A Dishonorable Knight (38 page)

Cynan's craggy face and lopsided grin
greeted her as his rumbling voice said, "Good morning."

"Good morning," she
returned, refusing to even consider that the sinking sensation in her stomach
was disappointment. She could, after all, live without the man.

"Gareth asked me to take you to
your seamstress's shop to pick up your dress."

"Where is he?"

"He and his father went to
gather another horse and buy supplies for your trip. Worry not," he said
with a grin, "I reminded him, 'No dried beef!'"

Elena smiled and rolled her eyes.
"As if I'll be so lucky." Stepping into the hall, she led the way
through the shop and out the front door.

"Would you like to eat before we
go?" Cynan said, walking quickly to catch up to her.

"Do you jest? I've a new gown
awaiting me!"

"I should have known that would
be a woman's response. You wouldn't, by any chance, know where we are going,
would you?"

"You don't?" Elena paused
in the narrow street.

"Do you jest?" he asked,
imitating her tone.

"Is it a national trait that the
Welsh are completely lost when it comes to directions?"

Cynan laughed and held his hands up
in denial. "I could find my way across every mountain range in Wales and
let you know exactly when and where the sun was going to set. It's just when
you put a poor mountain boy in a town, he has no way to judge his surroundings.
For example, look at this row of houses." Elena obliged. "They all
look exactly alike. But each tree is different, each rock has it's own
shape,
each stream has its own path. No," he finished,
shaking his head. "I can not be held accountable for finding my way in the
city."

Elena laughed. "Luckily for us,
I know where we are going. And, no, I don't think those houses all look exactly
alike. That one there has blue trim while the one next to it has rough wood.
The third one down only has one window on the street."

Cynan acceded with a gallant bow.
"Very well, you are the true trailblazer, I am merely a stupid shepherd
who belongs in the field with his flock."

In good conscience, Elena forced
herself to admit, "No, no. To me, every tree looks just like the one
before it, every rock is simply a rock and every stream is just wet. It's all
just a matter of perspective, I suppose."

"You are too kind, my lady. In
that case, lead on!"

Elena found the seamstress's shop
much easier this time and she called out for Annie as soon as she entered the
empty downstairs room. Once again, Oengus came tumbling down the stairs to ask
them to please, "Come dupstairs."

The previously tidy room was
considerably messier on this visit. Dirty pots were stacked haphazardly on the
rough table in the kitchen and a pile of mending or laundry was heaped on a
chair. Oengus's few wooden toys were strewn about the floor. Surprised, Elena
glanced around for Annie and found her seated at her worktable, breaking a
thread with her teeth on what looked to be the cream-colored chemise.

When Annie realized she had visitors,
she stood abruptly, her face reddening as she smiled feebly. "Good
morning, my lady. Please forgive my house," she pleaded. "I'm afraid
I tend to let things go when I have a project."

Never fond of cleaning herself, Elena
shrugged with a complete lack of concern. "It does not bother me."
Pointing at the fabric in Annie's hands, she asked, "Is that mine?"

"Oh yes. I was just finishing
the hem. I've finished the overgown as well."

"You had enough time then?"
Elena shook her head and laughed. "Obviously you had enough time. What I
meant to say was I hope you didn't have to rush unduly."

"No, my lady. It was just the
right amount of time."

"Very good. I would like to try
it on, then."

"Of course, my lady.
Oengus," she called. When the young boy came running from the corner in
which he'd been playing, she gestured to Cynan. "Take, er--"

Elena smiled. She had been here three
times with as many men. Poor Annie must be wondering exactly what kind of woman
she was! "Another brother," she said in order to rest the young
woman's mind, though for the life of her, she didn't know what possessed her to
bother.

Annie's countenance immediately cleared,
but before she could instruct her son, the little boy, used to the routine by
now, took Cynan's hand and led him out. "C'mon. We can't be here while
lady changes."

Cynan paused at the doorway and took
a leather pouch out of his shirt. Tossing it to Elena he said, "Gareth
gave me the money for the dress."

Elena caught the heavy pouch and
nodded. As soon as the door closed, she began struggling out of her cotehardie.
When she had finally pulled it and her tattered chemise over her head, she
threw them in a heap on the floor. When Annie rushed to pick up the discarded
garments, Elena said, "You can burn those for all I care."

"Oh no, my lady, this is a
beautiful gown."

Elena began pulling on the new
chemise. "The gown is filthy and the chemise near threadbare."

"But my lady, 'tis still in good
condition. I could get these spots out, for you'll need it on your journey,
won't you?"

"If you can salvage it, you keep
it. I am so heartily sick of the sight of it that I will not wear it ever
again. We seem of a like size. I'm sure it will fit you. Now, where is my
houppeland?"

"Here, my lady," Annie
said, unhooking the wool dress from where it hung on a peg on the wall. Annie
handed it to Elena for inspection.

"Very well done, Annie,"
Elena said approvingly. The work was truly that of an expert seamstress and
Elena had not seen better quality in the finest shops in London or from the
handiest of maids in court. Heedless of Annie's flush of pleasure and sheepish
smile, Elena handed her the gown and dove under the hem. Annie lowered the
dress over her head, tugging the full skirt into place. She deftly closed the
laces up the back while Elena folded back the broad cuffs of the bagpipe
sleeves to show the ruffled edge of the chemise.

Elena ran her hands over the soft
wool, smoothing the collar of the dress and fluffing out the skirt. "I
wish you had a mirror that I might see how this looked from afar."

"I do have one, my lady. 'Tis
not large, but I think if I hold it at different angles for you, you should be
able to see everything." Annie rushed to a large chest of drawers and
pulled out a mirror set in an intricately carved wooden frame. "This was
my mother's. She gave it to me before we left Scotland." She pointed to a
small crack in the corner of the mirror. "This happened as we journeyed
here, but otherwise it survived." She climbed up onto a small stool and
tilted the mirror until Elena was able to see every angle of her new gown.

"It's wonderful, Annie. You have
done an exceptional job." Picking up the leather pouch of money, she
asked, "Now, what was the price we had decided upon?"

Annie shyly told her but hastily
added, "Unless that is too much since you are giving me this gown as
well."

Had Annie been a wily London
merchant, Elena would have pounced on the idea and talked the price of the gown
down considerably. But for some reason, Elena found herself saying, "No,
Annie. You slaved over this gown for the past three days. What you should be
telling me is that you are charging me more for the inconvenience."

"Oh, no, my lady."

"Yes, Annie. This is why you've
let those old hens up the street steal your sign and run off your
customers--you're too nice of a person. Now look me in the eye and tell me that
you are simply going to have to charge me more."

"But--"

"Annie," Elena said in her
best important-lady-speaking-to-a-mere-servant voice.

The young seamstress's eyes widened
but she obeyed. "I'm sorry, my lady, but I'll have to ask two-pence more
for the gown."

"You'll never make any money
only asking for a two-pence. Now give me a real price."

Annie lowered her eyes and quoted a
price.

"Very well, if that is what I
must pay, that is what I must pay," said Elena, opening the leather pouch.
"Now, here is your price, plus some extra because I am well pleased with your
work. I would suggest you take some of that money and use it to fix up the
downstairs room and put a sign inside your window so it won't be stolen and
people will be able to find you. As it is now, from the street this looks like
an abandoned building."

Elena picked up her skirts daintily
and moved to leave. "Make those improvements soon, Annie. I will be
recommending to Samuel the weaver that he should send his customers to
you."

"You are the very soul of
kindness, my lady," Annie said sincerely, tears filling her eyes.

Elena paused in the doorway. She had
certainly never been called that. In fact, the other ladies of the court had
often called her unkind. She found she preferred being the soul of kindness,
especially when it took very little effort to achieve it. With a regal nod to
the seamstress, she swept down the stairs.

"Ooh, pretty, lady," young
Oengus said, stopping his roughhousing with Cynan.

Cynan hopped to his feet. "You
are indeed a vision, Lady Elena."

"Thank you. Good bye,
Oengus."

"Goobye," he said.

Once outside, Elena led the way back
towards Samuel's shop. "You and Bryant will return with Morgan to Eyri
Keep, then?"

"Aye, my lady. I'm missing Enid
fiercely. It seems harder to be away from her knowing she's carrying our
babe."

With
a sincerity
she truly felt, Elena said, "I will miss traveling with you and Bryant.
You both have treated me with the utmost courtesy."

Cynan laughed. "'Unlike our
surly friend Gareth, eh? You must pay him no mind, Elena. Gareth must be sorely
taken with you to act so rudely these past weeks."

Elena sensed Cynan could be a wealth
of information regarding Gareth's feelings if she could lead him in the right
direction. Slowing her pace so they would not reach Samuel's before she found
out what she wanted to know, she said innocently, "Gareth taken with
me?"

"Of course, we all are!"
Cynan said good-naturedly. "Why Bryant is so lovesick, he forgets to eat
unless I prod him. The only thing that has saved me is the fact that I am a
devoted husband. Were it not for my dear Enid, I would no doubt be as
melancholy as Bryant or as surly as Gareth."

Elena knew Bryant's feelings. They
were evident is his puppy eyes every time he looked at her. Cynan might as well
be her brother for her feelings toward him. What she wanted was details of
Gareth's feelings. "I don't agree with you about Gareth." It was one
of her best strategies, arguing just the opposite. Usually, she used the
technique when men said they loved her. If she protested, they would spend
their very breath proving to her that it was true. "I fear he can't stand
to be in the same room with me."

"No, no. That is not the case at
all. You see
,
Gareth usually treats all ladies with
the utmost respect. He takes his vows of chivalry very seriously."

Elena frowned. She did not want to
hear how well Gareth treated other women.

Cynan saw her frown and smiled as he
continued. "But Gareth cared not a whit about any of the women. In fact,
they interested him not the least. Then you come along and he is outright rude
to you. He claimed at first that it was because you were a self-centered,
uncaring little brat."

Elena's frown deepened. This was not
what she wanted to hear.

"Which of course you
aren't," Cynan quickly added. "But I interpreted that to mean that
you had snubbed his overture to you and it had cut him to the quick. That it
would hurt him could only mean he truly fancied you and rudeness was his only
defense."

That was a little more like it, Elena
thought. "But has he said aught of his true feelings to you?" she
asked and immediately cringed. That question was anything but subtle.

"Nary a word. But give me more
credit than Gareth, good lady. Though I may seem rough and crass, I can read my
friends well and I know what I have said is true." They walked in silence
for several seconds before Cynan spoke again. "Perhaps this is not an
appropriate subject for me to be discussing, especially since you will be
traveling alone with him for the next week. But you need not fear him, Lady
Elena. Gareth is, above all things, honorable. No matter what his feelings
toward you, he would never force himself upon you."

Elena considered their last bout of
lovemaking. No, if anything, she had forced herself on him. It was comical that
she should be pretending to Cynan that she was the demure and worried lady when
she was looking forward to being alone with Gareth for the very reason that she
wanted him to make love to her!

Searching for something to keep the
conversation going, she said, "Bryant believes otherwise."

"I know. But he is very jealous.
He is jealous that Gareth will get to spend time with you this next week while
he must return to Eyri Keep. Perhaps he also sees that Gareth is taken with you
and fears he will use this time with you to win your heart." Cynan paused.
"I'm sure you must find this entire conversation highly unusual. I'm not
even sure how it started." Elena looked at him blandly. "But I guess
what I am trying to say is this: should things not go as you might hope once
you return to Richard's court, you can rest assured that Gareth will do all he
can to protect you and help you. Should you wish, he will even bring you back
to Wales where you would have your choice of husbands."