Once a Knight (32 page)

“That's a lukewarm reaction to a man who would allow your best friend to leave with a man who would no doubt kill her.”

Taking a deep breath, she admitted, “I disliked your actions.”

“My actions? You disliked my actions?” How cleverly she separated him from his deeds. “How did you feel about me?”

“I…disliked you.”

He stared at her in blatant disbelief.

She tried again. “I loathed you.”

“You hated me.”

She looked away from him.

“You hated me, but you're a rational woman who does what is logical, so you put me from your mind and concentrated on the future without me.”

She tried to speak several times, and finally said, “Not exactly. I wasted a great deal of time thinking about how…how…”

“Aye?”

“How I'd like to take your liver and feed it to the cat.”

“That's good!” She could be taught. “That's what I hoped you would say.”

Her mouth dropped open just a little, and she shook her head as if confused.

“When you came to Osbern's castle and saw me fighting him, what did you think then?”

“I thought that you had seen the error of your—”

“I don't believe that.”

Such bluntness came hard for a woman as steeped in diplomacy and as restrained in her passions as Alisoun,
but she enunciated each word scrupulously. “I wanted to be undignified in my joy.”

He grinned with relief and teased her. “Undignified in your joy, huh?”

“I wanted to jump up and down and yell.”

She'd made a huge admission, but David was greedy. David wanted more. “All because you were glad to see me. Do you think you would have reacted with such unbridled emotional desire if another champion for Philippa had stepped forth?”

Her fingers curled, the tips brushing his palm. Her lips curled, her eyes going unfocused. “Nay. When I looked up, I knew I'd been waiting just for you.” She stiffened, recalled to herself by her instinctive reply. “That is, I hired you to protect me, therefore I expected you to fulfill your duties.”

“And you were ecstatic when I did.”

“I was pleased, aye.”

He sighed hugely.

“I was
very
pleased.” Even before he showed his skepticism, she tried to express herself more clearly. “I was…proud. I was…delighted.”

“Why?”

“Because you…”

She didn't want to say it. He could see how she struggled with her hurt and her pride.

But his Alisoun had courage, and at last she admitted, “You're my only hero.”

A thrill skittered up his spine at her reluctant confession. They had come to the heart of the matter at last, and he wanted to shout, to dance, to jump Louis over the fences and make love to Alisoun in his herb garden. Instead he contented himself with doing what she would want. He spoke a simple, easy-to-understand sentence. “You
do
love me.”

A series of emotions paraded across her face. Fear, amazement, vulnerability, and happiness.

He liked the happiness.

In a tiny voice, she asked, “How did you know? I didn't. And how did you know that you had to tell me?”

“I just thought that since I had to tell you you were with child, I might also have to tell you you were in love with me.”

 

Bert and I stopped practicing with our arrows when we heard the first rumble of thunder. The sky had been clear and all of a sudden clouds rolled in! Well, we looked at each other
.

“
They're back!” I told Bert
.

“
I told you my daddy'd win,” she said
.

I wanted to shake her, but I couldn't take the time. We scrambled up the steps to the top of the wall walk and looked out past the village. There we saw Sir David's destrier King Louis galloping toward the castle with my lady Alisoun's palfrey running behind, and far off in the distance two small figures racing for the shelter of the forest as the rain moved toward them
.

“
I hope the wolves don't get them,” I said
.

The first big drops struck Bert on the nose, and she grinned, showing a big gap where two more teeth had fallen out. “They won't eat my daddy because he has his sword. And they won't eat Lady Alisoun 'cause she's too tough
.”

Bert was right. After the rain stopped, Sir David and Lady Alisoun walked all the way home. Then they ate, then they took a bath, then they went to bed for a long, long time
.

That year, all of Northumbria brought in a harvest
that filled the barns to bursting. In the spring, Lady Alisoun delivered healthy boys—twins! Sir David almost split from pride, and to anyone who would listen he would recount the tale his granny told about how a great love warmed everyone around them
.

We didn't need to hear the story. We were living it
.