A Dishonorable Knight(97)

"Then how about humility?"

"What good does humility do a woman? It merely gets her wedded to a man of her parents' choosing long before she's ready to suffer the chores of marriage. Or," she continued, heedless of Gareth's prodding smile. "Or it gets her sent to a convent where she spends her days on her knees praying and scrubbing floors."

"Scrubbing floors?" Gareth asked, clicking his tongue against his teeth. "Do you realize the heresy you speak? It would do you no good should the wrong people hear you speak such."

Elena laughed. "What 'wrong people'?"

"Oh, let me think. Parents, husbands, brothers, noblemen, clergymen."

"Worry no longer that I will be locked away for my insanity. Besides Catherine and Margaret, the only person I've quoted such blasphemy to is you."

“Who are Catherine and Margaret?"

"Two of the other ladies-in-waiting."

"And how do they respond to your opinions?"

Elena rolled her eyes. "Well, Catherine thinks I am incredibly brave and destined for greatness. Margaret simply disdains me."

Gareth frowned. "Why should she disdain you?"

"Since she is one whose 'humility' is leading her to a convent, she regards me as nothing more than a self-centered, money-hungry schemer who has no interest in love and little thought for the hearts of others."

"And do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Do you have no interest in love?"

Elena paused, suddenly wary. "Well of course I do.”

“It's just that, well, there are other things to consider," he finished. “Like money and power."

Elena did not know how to confess that such things no longer seemed to have the sway over her decisions they once did. The realization was still rather new to her. "They do help make life more secure," she prevaricated, refusing to meet his eyes.

"But if you were faced with a choice: to marry for power and wealth or to marry someone who loved you more than life itself, which would you choose?"

Feeling as if she were trapped, and not at all ready to admit her budding feeling when she knew not if they were returned, she said, "I detest hypothetical questions. The king has already made his decision regarding whom I shall marry.”

Gareth persisted. "But what if you are successful in convincing Richard to break your engagement? What if you do face that question in the future? What would you choose? Love or money?"

Elena’s heart was pounding in her chest. The trap was beginning to close. Panic and fear replaced her carefully honed poise and confidence. She gazed into his eyes. The emotion she saw in them was intense, focused solely on her. She fancied she saw his deepest emotions in them. Deciding to take the biggest risk of her life, Elena drew a breath to speak—

A knock at the door interrupted her.

"Who is it?" she asked instead, unsure if she were relieved or disappointed by the interruption.

"Bryant, my lady. I have your dinner."

Elena scrambled to her feet and tugged on her chemise. "Just a moment," she called. In a whisper, she asked Gareth, "Where are you going to hide?"

He pointed to the door and gestured that he would hide behind it while she opened it. Nodding, Elena smoothed her hair and slowly opened the door, careful not to open it too wide and bang Gareth in the face. Smiling at Bryant who was staring in embarrassed shock at her chemise she took the heavy tray from him. "You are an angel, Bryant. This looks delicious," she said as she sniffed the thick stew. She turned and set the tray on the small table, noticing with chagrin Gareth's breeches lying on the floor. Whirling around, she started to close the door, only to have Bryant stop it with his hand. Sure that he was going to ask who else was in the room with her, she scowled at him, hoping to intimidate him into leaving.

Bryant flushed and stammered, "I--I'm sorry, Lady Elena. I just wanted to make sure there was nothing else you required."

"No, nothing. I'm well supplied now. I believe I will continue to rest this day as Gareth mentioned we would be leaving tomorrow. 'Twill not be long before I'm missing the comforts of a soft bed and watertight roof."

Bryant nodded, but kept the door propped open, despite Elena's gentle pushing. "Have you seen Gareth today?"

Trying to remember what she had told Samuel earlier that morning, Elena shook her head. "Nay, I haven't seen him, though he did knock on my door this morning to see if I needed anything."