Magic in His Kiss by Shari Anton

and body erect. No one observing her would question her absolute right to pass through the bailey.
    Nor, thank the Fates, was anyone taking an inordinate interest in the man at her side, too engrossed in their own purposes to pay others much heed. While he doubted many of the castle folk would recognize him, he longed for the concealment of his hooded cloak, which, along with his horse, sword, and money pouch, he hadn’t seen since yester noon.
    Resigned to the loss of his belongings, Rhodri gave thanks for the one possession they’d allowed him to keep with him, his harp. Which he’d feared he might lose, too, until Nicole rescued it from the tower’s guard.
    And he’d repaid her by threatening to break her neck. With a wince, he admitted his hastily devised plan for escape had been roughly executed and smacked of dishonor.
    Still, the scheme had worked, and he didn’t give a damn about what the captain thought of his methods. However, Nicole was probably due an apology for his uncouth manner, especially for the celebratory kiss he shouldn’t have stolen.
    Nicole hadn’t seemed to mind his forwardness overmuch. He’d startled her as much with the kiss as when he’d grabbed her in the cell. The kiss had been quick but long enough for him to enjoy the sweet taste of her mouth. Her surprise hadn’t been so acute to prevent her from kissing him back.
    While he didn’t know precisely what had ailed her so intensely in the tower, she now seemed to have recovered from both the ailment and the kiss.
    Determined to put both disturbing events out of mind until he and Nicole were well out of danger of capture, Rhodri cautiously glanced up at the wall walk, noting the garrison hadn’t yet been alerted to his escape. However, someone would soon hear the captain’s shouts and the soldiers would swarm the wall walk and bailey.
    “Do we merely walk through the gatehouse and over the drawbridge?” Nicole asked, her uncertain tone at odds with her confident stride. “Escaping cannot be that simple.”
    He could see the gatehouse now, and the throng of people passing through, some leading oxen-yoked carts.
    “’Tis possible. Until the garrison is alerted to our flight from the tower, they will not be looking for us. If we edge through alongside one of those carts, the guards might not notice us at all.”
    “What if they stop us?”
    He briefly considered drawing from his boot the dagger Nicole had given him. A fine, solid weapon she’d claimed once belonged to her brother, William. One had to wonder why she possessed the dagger at all. ’Twas hardly the type of thing a woman needed in an abbey.
    He was glad to have the weapon at hand, but best to leave it be, for the nonce. No sense drawing attention by carrying the blade openly.
    “The guards do not seem to be stopping anyone. If we give them no reason to do otherwise, they should leave us be. How many gates in the city?”
    “Seven. Two to the south, one east—”
    “Lady Nicole!” hailed a female voice.
    Nicole slowed and began to turn her head. Rhodri put a hand on her back to keep her moving.
    “Do not stop.”
    “But Lucy—”
    “There, the cart stacked with sacks of grain. Get beside it.”
    “Lucy may follow me.”
    In the shadow of the stack of grain sacks, Rhodri slowed to keep beside the cart, hoping that whoever Lucy was she had the sense to believe Nicole hadn’t heard her. The rumbling cart churned up dust, the grit invading his nose and eyes, but not so badly that he couldn’t see and smell freedom but a few steps ahead.
    From the wall walk above came the sound of men running. All hope of uneventful passage through the gatehouse fled. His heartbeat rising in rhythm with the increasing danger of capture, Rhodri grabbed the harp’s sack from Nicole and slung it over his shoulder.
    “The garrison has been alerted. If we do not pass over the drawbridge quickly, they will be on us.” He reached for her hand, which she immediately took. “We must