KIND
EYES AND A LION’S HEART
CHAPTER
TWO
PART
FIVE
Viola took refuge
in the corridor leading to the family apartments. No one would be going there for a little
while, so she could be away from the company, the noise and the machinations of
her aunt. She was especially happy to be
away from the boastful, arrogant Lord Barengar.
He was another in a line of greedy suitors, none of whom had inspired even
a portion of the respect and admiration she felt for the kind and pleasant Sir
Melvin.
“Here
you are, Viola! What are you doing?” her
friend Sylvia cried, hurrying toward her.
Sylvia was dressed in the extreme of fashion in a pleated gown of
rose-colored silk with very wide, very heavily embroidered cuffs. “The dancing’s about to begin and Lord
Barengar is looking for you.”
“Did
he say so?” Viola asked, making no move to go.
“No,
but it’s quite obvious he’s wondering where you’ve gone.”
“I’m
sure he’ll find someone else to dance with.”
Sylvia
regarded her with amazement. “Don’t you
want to dance with the handsomest man in the hall?”
“Since
he is the handsomest man in the hall, I’m even more certain he’ll not lack for
partners if I choose not to return.”
“Why
wouldn’t you want to dance with him?” Sylvia demanded. “You’re not sick, are you? Or are you too tired? You shouldn’t have spent so much time in the
tent for the wounded.”
“I’m
not ill or tired. I simply don’t want to
dance.” Especially with Lord Barengar,
whose marital ambitions were all too obvious.
“Lord
Barengar adores you, as anyone can see.”
“He adores my uncle’s power and
estates, and no doubt would adore my dowry, too. As for what he thinks of me, he knows I’m a
woman. More than that, I don’t think he
cares.”
“Surely you’re wrong! And just think of being married to a man as
handsome as he!” Sylvia gushed. “I’d
think I’d died and gone to heaven.”
“Perhaps,” was all Viola trusted
herself to reply, although she had
been thinking about it. She would rather
be in heaven than married to a man
like that. He would likely never be
faithful and he’d probably treat as little more than a servant, just as her uncle
treated her aunt.
She
didn’t want to talk about Lord Barengar anymore, but Sylvia was a font of
information, so she didn’t hurry away, either.
“Isn’t Lord Barengar’s cousin here, too?”
Sylvia giggled. “Oh, my dear, he is and he’s such a buffoon! He didn’t even make it to the first charge in
the melee before he was off his horse.
And his squire isn’t even of noble birth. He’s his steward’s son, if you can believe
it!”
Viola could easily believe that Sir
Melvin would give a steward’s son a chance to rise in the world, just as he’d
given up any chance in the melee to help the injured lad.
“Only think of being married to a
fellow like that!” Sylvia went on with a titter. “He can barely hold a sword, let alone a
lance, and he’s going to be as round as a barrel in a few years. Lady Fishly says he can talk the hind legs
off a donkey, too. He’ll probably talk
his wife to death without saying a single thing worth hearing.”
“It all depends on what one considers
worth hearing, I suppose,” Viola replied, not mentioning Sir Melvin’s
mellifluous voice. She’d be happy to
hear him recite a list of foodstuffs in that deep, smooth bass. “As for his shape, I don’t expect to be
slender all my life, either, especially if God grants me children. And if he can barely hold a sword or lance,
he won’t be running off to wars or tournaments or making trouble with the
neighbours.”
“Why, Viola, such an ardent defense!”
Sylvia replied with another giggle. “But
then, you always champion the weak.”
Sylvia looked down at the ground and a pink tinge came to her cheeks,
reminding Viola that she was little more than a girl. “I suppose you think I’m petty and unkind. I don’t mean to be.”
Viola immediately regretted speaking
so sternly. “I’m sorry, Sylvia, but
there’s more to a good marriage than a handsome husband.” She put her knuckle under Sylvia’s chin and
raised her face so that her friend could see her smile. “Of course, if one finds one’s future husband
attractive, that’s a good thing. It shouldn’t
be the only thing, though, or even
the most important.”
She was tempted to tell Sylvia that
Melvin’s lovely voice, kind eyes and gentle smile, as well as his genuine good
nature and patience, more than made up for any extra bulk on his frame, but she
did not. She didn’t want to give Sylvia
any hint of her true feelings. Sylvia
was as likely to talk too much as Melvin, and the results would be disastrous
if her aunt got wind of her feelings.
“Let’s go back to the hall, shall we?
If Lord Barengar wants to dance with me, I shall.”
And she would say no more about Sir
Melvin, or the other quality she had seen in him. That fury in his eyes when Barengar blocked
his way was enough to tell her that whatever Sylvia or anybody else thought,
there was a lion’s heart residing within Sir Melvin’s stocky frame.
Chapter Three begins on June 15.
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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