question. Although they’d avoided the highway for most of their journey, they needed access to it to get to Aachen. She exhaled, holding Fury’s reins tight as he tried to pull forward. Clenching her jaw, she yanked as hard as she could on the reins without causing the beast to rear up.
    The voices of the three soldiers carried through the trees.
    “Kill him if he doesn’t say,” the thinnest man insisted.
    The brawniest of the trio unsheathed his sword, a glint of light piercing their cover. “This beauty slew a nun. Right in her sleep.”
    The two others cackled, an unholy sound in this sanctuary of woods.
    We’re within a stone’s throw of murderers.
    Johan’s wide shoulders were hunched over, his eyes closed, his golden head bowed as in prayer. She felt for her beads, comforted when her fingers wrapped them tight.
    One of the men grunted as his heavy feet thudded to the ground. Bridles jingled as they were undone. They intended to remain there. Her breath stuttered.
    Breeze, high in the treetops, wafted the piney incense of fresh new growth, and the whisper of needles.
    Johan motioned for her to back up her horse. She complied. Then he gestured her in a different direction, away from the criminals. And how would they get to Aachen now?
    Several hard hours of riding later, they stopped by a bubbling stream near a small boggy clearing.
    Suzanne inhaled the acrid air of the dense woods shielding them. With the sun now in the west, she knew they headed south, not northeast as originally planned.
    “Where are we going?”
    “All routes to Aachen hold danger.” A muscle in his jaw twitched. “We cannot travel there.” Johan dismounted and secured his horse, his hair loose and covering his face.
    “But I need to go there.” She gritted her teeth. If her legs and thighs weren’t so stiff, she’d have gotten off the horse by herself.
    Instead, when Johan took her reins in one hand and then lifted her down, she gratefully allowed herself to sink into his arms.
    “Merci.” Leaning against him, legs trembling from the long ride, she clutched his shoulders, her face pressed against the sturdy fabric that covered his broad chest. Warmth flowed through her.
    “Get out the food from Louisa.” He released her and moved to examine tracks near low green foliage in an opening favored by the sun’s rays.
    Does he think I’m his servant? She bit back the retort that he should get the