Highland Honor by Hannah Howell

disputes her truths.”
    â€œI may have disagreed with her a time or two,” she said, ignoring the mocking sound he made, “but that is not reason enough to decry me as a murderer, or believe that I would do anything that would hurt Guy.”
    David put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a brief hug. “I found it hard to believe that you would hurt Guy, and he was most adamant in his support of you.”
    â€œHe is well?”
    â€œAlmost healed enough to walk out of Maigrat’s demanse , just as he threatens to every day.”
    Gisele laughed and then watched David closely as she said, “Guy was one of the few people who believed in my innocence.”
    He blushed and took a step back. “I wish I could deny that, but I fear you speak the ugly truth. The only defense we all have, and it is a very weak one, is that you had made your loathing of the man evident to anyone who would listen to you, and you often threatened him with some heinous punishments. There is no pardon for us. You should never have been given to him. We were blinded by power and wealth, I think. No one of such a high standing had ever joined our family before, and we hungered for it.”
    â€œYou keep saying we and us. Do you speak for the others?”
    â€œMost of them. A few, like Maigrat, have their own reasons to refuse to change their minds, and I fear that refusal has more to do with their dislike of you than the truth.” David watched her a little warily as he said, “You can be curt, Gisele, and are cursed with a sharp, bitter tongue that can stir some people’s anger and dislike.”
    â€œThey are but humorless, and I have no need of them. Is my family going to help me now?” She waited tensely for his reply, knowing she had let her hopes spring to life and afraid that they were about to be crushed again.
    â€œWe have already begun to try to find the truth,” he replied then returned her impulsive hug. “We have also been trying to find you. You must come with me now. You can no longer be allowed to run about France alone and unprotected.”
    â€œAlone?” Gisele frowned as she moved away from him. “Did Guy tell you that I was alone?”
    â€œHe said something about a Scotsman, a knight who survived by selling his sword. He has obviously deserted you. One can expect little else from a man of his ilk.”
    â€œNo, Nigel would not desert me.” Gisele felt as surprised by her sharp defense of Nigel as David looked. “He is gathering some fresh supplies and having our horses tended to.”
    â€œYou are still with the man? That will not do, cousin. You cannot travel alone with a man, especially one no one knows. I will pay this man his fee and send him on his way.”
    Gisele stared at her cousin, eager to tell him that he was a complete idiot, but knowing that this was not the time for an argument. Here was a trouble she had not foreseen, and she cursed her blindness. Men were always eager to defend their women against the sinful thoughts and inclinations of other men, and since he had done nothing to protect her from her brutal husband guilt could easily make David very hard to turn aside. Nigel would soon be looking for her, and Gisele was sure her cousin would not be greeting Nigel cordially when he met him. Gisele lightly chewed on her bottom lip and wondered how she could pull Nigel out of the confrontation she had unthinkingly thrust him into.
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    Nigel stepped out of the baker’s too warm shop, took a deep breath of the cool outside air, and immediately knew that something was wrong. He felt the first stirrings of panic when he could not see Gisele where he had left her. His hand on his sword, he began to search the small village. He stopped and stared when he found her just inside a narrow, shadowed alley not far from the inn.
    The young man she stood with presented no clear threat, yet Nigel disliked him immediately. He