KIND EYES AND A
LION’S HEART
CHAPTER ONE
PART FIVE
“Viola!
There you are and about time, too!” Lady Anne declared as Viola hurried
into her bedchamber to dress for the feast that evening.
Her
Aunt Anne was always well and expensively attired, and never more so than when
they were hosting a tournament. Today
she wore a gown of deep green wool with a belt of soft leather wrapped twice
around her narrow waist. Covering her
graying hair she wore an embroidered cap over a short veil and a barbette around
her chin. The ruched sleeves of her
shift were visible inside the wide cuffs of the gown, and tassels at the end of
the belt reached nearly to the floor.
Two maidservants stood mutely by the window waiting to help Viola
dress.
“Look at you!” her aunt continued with
dismay. “What are you thinking, going
about in that servant’s garb? Anybody
who saw you would think you were a
servant!”
“You’d
be more upset if I got blood on one of my better gowns,” Viola calmly and
truthfully noted. She was used to her
aunt’s overly emotional declarations and she really was sure her aunt would be
upset if she got blood on any of her other gowns.
“You
shouldn’t even be in that tent!” Lady
Anne went on, her hands fluttering nervously.
“A lady like you dealing with wounded men and blood. It’s not seemly! I shouldn’t allow it! Next time I won’t! If there is
a next time and you’re not already married, as you should be. Look at you – twenty and still a
spinster! People are talking, I’m sure
of it!”
Viola
paid little heed to her aunt’s anxious declarations as she washed her face and
hands. Lady Anne has been voicing the
same complaints and making the same threats for years now.
This
time, though, Viola had a response prepared.
“I meet some of the men participating in the tournament in that
tent. For instance, today I met Lord
Barengar de Morraine.”
Her
aunt gasped and clasped her hands in a prayerful attitude, her eyes widening
with delight. “Lord Barengar de
Morraine? He’s the most eligible knight
here!” Her delight died in a
moment. “And you were wearing those rags!”
“He
didn’t seem to be paying much attention to my gown,” Viola noted, although that
wasn’t exactly true. Her dress had no
doubt been the reason he’d assumed she was a servant and treated her with such
disrespect.
Unlike
his cousin, that other young man with the kind eyes and lovely deep voice who
blushed so readily and who was so concerned about his squire. As for swooning, Sir Melvin wasn’t the only
man who was disturbed by broken bones and blood. If only more noblemen were! And if only more were less like his arrogant,
leering cousin.
“What
did Lord Barengar say to you? Does he
know who you are?”
“He
introduced himself and yes, Aunt, I made certain he knows who I am.”
Not
in a way to encourage his attentions, but Lady Anne didn’t need to know
that.
Her
aunt clapped her hands with sudden decision.
“Mary, Alice,” she said to the serving maids, “you must do your absolute
best tonight! Thank goodness we had that
new gown made. You must wear your
emeralds, too, Viola. And for the love
of all that’s holy and your hope of a good match, do not treat Lord Barengar like a dolt. You have to be sweet and docile if you’re to
get a husband.”
“Yes,
Aunt,” Viola replied, pretending to be sweet and docile. That was easy enough to do with Aunt
Anne. Unfortunately, she found it almost
impossible when she was among noblemen.
She
would rather spend her life unmarried than wed to someone like Lord Barengar de
Morraine. She had her aunt’s own unhappy
marriage to serve as a warning about a union made for power or gain or social
standing.
“Come
along, Viola, get out of those horrid clothes,” her aunt ordered. “I leave her in your hands, Mary. I must see about changing the seating
arrangements. Lord Barengar – what a
triumph such a match would be!” she cried as she hurried from the room.
What
a disaster it would be, Viola thought as she submitted to the
maidservants. Nor was she anxious to sit
near the man for the feast.
She’d much rather sit beside his bashful
cousin.
Chapter Two begins on June 8.
This work is protected by copyright. See sidebar for notice.
Note: This novella is
PG13. With the exception of GWYNETH ANDTHE THIEF and THE WASTREL, my books are usually steamier.
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