My Valiant Knight by Hannah Howell Page B

sir, doesna really matter.” She returned to staring out at the countryside and tensed when he moved closer to her, his body brushing against hers all along one side as he lightly stroked her hair.
    “But it does matter. I do not know you well, Ainslee MacNairn, but I did feel that you were an honest woman.”
    “I have told ye no lies.”
    “Nay, but you have told me few truths either.”
    “Weel, here is a truth. Someone approaches and ’tisna my kinsmen.”
    He tensed, stared at the riders moving toward Bellefleur at a slow, steady pace, and moved away. Ainslee felt the chill of his leaving immediately, and knew it was not just from the removal of his warm body. He had retreated from her in every way. She looked more closely at the riders, trying to discern the reason for his almost complete withdrawal. In the midst of the riders was a small horse-drawn cart. Within the cart sat several women, one of them clearly a wellborn lady. Ainslee recognized the party as the Frasers, one of her father’s many enemies and the most ardent.
    There were two reasons for the Frasers to travel to Bellefleur. One was to ally themselves with Gabel against her father, but the wellborn women of the clan did not often join such a venture, especially not at this time of the year. The other was to attempt to bind the two families together through a marriage. Ainslee had the sinking feeling that the lady in the cart was going to be offered as a possible bride for Gabel.
    Ainslee was torn between fury and disgust. She had harbored no illusions about Gabel’s attempts to seduce her, although the depth of her hurt indicated that she might not have been as free of romantic self-deception as she had thought. For Gabel to try and draw her into his bed even as he courted a bride was not only infuriatingly arrogant of him, it was deeply insulting. If she was right and this was a candidate for a bride entering through the heavy gates of Bellefleur, then it was indisputable proof that Gabel de Amalville had a very low opinion of her. He really did see her as no more than someone to dally with then cast aside, as no more than some common hedgerow whore, for it was evident that he did not treat every wellborn Scottish lady the same.
    “I believe I will return to my bedchamber,” she said as she headed down the steps, desperate to get away from him for fear he would read the turmoil she suffered in her eyes.
    “You do not wish to meet the Frasers?” Gabel asked as he quickly followed her.
    Ainslee wondered what would happen if she pushed the fool off the walls. She could not believe he wanted to introduce his intended leman to his intended bride. “This particular Fraser loathes my clan. I dinna believe he would be pleased to see me.”
    Despite her best efforts to reach the safety of her bedchamber before Colin Fraser or his people saw her, Ainslee found herself trapped in the bailey as her clan’s deadliest enemies arrived. She tried to hide behind Gabel as he shook hands with Lord Fraser and greeted the man’s daughter, a dark buxom beauty named Margaret. Ainslee knew her pathetic attempt to hide until she could flee to her room had failed when Lord Fraser glared at her.
    “What is one of those MacNairns doing here?” Fraser demanded.
    “She is a prisoner,” Gabel replied. “I am discussing her ransom with her father even now.”
    “Ye let a prisoner walk about freely? Especially one of those treacherous MacNairns? Ye should lock the bitch in chains, or ye will soon find a knife sticking in your back.”
    “At least MacNairns dinna smile sweetly at a mon whilst using lies, the law, and the king to rid ourselves of him,” Ainslee snapped, glaring right back at the burly man.
    “Your father has never obeyed a law in his whole miserable life, so ’tis sure he wouldna ken what ones to use to his advantage. And he certainly canna even go near the king or he will swiftly be hanged for the thieving dog he is.”
    “Enough,” Gabel said