Page 11 of One Knight
“No, I have never been there. My brother would never have allowed me to travel so far.”
“I like him less and less, the more you speak of him, and my opinion of him was already poor when I arrived.”
“It is not unthinkable that I would not be allowed. I am a woman after all. And more than that, a caretaker for a child.”
“From the rumors I heard, I thought the baron’s daughter was a woman grown by now.”
Elisande didn’t know what to say. Describing Hilda to a stranger was not easy.
“Not exactly, Sir Henry.” But the subject was forgotten as she took a few steps. “How am I going to mount again tomorrow?”
“You’ll manage. There’s a stream ahead. I suggest you sit in it.”
“What?” Elisande jerked her face toward his. “Why?”
“The cold water will ease your muscles. Trustme. It is the wisest course of action. I will make sure no one approaches. My men will take care of the horses and make camp. Come,” he said as he held out a hand to her.
He was most peculiar, Elisande decided. Totally unique in her experience. Then again, she had never met a Norman knight. Her brother’s knights and soldiers had been crude and often belligerent and dangerous. Elisande had kept herself and Hilda to the solarium as much as possible, venturing about the rest of the manor only in the company of trusted servants.
It hadn’t been much of a life of freedom, but it had kept them safe.
But this man … he didn’t make her feel like he might pounce upon her like a ravenous wolf at any moment. He was solicitous and strangely courteous. Andhewas one of the feared men of the great William the Conqueror.
She was shaken from her reverie as they approached the stream. Practicality instead invaded her thoughts.
“But what of my dress? It will never dry overnight.”
“Then take it off. I will turn my back. Use your shawl as toweling. I had a bedroll packed for you.”
“Take my dress off? With you standing here?”
He met her gaze as the sun dipped low on the horizon and darkness began to cover the land beyond. “I assure you, my lady, I can manage to avert my eyes. I am not a slavering youth, desperate to see a naked woman. I’ve seen plenty,and your form, while surely lovely, is not unique.”
Elisande coughed in shock. “Excuse me?”
“Let’s hurry. Because what I am most hungry for right now is food and then sleep. I promise you, your virtue is safe. And regardless, in a few days … you’ll be my wife, and I will know your body as well as you. But I am a man with restraint. I can wait.”
“Never in my life …” She trailed off.
“Strip down, and in you go. It’ll be brisk,” he replied.
His matter-of-factness about an issue of great importance to Elisande stunned her beyond belief.
“Hurry up. Pretty soon, it’ll be full dark, and there’s no point in waiting.”
“Well, I never,” she said, feeling annoyance and something else she didn’t quite understand.
In a bit of a snit, she stripped off her garments and marched into the stream.
She missed his smile at her shortness. He’d made her angry. It was mostly on purpose. He didn’t know how else to get her to do what would serve her best. He could call it a gamble, but it had worked.
At her sharp inhale, he knew she had sat down.
“It’s freezing!”
“Don’t get up. You’ll live. Wait until I tell you.”
“I’ll live? Easy for you to say. This is horrid!”
