Coming Soon
Sneak Peek - The Defender and the Dove
Chapter One
Bridgerdon Castle
Cumberland County, England
1419 A.D.
Morgan “Mac” MacEwan entered his commander’s chamber and bowed curtly, knowing the man wasn’t one to hang on formalities.
“You called for me, Commander?” he asked, watching the man before him pace. Commander Elric Gadot was a large man, a capable man, and a good leader. Mac wouldn’t have agreed to join the ranks of the Homme du Sang if he believed that the man tasked with leading them wasn’t worth the sweat on his bollocks.
Finally, Sir Elric stopped pacing and turned to Mac.
“Aye, I called for you. I have a mission for you, one that you must carry out with the utmost secrecy. If Calleaux were to learn what you are doing, you would be set upon by any number of mercenary.”
Mac grunted, his anger percolating. Cardinal Calleaux had recently fallen from grace within the Church, and was now making it his life’s work to hunt down and kill every last member of the chivalric order he’d help build. To hear that he was using mercenaries wasn’t a surprise, but it would make any mission that much more difficult, for it meant he would have to ride incognito, without his armor and without wearing the surcoats stained the colors he had bled for over the last nine years.
“What are your orders?” Mac inquired, standing all the straighter. He wasn’t as large as Elric Gadot, but what he lacked in breadth and height, he made up for in strength and speed. Aye, he wasn’t a beast like Elric Gadot, but he wasn’t a milksop, either.
“Go to Chatteris in the southwest. Inquire about a Nanette deMorney. If she is there, escort her here.”
He wanted to ask what the woman had to do with Elric, but he refrained. He didn’t need to know the why, only that his commander had commanded him.
“Aye, Commander,” he said, offering a nod in salute. Elric nodded back.
“I do not have to tell you how important this mission is, Mac. This woman, Lady Minnette’s maternal aunt, is important to her, and is therefore important to me. If anything were to happen to her….” Elric didn’t have to finish the thought for Mac to know that the consequences would be terrible.
Lady Minnette Calleaux, the niece of the disgraced Cardinal Calleaux, was instrumental in the cardinal’s removal from power within the county. Also, if the rumors surrounding them were true, Lady Minnette and Sir Elric had grown close over their time together. And that meant his commander was more than just a little personally involved in Mac’s success in this mission.
Squaring his shoulders, he met his commander’s gaze.
“I will ready and depart before the hour has gone,” Mac announced, and Elric’s gaze softened.
“Thank you, my brother.”
Struck by the concern and true emotion in Elric’s voice, Mac clapped Elric on the back. “Tis an easy enough mission,” he claimed, grinning. “If I were a betting man, I’d tell you to put your coin on my returning within the month.”
Elric furrowed his brow.
“I hope you are correct, Sir MacEwan. For it is more than coin we are betting with.”
His humor lost in an instant, Mac’s grin fell.
“You can count on my secrecy and my success, Commander,” he avowed, and Elric stared at him for a moment before dismissing him with a clipped nod.
Quitting the chamber, Mac made short work of gathering what he would need for a long, hard ride to Chatteris, and then a slower, longer ride on the return. He didn’t know much about travelling with women, but he could assume that they didn’t do well riding horseback for eight hours a day, and that, once she was under his protection, she would require frequent stops to rest and eat.
Sighing, Mac rubbed at the base of his skull, where an old injury would often bring on headaches that would blind a lesser man. But he endured, for what else was there to do besides let the pain win. He was a stronger man than that.
Once properly geared sans his usual armor, Mac left the castle for the stables where he’d sent word for the grooms to have his stallion, Atticus, saddled.
He and Atticus galloped through the gates just as the chapel bells rang the hour, and he grinned as he remembered his promise to do just that. He was a man of his word, after all, and that meant fulfilling every portion of his promise to Sir Elric. He would ride to Chatteris. He would inquire after Nanette deMorney, and, if she were in residence there, he would escort her back to the safety of Bridgerdon.
And what if she refuses? It was possible that the woman wouldn’t care for her own safety, though he doubted any woman cared not for safety. It was also possible that the woman was no longer in Chatteris, and just as possible that she was dead. He had no time to dwell on such souring thoughts, though. He needed to focus on the task at hand; arriving in Chatteris in one piece, which was decidedly tricky since his being a member of the Homme du Sang was like having a target on his back.
Bridgerdon Castle
Cumberland County, England
1419 A.D.
Morgan “Mac” MacEwan entered his commander’s chamber and bowed curtly, knowing the man wasn’t one to hang on formalities.
“You called for me, Commander?” he asked, watching the man before him pace. Commander Elric Gadot was a large man, a capable man, and a good leader. Mac wouldn’t have agreed to join the ranks of the Homme du Sang if he believed that the man tasked with leading them wasn’t worth the sweat on his bollocks.
Finally, Sir Elric stopped pacing and turned to Mac.
“Aye, I called for you. I have a mission for you, one that you must carry out with the utmost secrecy. If Calleaux were to learn what you are doing, you would be set upon by any number of mercenary.”
Mac grunted, his anger percolating. Cardinal Calleaux had recently fallen from grace within the Church, and was now making it his life’s work to hunt down and kill every last member of the chivalric order he’d help build. To hear that he was using mercenaries wasn’t a surprise, but it would make any mission that much more difficult, for it meant he would have to ride incognito, without his armor and without wearing the surcoats stained the colors he had bled for over the last nine years.
“What are your orders?” Mac inquired, standing all the straighter. He wasn’t as large as Elric Gadot, but what he lacked in breadth and height, he made up for in strength and speed. Aye, he wasn’t a beast like Elric Gadot, but he wasn’t a milksop, either.
“Go to Chatteris in the southwest. Inquire about a Nanette deMorney. If she is there, escort her here.”
He wanted to ask what the woman had to do with Elric, but he refrained. He didn’t need to know the why, only that his commander had commanded him.
“Aye, Commander,” he said, offering a nod in salute. Elric nodded back.
“I do not have to tell you how important this mission is, Mac. This woman, Lady Minnette’s maternal aunt, is important to her, and is therefore important to me. If anything were to happen to her….” Elric didn’t have to finish the thought for Mac to know that the consequences would be terrible.
Lady Minnette Calleaux, the niece of the disgraced Cardinal Calleaux, was instrumental in the cardinal’s removal from power within the county. Also, if the rumors surrounding them were true, Lady Minnette and Sir Elric had grown close over their time together. And that meant his commander was more than just a little personally involved in Mac’s success in this mission.
Squaring his shoulders, he met his commander’s gaze.
“I will ready and depart before the hour has gone,” Mac announced, and Elric’s gaze softened.
“Thank you, my brother.”
Struck by the concern and true emotion in Elric’s voice, Mac clapped Elric on the back. “Tis an easy enough mission,” he claimed, grinning. “If I were a betting man, I’d tell you to put your coin on my returning within the month.”
Elric furrowed his brow.
“I hope you are correct, Sir MacEwan. For it is more than coin we are betting with.”
His humor lost in an instant, Mac’s grin fell.
“You can count on my secrecy and my success, Commander,” he avowed, and Elric stared at him for a moment before dismissing him with a clipped nod.
Quitting the chamber, Mac made short work of gathering what he would need for a long, hard ride to Chatteris, and then a slower, longer ride on the return. He didn’t know much about travelling with women, but he could assume that they didn’t do well riding horseback for eight hours a day, and that, once she was under his protection, she would require frequent stops to rest and eat.
Sighing, Mac rubbed at the base of his skull, where an old injury would often bring on headaches that would blind a lesser man. But he endured, for what else was there to do besides let the pain win. He was a stronger man than that.
Once properly geared sans his usual armor, Mac left the castle for the stables where he’d sent word for the grooms to have his stallion, Atticus, saddled.
He and Atticus galloped through the gates just as the chapel bells rang the hour, and he grinned as he remembered his promise to do just that. He was a man of his word, after all, and that meant fulfilling every portion of his promise to Sir Elric. He would ride to Chatteris. He would inquire after Nanette deMorney, and, if she were in residence there, he would escort her back to the safety of Bridgerdon.
And what if she refuses? It was possible that the woman wouldn’t care for her own safety, though he doubted any woman cared not for safety. It was also possible that the woman was no longer in Chatteris, and just as possible that she was dead. He had no time to dwell on such souring thoughts, though. He needed to focus on the task at hand; arriving in Chatteris in one piece, which was decidedly tricky since his being a member of the Homme du Sang was like having a target on his back.