“Raine is a good man.”
“He is a perfect man,” she said.
“Alyx,” Jocelin whispered, his hand on her arm, “Raine will protect you from the people, and what time he can’t be near, I will be. Your love for him has helped him through his grief.”
It came as no surprise to her that Joss knew she was a woman. “What good is my love? I am not worthy of him. Tomorrow he plans to leave this camp, to ride freely into the sunlight of a country where he is fair game for the King’s wrath. He will leave the safety of the forest and risk prison or even death to protect me.”
Again Jocelin was silent.
“Don’t you have anything to say? No soothing words telling me Raine’s life will be safe?”
“He will be in great danger if he leaves the forest. Raine is well-known and easily recognized.”
A great sigh escaped Alyx. “How can I let him risk so much for me?”
“So what do you plan to do?” Joss asked sharply.
“I will leave by myself. I cannot stay and cause Raine worry, and he cannot leave with me. Therefore I will go alone.”
Joss’s laugh startled her. “I’m sure Raine Montgomery will be as obedient as a lap dog. You will inform him you plan to leave and he will meekly kiss you goodbye and wish you well.”
“I am prepared for a fight.”
“Alyx,” Jocelin laughed. “Raine will toss you across his horse and carry you out of the forest. You can yell all you want, but when it comes to the point, muscle will win over words.”
“You are right,” Alyx gasped. “Oh, Joss, what can I do? He cannot risk his life for me.”
“Love him,” Joss said. “That’s all he wants. Go with him, stay with him. See him through everything.”
She jumped up from the rock, hands on hips, glaring at Jocelin. “What am I to do when he is killed because of me? Should I hold his cold hand and sing a sweet song to the Lord? No doubt I’ll make magnificent music, and everyone will say how I must have loved him. No! I don’t want cold hands. I want hot ones loving me—or loving anyone, for that matter. I’d rather give Raine back to Blanche than see him dead.”
“Then how are you going to make him stay here?” Jocelin asked quietly.
She sat down again. “I don’t know. Surely there must be something I could say. Perhaps if I insulted his family.”
“Raine would laugh at you.”
“True. Perhaps if I told him he were a . . .” She couldn’t think of a single thing she hadn’t already called him. Obviously names would not harm him. “Oh, Joss,” she said desperately, “what can I do? Raine must be protected from himself. If he were to leave the forest no doubt he’d pursue Chatworth, and then the King would become involved in the quarrel and—I can’t let it happen! What can I do?”
It was a long moment before Jocelin spoke and when he did, she barely heard him. “Go to bed with me.”
“What!” She whirled on him. “I am talking to you of a man’s safety, his possible death and you are trying to woo me to your bed? If you want a woman, get one of those hags who pant after you. Or take Rosamund to your bed. I’m sure she’d enjoy it more than I would.”
“Alyx,” he chuckled, hand on her arm. “Before you launch into me more fully, listen to me. If you are serious about Raine’s staying here, there is nothing you can say to make him stay, but perhaps there is something you can do. He doesn’t really know you very wel
l, not enough to trust you, or perhaps no man ever trusts a woman. If Raine were to find you with another man there would be nothing you could say to make him take you back. He would let you go and he would stay here.”
“He would hate me,” she whispered. “He can have a violent temper.”
“I thought you were serious about this. A moment ago you said you’d rather Blanche had him.” He nearly choked on the woman’s name. “Are you hoping that you can leave Raine now and later when he is again in the King’s good graces, you can come back to him? That would only happen in a song you wrote yourself. The only way Raine Montgomery will let you leave this forest without him is if his feelings for you are totally reversed.”
“To change his love to hate,” she whispered.
“Do you dream of his standing and waving goodbye to you, tears in his eyes?” Joss asked sarcastically. “Alyx, you love him too much to hurt him. Tomorrow let him take you out of here. His brothers will protect him until the King pardons Raine.”
“No! No! No!” she shouted. “No one could protect him from an arrow. Even in this forest surrounded by guards, he was shot. To leave would risk death. How could I hurt him more than to kill him?”
She buried her face in her hands. “But to have him hate me! To change the way he looks at me from love to hate—Oh, Joss, that is a great price to pay.”