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Thomas glanced at the men behind Hector, recognizing all of them. A smile spread across his lips. “No wonder you want me,” he said. “Look at that motley crew you have brought with you. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

Hector laughed softly, turning to the men behind him. “Even if my father didn’t come, old Deinwald did,” he said, catching the man’s attention and waving him forward. “Have you nothing to say to Tommy, Deinwald?”

Sir Deinwald Ellsrod was perhaps the surliest, bitterest, and meanest man on the border.

A knight who had served with William and Paris and Kieran in his prime, he had been a wild man on the field of battle, looking like a barbarian with his blond ponytail and big muscles, and he rarely had a kind word to say to anyone.

But the truth was that a fairer, more just man had never existed, and he had surprisingly mellowed in his old age.

But not too much; he spied Thomas and simply lifted an eyebrow.

“I have much to say to that de Wolfe whelp,” he said. “Where should I start?”

Thomas grinned as he moved back in the group, going to Deinwald and putting a hand on the old man’s leg.

“Tell me how much you love me,” he said. “Tell me how much you miss me.”

“Never. I loathe the sight of you.”

Thomas pointed at him. “I can see a tear in your eye right now,” he said, grinning as he turned to the men next to him. Deinwald’s grandsons, Garr and Hugh Ellsrod. “God help you with a grandfather like that. It is a miracle you did not turn out exactly like him.”

Hugh was two years older than his twenty-year-old brother. “I would be proud to be as nasty and bitter as he is,” Hugh said, “but it seems I have inherited my grandmother’s fine disposition. I am a rose to my grandfather’s thorn.”

Thomas nodded. “Your Grandmother Aloria is a remarkable woman,” he agreed, looking to the dark-haired younger brother. “Greetings, Garr.”

“Do not talk to him!” Hector suddenly yelled. “He has asked to court my daughter, Lisbet, so I am in the process of being very cruel to him. You will not speak to him, Thomas. I mean it.”

Thomas started laughing. “Lisbet is a lovely young woman of sixteen years,” he said, pointing to Garr. “You would deny her this magnificent specimen of a potential husband?”

Hector waved a stern hand at him. “Bah,” he scoffed. “Ignore him, I say.”

Thomas looked at Garr and shrugged, who shrugged in return. There didn’t seem to be any real animosity, merely a father who did not want to lose his youngest child yet. In fact, Garr was trying not to grin. Thomas headed back in Hector’s direction.

“If you want me on your team for the tournament, I would be willing,” he said. “But I have no equipment with me. I would have to borrow yours.”

Hector nodded firmly. “I will be happy to let you,” he said. “One de Wolfe is worth ten men of another team. Will you come with us now? We are heading to Roxburgh to see Tobias. He will be on our team, as well.”

Thomas thought on his friend, Tobias, the big and powerful knight with a long reach, which would work to his advantage in a competition. “Collect Tobias and I will meet you back here,” he said. “Where is the competition field?”

Hector pointed back the way they had come. “If you came in on this road, you passed it,” he said. “It is in the open area to the north, outside of town. Meet us over there around midday. That is when the teams will be selected and the rules established.”

Thomas nodded. “I will be there.”

Hector’s gaze lingered on him a moment. “Tommy,” he said. “Is your intended with you?”

Thomas’ features stiffened. “She is not,” he said. “Why do you ask?”

Hector shrugged. “My father has mentioned the situation you are going through,” he said, lowering his voice. “I am sorry, Tommy. It does not sound ideal.”

Thomas didn’t want to think of Adelaide, not today, but he was polite to Hector’s statement. “It is not,” he said. “I will tell you more about it later, but not out here in the middle of the street. Get going to Roxburgh and I will see you at the field in a short while.”

Hector simply nodded, giving the man a brief smile as he moved out and taking his men with him. Thomas stood aside as everyone passed him, grinning when Deinwald cast him a typically nasty scowl.

It was good to see that again.

As the party from Northwood moved past him, heading for Roxburgh Castle, Thomas headed back to the stall to inform the eager children that he would, indeed, be competing in the tournament this day.

As he moved down the road, the crowd thinned out and, suddenly, children in blue tunics were running at him.

“No more cheese! No more cheese!”

They were grabbing at his hands, pulling at him, and he looked down into happy little faces.

Marybelle, a little blonde, and her sister, Nora, who was older with bushy red hair, each had a hand, while Artus and the twins, Renard and Roland, were pulling on his tunic.

Behind him, he could feel more little hands tugging at him.

“We have no more cheese!” Artus said excitedly. “We sold it all!”

Now, Thomas understood the excitement. “I see,” he said. “Congratulations. You have done well today.”

That was all they wanted to hear. The children let him go, excited with their pence, and it reminded Thomas that he’d been intending to find a tanner before the knights from Northwood distracted him.

He intended to have seven pairs of shoes made.

But that would have to wait as Maitland approached him, her lovely face glowing with delight.

“We made over eight shillings today,” she said. “Truly, I did not expect to sell everything. I was hoping to sell just a few.”

Thomas grinned at her as the children danced around them.

“It is an excellent product and people will like it a great deal,” he said.

“You must make sure you are here every Market Day so they can find you and buy more. But I still intend to go to all of the taverns in town and get a commitment from them to buy your cheese, so you had better plan on making a great deal.”

Maitland nodded excitedly. “We will,” she said, watching the happy children around her. “Can you believe it, Thomas? A week ago, these were sad and starving children, and now look at them.”

Thomas watched her face as she looked at the children. “You have shown them what kindness and compassion can do,” he said quietly. “ You did this, Mae. You showed a measure of compassion to children who had known none, and now see the result. You should be very proud.”

Maitland looked at him, warmth and gratitude in her expression. “But I could not have done it without you,” she said. “Your generosity and your mother’s generosity have made this possible.”

He had the sudden urge to kiss her. He wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her until she gasped. In fact, he almost forgot himself and started to reach out for her, but he caught himself in time, putting his hands behind his back in the hope that it would help his self-control.

But, God’s Bones, it was difficult.

“Anything for you,” he murmured, for her ears only.

Maitland smiled at him, a glorious smile that made his heart flutter. He could tell that she wanted to say more to him but refrained for propriety’s sake, perhaps. Or perhaps it was because she wasn’t sure what to say in this strange, new world the day after she had thrown herself at Thomas.

It was obvious that things were different between them now.

Averting her gaze, she turned to help Tibelda, who was packing up the bowls and buckets they’d brought, putting them into a hand cart that had been found on the grounds of Edenside and repaired.

As Maitland and Tibelda loaded up, all Thomas did was stand there and stare at Maitland.

He’d once questioned himself as to whether or not he’d loved her, knowing that, given time, he would.

But as he watched her work, he realized that he didn’t need any more time to realize that he did, indeed, love her.

There was so much there to love, from her kindness to her intelligence to her beauty.

He’d fallen hard and fast for her, but he didn’t care.

It brought him joy he couldn’t begin to describe.

Maitland had been so worried that she was a passing fancy and, as he’d told her yesterday, she wasn’t.

In fact, she would never be rid of him. He was hers for life.

All would have been perfect except for one thing…

Adelaide.

Thomas had told his father he would marry the woman and he would not break that promise.

Too much was at stake and, in spite of everything, he still agreed with everything he and his father had discussed.

Only now, he was coming to cling to the hope that his father would get evidence on the murders Adelaide had committed so the woman could be locked up and the marriage annulled.

He knew it was a nearly impossible hope; God help him, he knew it.

But he wouldn’t give up hope that, somehow, it would all work out in the end.

He would marry Maitland and spend the rest of his life proud and happy with the woman he married.

He would pray for a miracle.

But until that day came, he would enjoy each and every moment with her because he knew that from this point on, their time together would be few and far between. Today was a gift from God as far as he was concerned.

He wasn’t going to waste it.

“I saw some friends of mine in town,” he said after a few moments. “Did you see the big group of knights ride in a few minutes ago?”

Maitland looked up from securing a wooden bowl in the hand cart. “I think so,” she said. “But there have been a great many groups of men moving about. The group with the red and black banner? The men you were talking to?”