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Page 381
He could not permit himself to submit to that luscious tide of sensation nor even to think what effect Rhiannon's new understanding might have on their relationship. Now he had to concentrate on bringing them back to the main group at the foot of Roundway Hill. There was the one open area. Simon gestured to Bassett, who was holding de Burgh, to go first. De Millers and Thomas the Chamberlain followed with Siorl, then Rhiannon. Simon and the others brought up the rear. In case there was an alarm, they would have been ready to silence it. The maneuver was successful, however, and the rest was easier. Soon they were safe in the woods of Roundway Hill.
Bassett and his men did not dismount. Hardly waiting for his troop to get to their horses, he started west toward the Chippenham road. There was no need for farewells or thanks; each knew what had been accomplished and what it was worth. Simon had no idea where they would go, but he did not want to know. Now that the adventure was over, he was extremely glad to be separated from it. During the ride from the church back to the main troop, while he was filling his mind to avoid thinking of Rhiannon, Simon had imagined the disaster he might have created for his family if he had been caught. He was eager to go, to get out of the area altogether so it would be impossible to associate him with the escape.
As they withdrew from the danger, Rhiannon's excitement faded. The glance she had exchanged with Simon had been the last flicker of it. Now it was over, and she was aware of a sense of loss, of flatness and depression. Before she realized what she was doing, she began casting about in her mind for a new adventure. The desire brought another revelation to enforce the first. One could become addicted to danger, she thought. Simon in the meantime was shifting impatiently in the saddle, waiting for the two men who had given up their horses to de Millers and

 
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