My Valiant Knight

by Hannah Howell

  “So? What does he offer?”

  “Too little.”

  “Gabel, what has my father said?”

  “He will ransom you and says you may bring Ronald along as well, if you must, but that he will not pay anything for the man.”

  “Ungrateful bastard,” Ainslee muttered, angered as always by her father’s contempt for Ronald, a man who had always been a faithful, hardworking servant. “Many times I have wondered if my father scorns Ronald because he can never be the mon Ronald is.”

  “ ’Tis possible. Some men find those who have the goodness they lack to be very irritating.” Gabel smiled faintly when Ainslee laughed.

  “When am I to be sent back to Kengarvey?” she asked in a soft voice, her humor fading swiftly as she tensed for his reply.

  “We will leave here in three days’ time and meet with your clan at the river.”

  Gabel inwardly cursed when she used her hair to hide her face and thus her expression. He wanted to know how she felt about leaving Bellefleur, about leaving him. It was unfair and he knew it, but that did not dim his need to know. He could not keep her. Although they shared a passion he had never tasted before and was not sure be would ever find again, he could not cast aside all his carefully laid plans and disregard all he believed was right for Bellefleur and his people just to hold onto it. Knowing that, it was wrong, even cruel, to try and make her expose her feelings for him, yet he realized that he ached to know what was in her heart and mind now that she was faced with the end of their time together.

  “We have a few days left to spend together, Ainslee,” he said, as he edged closer to her, took the comb from her hand, and began to comb her slightly damp hair.

  “I ken it.” She sighed and glanced at him. “I confess, I am surprised that my father has agreed so swiftly”

  “I thought he had proved to be most stubborn.”

  “Nay, not truly. If he had wanted to, he could have played this game for months.”

  “That could have put your life in danger, at least as far as he could know.”

  “Nay, my father kens that I am safe here at Bellefleur. He learned all about you, Gabel, ere ye had lit your first hearth fire in your fine new keep. How do you think my father has survived for so long when so many ache to kill him?”

  “Luck and skill,” he replied as he set the comb aside and tugged her into his arms.

  “Aye, there was some of that, to be sure.” She leaned against him and stared into the fire. “He also kens that a mon’s best defense is to learn what he can about his enemies, and he had no doubt that ye would soon join that vast number. If my father had put all of his wit and skill to a good cause, he could have become the greatest of men. Howbeit, both gifts have served only to make him the most elusive and deadliest of foes. As soon as I was of an age to ken what he was, I also kenned what he could have been. I think that is why I grow so angry at him at times.”

  He slid the robe she wore off of her shoulder and touched a kiss to her warm skin. “Mayhaps he saw that knowledge in your eyes, and ’tis why he so dislikes Ronald. Your father knew who you compared him to.”

  Ainslee frowned as she considered that possibility, then shrugged. “I find it most difficult to believe that my father was ever concerned about what I thought. Howbeit, pride may prompt it, for there was a strange incident once when I was but eleven that I have ne‘er found a reason for. Ronald had taken ill and had sent me from his side for fear that I would catch whate’er it was that ailed him. That evening I dined in the great hall with my father and brothers for the first and last time in my memory. I ken that I watched my father as I ate, but I dinna believe I cast him any particular look which could have revealed the thoughts whirling about in my head, not all of which were kindly. Suddenly, he lunged at me and began to beat me, bellowing about teaching me some respect.”

  “Did he hurt you badly?”

  “It felt so at the time. My brother Colin rescued me at some risk to himself when he began to fear that my father would kill me. I returned to Ronald and told him that, whate’er ailed him, it could not be as frightening nor as dangerous as being near my father.”

  Gabel said nothing, just held her and softly kissed her neck. He fought the surge of guilt sweeping over him as he thought of how he was about to return her to that life. But what choice did he have? Even if he decided that he did want to take her as his wife or she agreed to become his leman—something he could never ask her to do—he still had to go through with the ransoming. He was doing the king’s work now, and could not cease simply because Ainslee might suffer a beating when she returned to her family. Few men would understand why that should even trouble him, for, while they might not agree with the beating of women and children, Ainslee’s father had the right to do with her as he pleased. Gabel silently cursed again, and wondered for the hundredth time how and when he had allowed one tiny red-haired woman to so complicate his life and disorder his thoughts.

  “So, in three days’ time we will meet my most notorious sire at the river,” she murmured.

  “Aye,” Gabel agreed, forcing a smile when she turned in his arms to face him directly. “I felt it would be wise to have the river between us.”

  She smoothed her hands over his chest and then began to unlace his tunic. “ ’Twould be for the best to put the whole of Scotland between you and my father, but I ken that ye must draw closer than that.” She smiled faintly when he laughed, but then grew serious, taking his face between her hands. “Beware my father, Gabel.”

  “Is it not strange for the daughter of the man to warn the one who seeks to punish him?”

  “Aye, and it may e’en be a wee bit traitorous. Howbeit, I see no real wrong in simply warning an honorable mon that he is about to face one who, sadly, doesna have any honor left. Ye deal in the truth. My father could spout lies to a priest on the altar. If ye make a bond, ye will hold to it. My father will do so as weel, but only if he can gain from it. If he sees no gain, he willna keep any treaty or honor any bond made. And, if my father believes he canna defeat a mon in a fair fight, he will slip about in the dark and cut the mon’s throat or stab him in the back. Ye have been kind and fair, Gabel de Amalville, to me and to mine. ’Tis only fair to tell you the truth about the mon ye will soon be facing.”

  “I thank you for that. Howbeit, your father must have the wit to see that, if he does not honor this bond, he will bring on the complete destruction of your clan.”

  “I pray he does. Even my brothers, who arena the best of men, dinna deserve that.” She eased his shirt off of his shoulders. “I dinna wish to talk of it or to worry about what is to come. I certainly dinna wish to think of my father.”

  Gabel closed his eyes and sighed with pleasure as she trailed soft kisses over his chest. She had slowly grown bolder in the week they had been lovers and he reveled in it. He did not want to think of her father either, for it reminded him that, in three very short days, he would lose her. What he wanted to do was spend every moment of those three days making love to her, but he knew he could not do that either. As he threaded his fingers through her hair, releasing it from the loosely tied leather thong she had caught it up in, he felt a surge of angry frustration. He had never considered how much he might have to give up to be lord of Bellefleur.

  All thought of what he was forced to do and to forego because of his high birth, faded when Ainslee unlaced his hose. She tugged them off of him, heating his legs with kisses as she did so. He tensed as she crouched between his legs, smiling seductively at him from behind her tousled hair. His breathing grew heavy when she undid his braies and tossed them aside. A soft groan escaped him as she slid her hands up his thighs while she bent towards him and touched a feather-light kiss to his erection. He gently caged her between his legs as she stroked him with her tongue, kissing his length as she smoothed her hands over his hips and thighs. Watching her pleasure him so put him into a sweat, but he grit his teeth and fought to keep his passion under some restraint. He wanted to enjoy
her loving for as long as he could. When she answered the request he made with an unmistakable shift of his hips and slowly encased him in the heat of her mouth, he cried out from the strength of the pleasure flooding his body. He could endure it for only a few moments before he caught her up in his arms and pressed her down onto the sheepskin.

  Crouching over her, he stared down at her as he fought to rein in his need so that he could repay her for such delight, giving her some before they were forced to answer the urges of their bodies. “Do you think to drive me mad ere you leave Bellefleur?”

  Ainslee smiled and trailed her fingers over the front of his muscular thighs, enjoying the way he trembled from the power of the desire she had stirred within him. “I but sought to please you,” she murmured.

  “Oh, you did that tenfold, and ’tis clear from the cocky look on your lovely face that you know it.”

  “Ye appear hesitant to act upon it.”

  “Oh, nay, not hesitant. I but catch my breath so that I may show you that two can play at that game.”

  Ainslee did not have the time to worry about his passionate threat or ask him what he intended to do. Gabel began his assault upon her senses at once. Although she blushed when he removed her robe, she did not attempt to hide herself from his eyes, despite the bright light from the fire. She found the way he stared at her so hungrily, his appreciation of her form easy to read in his eyes, exciting and the perfect cure to any touch of modesty.

  He lowered his body onto hers and kissed her. Ainslee returned his deep kiss with a fierceness to match his, and a touch of desperation. She had very little time left to soak her mind and senses in the feel of him. With a murmur of pleasure, she tilted her head back, allowing him free access to her vulnerable throat, as he began to ease his kisses down her body.

  A shudder tore through her when he stopped at her breasts, lathing the tips and suckling as if he had all the time in the world, as if passion was not causing him to tremble and breathe heavily against her skin. Her own passion had been so heightened by making love to him that she was not sure she could endure such a leisurely seduction, but she fought to keep enough of her senses so that she could enjoy his every touch and kiss. She did not know where he found the strength, but she was determined to match it.

  He crept his way down her midriff, kissing her, gently nipping her skin and soothing the light sting with strokes of his tongue. When he reached her thighs, she was unable to touch him and she murmured her regret. He chuckled against her inner thigh and proceeded to cover the length of her legs with his caresses. Despite her intention to push aside all modesty, she tensed and gasped in shock when he touched a kiss to the soft curls between her thighs, but this time he ignored her. With one slow stroke of his tongue, he took away all urge to protest the intimacy of his kiss.

  Ainslee fell completely beneath the power of the feelings he stirred in her, opening herself to him and moaning her pleasure. The only clear thought she had came when she knew she was too near her crest to wait any longer. She cried out her need and groaned her relief when he forcefully joined their bodies. Wrapped tightly around his strong body, she clung to him as he took them both to the heights they had resisted for so long.

  It was not until they lay sated in each other’s arms that Ainslee gave any thought to what they had just done. She fought the embarrassment that seeped over her, but was only partially successful. It was not even dark yet, she thought with an inner groan.

  “Ainslee,” Gabel whispered against her ear as he idly stroked her side. “Cease berating yourself.”

  “And what makes ye think I was berating myself?” she asked, unable to look at him, and she cursed softly when he laughed.

  “For one so bold when she is loving me, you have become quite the blushing maid now that I have served you in kind.”

  She grimaced and peeked at him through the tangle of her hair. “Weel, there must be something we shouldna be doing, and I but thought that was probably it.” She was able to smile a little when he laughed, rolled onto his side, and pulled her into his arms.

  “We should not be doing this at all, but I am willing to bear up under the weight of that guilt.”

  “So gallant of you, sir knight.” She trailed her fingers up and down his arm as she stared at the fire. “There shall undoubtedly be years of penance to pay when I finally confess this.”

  “And will you be thinking that it was worth it?” he asked softly, grimacing at his weakness which prompted him to try and pull some statement of her feelings out of her, even if it meant he must trick her into it.

  “Oh, aye. I havena enjoyed the wealth of experience ye have,” she drawled, glancing at him briefly, “but I think I will find that such heat canna be matched.”

  “Nay, it canna.” He laughed when she lightly slapped his arm, but then grew serious as he studied her delicate profile. “I swear I do not make it my habit to seduce young virgins into my bed. I am well aware of how important chastity is to wellborn women. Howbeit, I could not turn away from you. I hope that you will be able to forgive me for that weakness.”

  Ainslee turned and gently touched a kiss to his mouth. “And I hope that ye will cease trying to take the full burden of this upon your shoulders, wide and strong though they are. Ye must ken by now that I am no meek, simpering lass. I have a voice. I could have cried nay, and ye are too honorable to ignore that. I also ken how to fight a mon, something many a young womon is ne’er taught. Aye, I could never beat ye in a fight, but ye ken that I could certainly have freed myself of your lustful grip, and left ye sorely regretting that ye had ever taken me into your arms.”

  She frowned as she studied him. “Do ye fear that I shall turn on you when I return to Kengarvey, that I shall then cry rape?”

  “Nay. I did wonder about it, but only for a moment, as I felt in the very marrow of my bones that you would never do such a thing. ’Tis just that I am the man, I am older than you, and I know more about such things than you do, so I felt it only fair that I accept the responsibility.”

  “I may not have ever done the deed, but do ye really think a mon like Ronald would allow me to grow to womanhood without kenning all about it, about what men want of a lass, and the tricks they might play to get it?”

  “Nay.” He laughed and shook his head as she settled back into his arms. “Any man would be delighted to have a lover such as you.”

  But not a wife, she thought and scolded herself for allowing that bitterness to taint their time together. “I am pleased that, as one of those cowardly MacNairns, I am able to do something worthwhile.”

  “I suppose Ronald can be blamed for the sharpness of your tongue as well,” Gabel murmured.

  “Nay, he claims I was born with it.”

  “And what has he had to say about my becoming your lover?”

  “What can he say?”

  “A great deal as he is your father in heart and soul, if not in blood. I have looked at him whene’er we meet, but I see no anger, and he has said nothing. Have you even told him?”

  “Aye, of course, I have. As Ronald himself said, he is neither deaf nor blind. He would have discovered the truth for himself, and I thought it best if he heard it from me. He has raised me to ken my own mind, and so doesna try to make me do as he pleases or feels is right. All Ronald cares about is if I am happy and if I am safe.”

  “And are you happy, Ainslee?”

  “I wouldna be sprawled here if I wasna.” She sighed, deciding that a little truth would not hurt, and said, “I shall have some verra warm and pleasant memories to pull forth when I am back at Kengarvey, and such things can be verra valuable. Kengarvey may be my home, but most times ’tis neither warm nor pleasant.”

  “I am sorry for that.”

  “Why? ’Tis none of your doing.”

  “You have such a clarity of mind, dearling. Nay, ’tis none of my doing, but I can still feel sorry that you must endure it.”

  “Pity?” She tensed slightly, finding the thought that he might pity
her very distasteful. “That neither helps me nor changes what Kengarvey is.”

  “Not pity, so you may pull in your thorns, my red-haired Scottish thistle. I do not believe anyone could long pity a woman with your strength. Howbeit, I see no harm in a touch of sympathy. You deserve better than you have. Mayhaps this treaty will bring Kengarvey some peace.”

  “Aye, mayhaps.”

  “Ainslee, is there anywhere else you may go? Any place you may live beside Kengarvey, if only for the next few months?”

  “Do ye think the next few months will be enough to change my life?”

  “Nay, but it could greatly change life at Kengarvey.”

  She sat up, oblivious to her nakedness, her long hair her only covering. “Ye want me away from Kengarvey because ye think there may be a reckoning.”

  Gabel grimaced and ran his hand through his hair. He wished he could lie to her, but he could not, and she was too clever. She would easily see the lie. The truth was harsh and he regretted it, but he knew she would greet it more favorably than she would any pretty lie.

  “Aye, there may well be a reckoning. I have no wish to take up the sword against your kinsmen, loving. ’Tis the very last thing I wish to do, for I know it will hurt you as well.”

  “Ye have no choice.”

  “None. If your father does not abide by the treaty we will make, then the king will demand a battle. There will be nothing I can do to stop it, and I cannot really refuse to join in it. In truth, because he gave me the responsibility of ending your father’s bloody tyranny o’er this land, I will be the first man he turns to. I do not wish to think that you are locked inside the walls I must batter down.”

  “I ken that ye would ne’er harm me, Gabel.”

  “I would not, but I will not be able to watch every arrow or sword. You are painfully aware of how the innocents can suffer in the heat of battle.” He reached out to stroke her hair when she trembled.

  “The men of Bellefleur would ne’er act like the Frasers,” she protested in a meek voice.

  “Nay, they would not, for I would ne’er keep such men in my service. But, Ainslee, the men of Bellefleur may not be the only ones at the walls, clamoring for blood and vengeance. If your father breaks his bond, the king will be so furious he may want Kengarvey razed to the ground. There may well be others sent with me to do the deed. I can swear on my honor that I will not hurt any who do not try to fight me, that I will do my utmost to ensure that the women and children, the innocents of Kengarvey, do not suffer for their lord’s foolishness, but I cannot speak for any of the others who may join the battle.”