My Noble Knight (24 page)

“Can you relax?”

He shook his head.

She stroked his head, brushing his damp hair from his forehead. “Try.”

He opened his eyes to look at her. For a moment, their gazes locked and held. She had missed him and his arrogance. But mostly she had missed his calm reassurance and his insatiable confidence. His heated glances and gentle touches. His…

Layne tore her gaze from his. She needed to fix his shoulder, another thing she was sure he would not approve of, before the idiot physicians rushed in to leech him to death. She sat beside him, facing him. She placed her feet between his arm and his torso. “This is going to hurt.”

Griffin’s mouth dropped. Then he snapped it closed. “Do you know what you are doing?”

“I find that insulting. Do you really think I would risk your well being?”

“You do want your brother to win.”

Layne carefully moved his arm so it was stretched out away from his body, toward her.

He grit his teeth as she moved it.

Then she paused, giving him a moment to relax. Her hands wrapped around his wrist.

He opened his eyes to look at her. “That wasn’t too bad.”

“No,” she agreed and suddenly yanked his arm toward her as hard as she could, bracing herself against him with her feet.

He threw his head back and a cry of agony ripped from his lips.

Layne heard the popping noise. She released him just as the tent flap was thrown open and Carlton entered, followed by two physicians.

Layne stood quickly.

The physicians went to Griffin’s side immediately, eyeing her with distrust.

Carlton glanced at her unsurely and then at Griffin.

Layne watched the physicians poke and prod him like a piece of cattle. He fended off their explorations with both hands and Layne grinned. He would be fine. She backed toward the exit.

“Out!” Griffin finally hollered.

Layne made her escape, the physicians quickly following. As she moved away from the tent, she saw a tall blonde man heading toward the tent. She thought he was the lord sponsoring the tournament, but she couldn’t be sure. He was accompanied by a stunning woman with golden hair. She noticed the woman was looking at her, watching her. They locked gazes for a moment before the woman followed the lord into Griffin’s tent.

Griffin shot to his feet. He jerked forward to go after Layne.

Richard swept the flap aside and entered. “Well done, brother!”

Griffin grimaced, trying to see past him to Layne. Instead, he met his sister’s gaze. He was trapped. He moved back into the pavilion, allowing them reluctant entrance.

“Yes, I was amazed at…” Gwen’s voice trailed off and a frown of worry marred her brow. “Have you been hurt?”

Griffin realized he was still cradling his arm. His shoulder burned and throbbed. Carefully, he clenched his fist. There was only minimal pain, nothing like the brutal agony he had been feeling moments before.

“Griffin?” Richard asked in the same demanding tone that his father used.

Griffin ignored him and carefully lifted his arm. There was still some pain, but definitely not like before. He could use his arm again. He glanced at the flap. Whatever Layne had done had worked! He felt a twist of guilt clenching his stomach. At every turn, she was trying to help him. It just didn’t make any sense. Why would she help him? Where was her loyalty to Ethan? What about her brothers? If she hoped they would win, then why not leave him wounded and hurt?

“Obviously, the only thing that was hurt was your senses,” Richard said. “I joust later this afternoon with –”

Richard went on, but Griffin wasn’t listening. He swung his gaze back to look at the tent flap and caught Gwen’s stare. There was a strange smile on her lips as she stared at him.

Gwen ducked outside, leaving her brothers to speak of their upcoming jousts. She found Carlton at the side of the tent brushing Adonis. He was a charming young man who would make a fine knight when the time came. She patted his shoulder. “I’m so impressed with Griffin,” Gwen said.

Carlton nodded. “Sir Griffin is doing marvelously in the tournaments. He is the most skilled and talented of all the knights. He takes the tourneys very seriously. He practices all the time.”

Gwen smiled. “He’s always been like that. Maybe too seriously. Every knight needs to have time off.”

Carlton shook his head. “With all due respect, m’lady, Sir Griffin would not win if he didn’t practice relentlessly. He will practice for today for his jousts on the morrow.”

Gwen nodded as Carlton ran a brush across Adonis’s coat. “Yes. There are many here who will be a test to his skill.”

“Sir Griffin thinks his biggest challenge will be Sir Osmont.”

“Sir Osmont? I believe I've heard the name.”

Carlton brushed down Adonis’s neck. “They have a past.”

“Past?”

“Well…” Carlton stopped combing the horse. He looked over his shoulder at her. “Sir Griffin has often told me that gossip is not a knightly way.”

“But Griffin is my brother!” Gwen protested. “I have every right to know.”

Carlton looked down with his brow furrowed. “And I would hate to upset you.” With a sigh he looked up. “Sir Griffin humiliated Sir Osmont the last time they jousted. He unhorsed him in one pass and made him yield.”

Gwen’s eye brows rose in shock. “They crossed swords?”

“Oh, yes,” Carlton whispered, barely able to contain his excitement. “Sir Osmont deserved everything he got, if you ask me. He hurt Layne while she was under Sir Griffin’s protection and cut off two fingers of her brother’s hand.”

“Layne? Who is Layne?”

“Only the most brilliant woman I have ever met.” His eyes widened in shock and his mouth dropped. He bowed slightly. “Next to you, of course, m’lady.”

Gwen’s smile was genuine. She did like Carlton. “Who is she?”

“Sir Griffin intervened on her behalf, saving her from the dungeon by loaning her brother’s coin to pay off her fine.” Adonis threw his head and whinnied. Carlton turned back to the animal to continue brushing him.

That sounded like Griffin. Off to rescue another maiden. “Locked in the dungeon. That is severe. Is she still under Griffin’s protection?”

Carlton shrugged, running the brush over Adonis’s back. “Nay. She is with her brothers now. Their tent is over there. It’s the Fletcher tent.”

Gwen gazed in the direction of the Fletcher tent. Layne Fletcher. This was a woman she had to meet. “What did she do to be so punished?”

Carlton faltered in brushing Adonis. “I --” He furrowed his brow in thought. “She dressed up as a knight and jousted.”

“Shocking!” Gwen exclaimed, but inside she was intrigued. Griffin had saved this girl even though she defied decorum.

“I only tell you because it is common knowledge. I don’t think it is appropriate to gossip.”

“We are just talking, Carlton. This is not gossiping. And, as you said, that is common knowledge.” But not to her. Nor to Richard. Griffin had been a very busy man since he had been away. “Is she the one that is sabotaging him?”

“What?” Carlton almost dropped the brush. He fumbled with it for a moment, before righting it. “No! Layne would never --”

“So, it is true! Someone is trying to sabotage my brother.”

Carlton’s shoulders drooped as he opened his mouth and then closed it.

Gwen felt sorry for the boy. Duped by a woman. It was all so easy. She placed a hand on his shoulder. “I didn’t hear it from you.” But she had heard enough from him; she had heard everything she wanted to know.

A
fter a long day of
jousts, many had been defeated. Many were left. Osmont, Richard and both of Layne’s brothers had achieved victory in their contests and had made it to the next day’s jousts.

When Griffin walked into the Great Hall for the evening meal, he heard Richard’s roar of laughter. He spotted his brother and Prince Edward sitting on the dais at the front of the hall, closest to the hearth. Jacquelyn sat beside Richard, with Gwen beside her. His father was nowhere to be seen. Of that, Griffin was grateful. His father had appeared too sickly to come down to the feast.

Griffin clenched and unclenched his hand. It was remarkable how quickly his shoulder had healed after Layne had worked her magic on him. It was tender and sore as if he had received a bad blow, which he had, but he could move it. It should offer no deterrent to winning the joust on the morrow.

Griffin caught himself looking around the room, his gaze swept past the tables of knights and nobles, past all the women. He caught himself with a sigh of disappointment. She won't be here. He was surprised he had been looking for Layne. He inhaled deeply. She was probably in her tent with her brothers. She had helped him. Even though he had insulted and humiliated her. A pain tightened in his chest. He pushed the thought aside and made his way to the head table; many knights called his name to congratulate him on his victory. He nodded in return. There was a different feel to this joust. He was the brother of the sponsor and was expected to act in a certain way. He couldn’t help feeling more like a host than a participant. He knew he was expected to sit with his family and part of him was glad he would not have to contend with the women nobles pleading with him to sit beside them.

Gwen spotted him and turned a smile to him as he made his way up the long aisle to the table.

As Griffin neared the dais, he spotted Talvace speaking to Prince Edward. The long, lanky knight leaned over the table to toward the prince. “It truly is amazing that a man who could so easily be unhorsed is expected to win the tournament.”

“Perhaps he can now answer for himself,” Edward said, indicating Griffin with a wave of his hand.

Talvace whirled to him. His eyes grew wide and then narrowed. “Yes! Tell them of the first time you were unhorsed.”

Trepidation slithered through Griffin. "I find it interesting you should be telling the story when you were not there.”

“No. No, I wasn’t. Perhaps my facts are wrong. Tell us. Was it really a woman that unhorsed you?” Talvace wondered.

All those close enough to hear Talvace’s statement turned to Griffin. He wanted to wring the scrawny man’s neck. “There is really nothing to tell. I was unhorsed. Every knight is unhorsed at least once in his lifetime. Some more than others. Isn’t that right, Talvace? Perhaps you should be telling the tale of your disqualification.”

Talvace ground his teeth, glaring at Griffin.

Griffin made his way around the table to an empty chair beside Gwen.

Richard leaned forward to see Griffin. “Is it true? Was it a woman who unhorsed you?”

Griffin nodded.

Again, Richard roared with laughter. “What happened? Did she cheat? Did she have a longer lance than you?”

“No. She abided by the rules of the joust.”

“All except one,” Talvace said. “I heard she took her brother’s place.”

Silence spread across the dais as every eye turned to him.

Griffin tried to remain relaxed as he reached for his ale. Why couldn’t they let it go? “She paid her dues,” Griffin insisted. "She is of no concern any longer.”

“No concern?” Richard boomed. “She is remarkable. The only one who has ever unhorsed my brother!”