A Knight's Vow by Lindsay Townsend Read Free Book Online

“And how
would he know what was due to you, my lady? Given the
manner of your dress?”
    Aware that the stranger was now smirking, Alyson lost her
temper completely. “If I dress discreetly that is my choice! As
for dues, if I was a serf I would still be owed courtesy and
gentleness from this knight. You train your people very ill!”
    She turned to leave, but Guillelm overtook her after only two
steps. “In here” He half-guided, half-carried her into the stables, not stopping until they had reached an empty stall. “Now,
my lady Alyson.” He barred the stall entrance with his own
body. “You will go to your chamber as I have requested. This
is the second time you have been mistaken for a little serving
maid by one of my men and it must not happen again. I do not
wish to see you in this yard or anywhere in this castle, until you
are dressed in a manner more fitting to your station and to me”

    That was all he cared about-how she reflected on him,
Alyson thought, her mind fizzing with fury at his words, his
insulting reference to her as a “little serving maid,” and his
earlier action, where he had drawn her ahead of him into the
stables as if she were no more than a handcart. She was still
more concerned with what he had just told her about the
knight who had almost beaten her.
    “That seneschal of yours-is such a person to replace Sericus, who is worth twice of him?” she demanded.
    “Be at peace, my lady. They will work together, or I will know
the reasons why not,” rumbled Guillelm, his face in shadow.
    “I hope you are right, my lord,” she answered, angry and
alarmed for Sericus and still smarting over what had almost
happened. “He should have known I was of gentle birth from
the manner of my speech!”
    Guillelm frowned but somehow looked less forbidding.
“Yes, I am surprised myself that he did not recognize your
true station from that,” he admitted grudgingly. “Unlike
Thierry from last night, Fulk speaks English well and if he
had listened properly he should have known at once”
    He shook his head, his lips shaping into a rueful smile.
“But then, my lady, we both know that I myself mistook you
for a maid, and that even after you had spoken to me °”
    “Then you did not listen properly, either!” Alyson retorted,
furious afresh at his admitting this and blushing as she remembered their kiss.
    He touched the shoulder of her plain brown gown with a
fingertip. “It is the woman we see first-“
    “I will dress as I please!”
    “And how will it be for our formal betrothal ceremony tomorrow?” he asked with dangerous mildness. “Will you
appear in beige, in undyed homespun?”
    “No! I ” Alyson had not forgotten the ceremony, but hearing Guillelm speak of it brought their betrothal, and eventual marriage, that much closer. Suddenly, she felt dizzy, lightheaded. She pressed a hand to her stomach, glad she had eaten
no breakfast. For an instant, she could not say if she was pleased
or terrified at the prospect, but then she caught a lost, almost
haunted look flicker across Guillelm’s face. At once, a great
surge of protectiveness rushed through her-she had called him
dragon and now if she could she would slay dragons for him.

    “I will not shame you,” she said tartly, using irritation as a
shield to hide these feelings as part of her wished to comfort
him as she had as a girl, by flinging herself about his neck and
hugging him tightly. “You will have no further cause to reproach me ””
    “Mother of God!” Guillelm folded his arms and took several deep breaths, clearly trying to control his temper. In a
gentler, more careful way, he asked, “Why are you in such
plain attire, Alyson, as if in training for the convent?”
    She had been, many years earlier, and the strictures of the
nuns against worldly vanity and needless show were lessons she
found hard to shake off, Alyson thought, touched by his use of
her name. There was