Magic in His Kiss by Shari Anton Page A

to facing the next obstacle on their journey to Wales.
    With other options too dangerous to consider, they must resort to guile. Except the one strategy he thought might work involved using Nicole in a ruse that could prove disastrous if it failed.
    At least, disastrous for him. Nicole was right. The earl could simply hang him to be rid of him.
    Should the worst happen, Nicole wouldn’t suffer unduly. From the moment he’d decided to use her in his escape from the tower, he’d taken care to make it appear as though Nicole were being forced to accompany him. The earl would hold her gently, if well guarded, until the king finished his negotiations and married her off to a Welsh noble.
    Connor planned to do the same with Nicole once she was within his grasp. But at least Connor would marry her to someone who supported the unity of Wales, not someone who supported the rule of England’s king.
    Did Nicole have any notion of the reason for Connor’s offer? He didn’t think so, and he didn’t believe it a good time to mention it now.
    “Rhodri, I want to go back to the abbey. I should never have left. Not with you or the earl.”
    So that’s what she’d been mulling over all this while. Most definitely not a good time to give her more reason not to go to Wales. Better to point out the advantages.
    “Once the earl is aware you have passed beyond the town’s gates, the abbey will be among the first places he will search, and you would again become his guest in Oxford Castle.”
    The twist of her lips affirmed her distaste for being the earl’s guest.
    “But as you say, this gown makes me conspicuous. At the abbey, I could exchange it for a habit, and perhaps Sister Claire would provide us with cloaks.”
    “Then the earl could accuse Sister Claire of aiding us. If the abbey is beholden to the earl for support, then we should not put the nuns and abbey at risk of reprisal.”
    Her next suggestion came swiftly and more firmly. “Then take me home to Camelen. Alberic will find a way to shelter me. He might even provide you with the means to return to Wales.”
    Taking her home was an even worse idea.
    “Sheltering you and aiding me would set Alberic in opposition to the earl of Oxford and the king. Why cause Alberic trouble if there is no need?”
    “Will he not have problems anyway if I hie off to Wales?”
    “A bit, perhaps, but no one can accuse him of defiance if he can honestly declare he had no part in the matter. Nicole, so far as anyone at the castle can attest, I forced you to leave with me.” The only resident of Oxford who might question it would be the cobbler, but Rhodri doubted the earl would call upon every citizen of the town for interrogation, so the earl might never learn of that one digression.
    “As long as the earl believes you were forced to leave with me, neither Sister Claire nor your sisters and their families are in danger of reprisal for my actions.”
    Her lush mouth thinned, her eyes tinged with sadness as she realized he’d left her with the one option she likely considered the least harmful to those she cared for. “So we go to Wales.”
    The resignation set hard on her and, moved by the upheaval he’d wrought in her life, Rhodri was on the edge of apologizing when movement in the corner of the building caught his attention.
    Through one of the gaps in the walls appeared a slow-moving hand—male, large, and dirty—reaching for the sack holding Rhodri’s harp and Nicole’s circlet.
    Furious at the possessor of the hand for his audacity, Rhodri silently sprinted toward the sack and stomped hard on the thief’s greedy fingers, pinning them to the earth.
    Their owner yelped, startling Nicole into rising to her feet.
    Stupid thief! The gap wasn’t big enough to pull the sack through, but that hadn’t stopped the villain from trying.
    Rhodri lifted his foot. The thief’s arm immediately retreated through the gap in the wall, and judging by the sounds coming from outside, he swiftly