An Uncertain Choice(15)

I stood and shook the weeds from my gown. “I didn’t expect you to return so quickly.”

“We were a little too distracted to hunt today.” He smiled meaningfully.

I stared at my dirt-encrusted fingernails, embarrassed once again. I didn’t know how I would ever become comfortable with the attention and kind words of the men. Even when I’d met Thomas, I’d not had much practice before he’d gone away.

“Besides, the duke is anxious to start planning a month full of activities and events to delight you.” He stepped closer, bridging the distance between us.

“And you? How do you feel about staying for a month?” I forced myself to make conversation even though my insides were squirming like a puppy. “Are you not ready to return to your own home and land after so many years away?”

“I’ve been gone from my home longer than I ever lived there, my lady,” he said wistfully. “Like most nobility, my parents sent me away when I was but a young lad to prepare me to be a knight. Fortunately, I had the privilege of living with the Noblest Knight first as a page then later a squire.”

“’Twould indeed be a privilege to live with him. I’m sure he was a good master.”

“He has become like a father to me — ?to all of us. He’s taught us not only how to wield our weapons, but more importantly how to use our minds.”

I wasn’t surprised that the duke had invested in educating his pages, although there were some noblemen who thought it a waste of time. “There’s no one better in the land. If you become half the man he is, you’ll indeed do well.”

“I agree.” Sir Bennet was only a hand’s span away. His gaze traveled languidly around my face, feasting on my features. When he reached my nose, he paused, lifted his fingers, and brushed at my skin.

Even though his touch was light and innocent, it made my stomach tremble.

“The rumors didn’t lie to us,” he spoke softly. “You’re the fairest in the land, my lady. Even with a smudge of dirt on your nose.” His smile — ?revealing even, white teeth — ?made his noble face devastatingly handsome and lit up his eyes.

There was a hint of magnetism about his natural dark looks that would turn the head of any young lady. While he certainly had distracted me now, would he continue to hold my attention over time? Or would it take more than outward appearances to draw me to a man?

I searched his face. Was he the one who had rescued the criminals and come to me in the chapel last night?

The question rested at the tip of my tongue, but when he thrust out his hand from behind his back and held out a bouquet of wildflowers of the most stunning display of colors, the question fled.

“I found them during our hunt,” he said. “And their beauty reminded me of yours.”

I took them and breathed in their fragrance, letting the array tickle my lips. “Thank you, Sir Bennet. They’re lovely.”

“As you gaze on them today, I hope they’ll remind you of me.”

I fingered one of the silky petals. “I’ll think on you, sir,” I said somewhat breathlessly.

And as he bowed and left me with another one of his heart-stopping smiles, I realized I would indeed have no trouble keeping my promise to him.





Chapter

6




I slipped through the gardens toward the back of the keep, hoping to enter the castle undetected. I would need a bath to wash away the dirt and grime of my gardening before I was presentable to the knights. As I walked, I pressed the bouquet from Sir Bennet to my nose and breathed in deep. Delight rippled through me — ?whether from the flowers or from my encounter with the handsome knight, I knew naught.

All I knew was that my interactions with the men were affecting me more than I’d anticipated.

“Lady Rosemarie, wait,” came a voice from near the well. I turned to find Sir Collin striding across the edge of the courtyard toward me by way of the stables. He wove through squires and servants busy at work and dodged hens and geese that flapped about the inner bailey. His hair gleamed in the summer sun, turning it the pale gold of ripened wheat. He was not quite as striking as Sir Bennet, but his face was just as pleasant to look on.

The duke’s claim yesterday had been no exaggeration. He had brought three very fine suitors. He was determined to give me the chance to fall in love, as he believed my parents had wanted.

“Oh, fairest one,” Sir Collin said, falling to one knee before me and bowing his head.

I couldn’t keep from smiling at his theatrics.

“I have been searching for you high and low, through city and state, even to the sun and back.” He peered up at me with his dancing green eyes.

“Have you now? Then ’twould seem you have neglected to look for me in one of my favorite spots in all the world.” I was surprised at how easily I bantered with him.

“What a fool am I,” he said, taking in my bouquet and playing along with me. “How could I have neglected the gardens in my search for the Rose among roses?”

Should I hide the bouquet behind my back? Surely Sir Collin would know one of his friends had bestowed it upon me.

But seemingly indifferent to the flowers, he held out his hand. “For you, my lady.”

I opened my palm and he laid an exquisite diamond pin there — ?a pin in the shape of a spiraling rose. “A small token of my affection,” he said more seriously, his eyes turning a darker forest green.