My Noble Knight (20 page)

Griffin opened his mouth and then closed it. Humiliated? He had never meant… His jaw tightened… Had she been with Ethan? How could she not? He was handsome and fun. Like Richard. He bowed his head, and searched the ground as if for an answer. He had said horrible things to her, things his father had said to him. Things he could not take back. He was not worthy of her. He didn’t want her to go. But he could never make her stay. “Make your choice,” he said to her and turned away.

L
ayne watched him go, miserably
alone standing amongst her brothers. She raced after Griffin and demanded, “I would know only one thing before I make my decision.”

Griffin stopped, but did not turn to her.

“Did you kiss any of those women?”

It seemed like he winced, but she couldn’t be certain. Finally, he turned to her. There was such agony in his eyes that she wanted to throw her arms around him and hold him, but she stood stone still.

“Layne,” he whispered, sighing her name as if it were a cry of pain. “Those women mean nothing to me. I was expected to be there amongst the nobility. I was expected to be there for the ceremony. I didn’t want you to go because I knew… I knew how those noble women acted. I knew they would throw themselves at me. I am a precious commodity, a very eligible knight. They want me to pick a bride. But I want none of them.”

Her gaze scanned his face.

He looked at the ground. “No. I did not kiss any of them.”

Relief welled up inside her. She believed him, because she wanted to or because she knew he wouldn’t lie, she wasn’t sure. She wanted him to tell her he wanted her with him. She wanted him to laugh and smile. But he was so tortured and anguished she knew he would do nothing.

Griffin turned and walked across the field.

She wasn’t even sure he knew what he wanted.

“I don’t want you with him any longer,” Colin ordered from behind her. “I will take Ethan’s loan.”

Ethan joined them. “I’ve never seen him act like that before. He’s usually so in control.”

She said nothing as Griffin vanished back into the dark. She could never be what he needed her to be. She didn’t belong with those other ladies. She didn’t belong in fine dresses and perfumed hair. She walked toward the tent. He could never present her to his family, because she had unhorsed him. And she couldn't change that.

“Layne!” Colin called from behind her.

But she didn’t stop. She needed to think. She needed to clear her head. She needed to decide what to do.

Griffin didn’t sleep. He kept waiting for her to walk into the tent. But she never did. He imagined Ethan’s hands on her body, his lips kissing her. Like Jacquelyn. Women were not to be trusted. But somehow, this betrayal ran deeper than Jacquelyn’s. He had believed Layne was honorable, that she would never do something like that.

When he awoke, the Fletcher tent was gone. He stared at the empty spot for a very long time. An incredible feeling of longing and sadness gripped him.

It was for the best, he told himself. She was becoming a distraction. All that was important was winning the tournament. And he would have enough on his mind with his family at the next tournament at Woodstock.

But somehow, he couldn’t quite get his mind over the fact that she was gone.

L
ayne picked up the flasks
and extra pieces of bread her brothers had left after breaking their fast, then paused, staring at them. It hadn’t been her duty to pick up after them before she was in Griffin’s care. With her brothers, everyone cleaned up after themselves. There were no assigned duties; they all helped out with everything. She sat back on her heels. Now, it had just become habit. Yes. Griffin had taught her much. Organization mostly. He was so neat, whereas her brothers were not. But he also taught her heartache. He could do so much better than her. He deserved to marry someone beautiful.

But more than that, she missed him terribly. It was a long moment before she realized she had stopped working and was blankly staring at the bread she held in her hand. She glanced up to find Colin watching her from his seated position across the campfire. She quickly looked away from him.

“You think I was wrong to accept Ethan’s loan?” he asked.

Layne shrugged. “It doesn’t matter where the loan came from. A debt is a debt.” She picked up a bone from the morning meal and placed it into a pot.

“Are you actually cleaning up?”

“We don’t want wild animals coming into the camp. I’ll just toss these droppings into the forest.”

“Did he hurt you?”

Colin’s question startled her. “No.” She shook her head. “He didn’t until… Well, you were there.”

“Others have said you were less than lady-like before. It never bothered you.”

“That’s not what bothered me,” she confessed. Her throat closed and she bowed her head to concentrate on her task.

Colin shook his head and leaned forward. “Then what, Layne? The way he spoke to you…”

“He never used that tone before. It was like… like he was embarrassed of me.”

“What difference does that make? What should it matter to you what he thinks of you?”

She lifted her gaze to him and he wavered before her eyes. “It does matter.”

Alarmed, Colin climbed to his feet. “What is it?”

She looked away again. “I just… admire him. I just think he is a skilled… knight.”

Colin was beside her. “Oh, Layne. You didn’t… you didn’t fall in love with him, did you?”

She let out an exasperated breath and vehemently shook her head. “No,” she insisted. “No, not at all.” But she knew the words were to convince herself as well as Colin.

“Layne,” Colin groaned. He reached down and stroked her hair.

She shrugged him off. “Don’t treat me like a little sister. You know I hate that.”

He knelt before her. “But you are my little sister.”

She looked up at him and the tears wouldn’t be denied. She pressed her face into his shoulder.

His arms went around her.

“He doesn’t like me.” It was the lamest excuse. And it didn’t even touch on the truth, but it was all she could mutter.

Colin stroked her back. “Then he doesn’t know what he’s missing.”

She let him soothe her for a moment, then nodded and wiped at her eyes. She sat back. “We have to concentrate on winning this joust,” she said. “We don’t have time to think about Griffin.”

“You’re wrong. He’s won the last three tournaments we’ve been in. He is
all
we should be thinking about.”

Layne softly grunted and began to pick up more of the bones on the ground. “If Frances would take his practices more seriously.”

Colin narrowed his eyes. “You were around Wolfe for a while. Did you watch any of his practices?”

Layne nodded. “Just one. It wasn’t very lady-like to want to watch the practices. Or so he said.” She wiped the remainder of her tears away.

“Did you see anything?”

Layne looked up at Colin in confusion.

“Any flaw? Anything we could take advantage of?”

Layne thought back to the practice she watched. She thought of the way Griffin’s blonde hair glimmered like gold beneath the moonlight. She thought of the rippling power in his arms, the expert way he handled his horse. “He was amazing,” she whispered. “He knows his skill well. And he is strong…” She met Colin’s gaze. “He splintered the quintain. It was unbelieveable.”

Colin nodded. “You told me. But what else? Think Layne. He has to have a weakness. No man is perfect at every aspect of jousting.”

Layne shrugged. “If I saw something, so would another opponent. If he has a weakness, he hides it well.”

“How did you beat him?”

Layne sighed softly. “At first I thought it was me.” She shook her head. “But someone cut his leather stirrup. Someone tried to sabotage him.”

Colin put a hand on her shoulder. “You do understand that we have to win this tournament. This is our last chance.”

“I know,” Layne whispered. “I know.”

Tents dotted the Woodstock hillside. The castle rose in the distance, a large wall of stone surrounding it. Griffin had Carlton set up camp as close to the forest as he could. He knew the Fletchers would be there. And he knew Layne was still in danger from the other knights who disapproved of her. Disapproved. He grunted as the word that came to mind. At least they didn’t humiliate her. Griffin scanned the hillside, but didn’t see her tent.

Carlton walked up to him. “The tent is set up. The horses are resting comfortably.”

Then it was time to enter the lists. Griffin moved up the hillside, through the competitors’ pavilions. There were more colorful tents here than at any other tournament he had attended all year. He skirted knights, nodding his head in greeting, as he made his way toward Woodstock Castle. Laughter and the clang of metal against metal rang out. “Have you seen my brother yet?”

Carlton shook his head. “He’s probably in the palace.”

Griffin narrowed his eyes and looked toward the field of honor. More likely prancing around on the field, displaying his prowess.

“She is near the forest.”

Griffin swung his gaze to Carlton.

“Layne. She and her brothers have set up camp near the forest, around the bend from our tent.”

Griffin stared at Carlton for a long moment. How had he known what he was thinking? Carlton had squired for him for years. The boy knew him well. Perhaps too well. Griffin nodded.

Carlton’s face softened. Was that sympathy in the boy’s eyes?

Griffin faced the wind, feeling the breeze pushing his locks from his face, and pretended that relief didn’t surge in his body. She wasn’t with Ethan. She was with her family. He took a deep breath and continued toward the castle.

“Your father is at the castle.”

Griffin stopped so abruptly that Carlton slammed into his back. He whirled on his squire. “My father is here?”

Carlton nodded. “And your sister.”

“God’s blood!” Griffin muttered and looked at the looming castle. It was a trap! He had guessed they would be here, but to hear it was actually so... Every instinct inside of him demanded he run. His entire family, here. Looking for him, no doubt. He had made no attempt to avoid them or to hide from them. They knew where he was and what he was doing. But this... This felt different. It felt like they were descending on him like lions on a hunt. He knew it would only be time before they cornered him. But that didn’t make facing them any less daunting. He had only this joust to win to prove to his father, nay all of them, that he didn’t need them and had no intention of returning.