Page 17 of One Knight
“I’m sorry, Eli,” the man said. “We tried to make it.”
“It’s okay, Alger. They won’t hurt her—or you.”
Henry decidedly did not like the man’s familiarity with the way he referred to Lady Elisande as Eli.
“Will you, Sir Henry?” She caught him with a pointed gaze at the end of her words.
The way she had ridden like a warrior queen through his men and jumped from her horse to put herself between them and her niece had been nothing short of heroic.
But the greatest shock of all was the girl herself. Like a child in a young woman’s body.
Lady Elisande had referred to her as a child. Henry hadn’t understood that she meant it literally.
He rubbed his hand down his face and looked from one female to the other.
“You truly thought I was some kind of monster,” he finally said to Lady Elisande. “To think Iwould …” He trailed off, as he had no idea how to finish that sentence.
“I didn’t know. I had only heard the horror stories of William the Conqueror’s knights who had no mercy. I had to protect her.”
“And her father …”
“Left her.”
He shook his head, unable to comprehend how the baron could call himself a man.
He met her gaze once more. “And this is why you never married.”
Lady Elisande simply nodded in response.
Everything made sense. His lingering questions were answered. The lengths to which she was willing to go to protect the baron’s daughter. The reason she had stayed behind to give them a chance to escape. Why she never married. It was selfless and, quite frankly, made him feel things he had never expected to feel for a Saxon woman. He had intended to come, to conquer, to force a union, bed the bride, preferably sire an heir to seal the claim to the land, and continue to live his life. He had never expected … never dreamed … he might come to respect or care for the woman whose hand he would take in doing his duty to his king. And yet that was exactly what was happening.
“You have nothing to fear from us,” he told her. “With regard to Lady Hilda or anything else. Do you understand?”
Lady Elisande’s expression softened. “Yes.”
“Good. Now”—he looked to the man she had called Alger at the reins—“how far is the priory?”
“Another half a day by cart. Probably two hours on horseback, especially those steeds.”
“We will ride at your pace, ensuring your safe arrival.”
The man looked shocked.
“You will?” Lady Elisande asked.
“We will. Back on your horse, my lady.”
“But—”
“You think your bones rattle now? A horse will feel like the finest conveyance after a couple hours in that cart.”
“Hilda is doing fine, Eli. She thinks it’s a game.”
Henry looked at the man sharply when he referred to her as Eli again.
“She is Lady Elisande to you, now and forever. Understood?”
The man looked like he might swallow his tongue. “Yes, sir.”
