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the cottage to rights.  The knight followed her, placed a heavy hand upon her shoulder.  She glanced down at it, up at his face, and then moved away, turning to face him. 
    He held out a couple of coins.  “For your trouble.”
    Aslyn stared at the coins, but she did not reach to take them.  “I did nothing,” she said dismissively.  “More’s the pity.”
    He dropped the coins on the rickety table.  “For your inconvenience then.”  He looked around the cottage, assessing it.  “I am Algar of Remey.  My men and I are camped nearby on the King’s business.  If you have need of our service, you need only send word ….  Lady…?”
    Aslyn’s heart thudded dully with alarm.  “I’ve no claim to the title of lady.  I am Aslyn … of Mersea.”
    His black brows rose.  “And your husband?  Is he about?”
    Aslyn felt the blood leave her face.  Any hope she’d nursed that he was only mildly curious vanished.  His intentions became frighteningly obvious and he had blocked the only avenue of escape.  “Not at the moment.”
    He laughed, moved toward her.  Aslyn backed away, but he followed her step for step until she was pressed back against the sod wall with nowhere else to go.  “I was told you were unwed.  Why, I wonder, would you lie to me?” he murmured huskily.
    “Because your attentions are unwelcome?” Aslyn responded coldly.
    “Are they?” he asked with a mixture of amusement and disbelief.
    “They are,” Aslyn said tightly, wedging her hands between them and trying to push him away.
    He lifted a mailed hand, running it lightly along the pulse pounding with fear in her throat.  “This little flutter gives your lie away.”
    It was on the tip of her tongue to inform him that it was most certainly not desire that sped her heartbeat, but another voice intruded at that moment.
    “Fear and revulsion do not equal desire, Algar.”
    The knight stiffened at the cold voice, the smile freezing on his face.  Slowly, he turned toward the man standing in the doorway of the cottage.  He stepped away from Aslyn, his body taut as he faced the man he obviously perceived as a threat.  “Kale.  What brings you here?”
    Aslyn didn’t know whether she was more stunned or relieved at the huntsman’s timely arrival.  Relief seemed uppermost.  Still, she wondered at it.  The knight had not been a part of the huntsman’s party when she’d seen him earlier on the road to town.  Perhaps they were part of a larger group, however, for neither seemed very surprised to see the other.
    “The King’s business.  And you?”
    “The same.”
    A cold smile curled Kale’s lips.  “The King set you upon the business of assaulting his subjects?”
    Algar’s face turned a deep hue, but he forced a smile, lifted his brows as if he’d no notion of what Kale was suggesting.  “I’ve caused the lovely Aslyn no harm, have I my dear?” he asked, his gaze flickering momentarily to Aslyn.  He didn’t wait for Aslyn’s response, which was just as well.  “I’ve discovered a flower amongst the weeds and thought only to pluck it … if she, too, were so inclined, of course.”
    “She did not appear overly enthusiastic to me.”
    Algar laughed, obviously genuinely amused.  “Who can know the mind of a woman when they do not even know their own mind?  We had barely … begun to warm to the subject.  I can be very … persuasive.”
    To Aslyn’s relief, Enid peered timidly around the huntsman’s shoulder at that moment.  “Aslyn?”
    The men turned to look at her. 
    Obviously alarmed, she took a step back.  “Beg pardon, my lords.”  She looked at Aslyn questioningly.  “Should I come back later?”
    “They were just leaving,” Aslyn said, striving to keep the hopeful note from her voice and failing.
    Algar chuckled again.  “We have been dismissed.  Perhaps you were wrong and the lady misliked your interference?”
    The huntsman’s gaze locked with her own.  However