Chapter Two
“What’s so important about Mottlethorpe?” Tam asked, once they’d put a mile between themselves and the outlaws.
Hazel glanced at him. Her lips pursed, as if she were deciding what to tell him.
“The truth, please.”
Hazel gave a rueful laugh. “Am I so transparent?” And then she sighed. “Very well, the truth.”
Tam waited, while they walked another dozen yards. The twenty miles to Mottlethorpe seemed suddenly a gift. Twenty miles to get to know this woman.
“I’m betrothed,” Hazel said finally. “To a man who left the vale ten years ago to earn his fortune and never returned. I gave him a pebble from the Dapple, so he could find his way back, but he must have lost it. And yesterday I learned that he was in Mottlethorpe, so I’ve come to find him.”
Tam tried to look as if her wor
