Free A Knight With Grace: Book 1 of the Assassin Knights Series by Laurel O'Donnell Page B

even be riding ahead to cut us off.”
    “We’re not going to Willoughby Castle?”
    “Not yet. There’s a stream up here. It flows into the river Bovey.”
    She twisted in the saddle to look at him. “Bovey?”
    William stared into the distance, toward the town of Bovey. “I’m hoping this will throw him off of our trail. We’re going to my home.”

    Grace finally relaxed when William slowed Hellfire and guided him through the water at a walk. She glanced over her shoulder, taking in the surrounding forest. “Is he gone?”
    “Not for good,” William answered. There was a certainty in his tone that made Grace nervous. “We’ve distanced ourselves from him and with any luck lost him. But he will be back. He won’t give up.”
    “What does he want?”
    “You. He was looking for you.”
    “To bring me back,” Grace answered solemnly.
    William glanced behind them for a moment before twisting to face forward. “How well did you know Sir Curtis?”
    She scowled, considering his question. “He was a friend. He worked at my father’s castle for years. Why do you ask?”
    William was silent for a long moment.
    Grace twisted to look back at him.
    His blue eyes were focused intently on a point in front of them. “We talked about ransom. Remember I told you you were lucky? He could have killed you.”
    Grace nodded. She remembered his words. He had been trying to figure out why Curtis would have brought her back to a place that was so easy to find.
    William reached back and with a tug pulled something from one of the bags. He brought his fist forward and it was wrapped around an arrow shaft. “Apparently, that was exactly what he had in mind.”

CHAPTER 11
    S hock raced through Grace as she stared at the arrow William clutched in his hand. Curtis had wanted her dead? They were friends! She had known him all of her life! She trembled even as everything in her body rebelled at the prospect. “It can’t be. Why do you say this?”
    “I know that man who came to the cottage. He is a killer. He kills for coin. And not much of it.”
    Numbness and disbelief spread through Grace. She couldn’t believe it. “Maybe my father hired him to bring me back.”
    “Your father has castle guards to bring you back. He would not have hired a man like him.”
    It just couldn’t be. Curtis couldn’t have wanted the coin. They were friends. She trusted him. He wanted her dead? It was too much to believe. “Sir Curtis was a knight bound by his oaths. He would not have hurt me.”
    “He wasn’t going to.”
    Silence spread as Grace thought about William’s words. Curtis had eaten most of the food under the pretense of needing his strength to protect her. He had not taken very good care of her, nor had he remained with her to protect her. Nothing he had done made any sense. She had given him coin, under his direction, so they could escape. He had taken her to his old home, which turned out to be the exact place they would come to look for her. Would he have paid someone to kill her? Could William be right? She shook her head, still not believing Curtis was capable of something like that. She knew him. Or thought she did.
    Distressed, disturbed, and unsure, she remained silent. Thoughts swirled through her mind. They had made plans of escape and a future together. But as she thought back on their journey, she realized he hadn’t come up with the idea of running; she was the one who had thought of it. And he hadn’t brought up the thought of their fantasy life together; she had asked him about it. He had told her once of his father’s cottage, but she was the one who had decided they would live there. The only thing he had contributed was asking her to bring coin. She bowed her head. What a fool she was! She had been so blind, so eager to run away from a marriage to a knight who was damned that she had not seen the reality before her. She looked up at William, her thoughts returning to the man pursuing them. “Can you stop