KIND
EYES AND A LION’S HEART
CHAPTER
SIX
PART
THREE
This time when
Melvin opened his eyes, he wasn’t in a tent.
He was in his chamber in Lord Percival’s castle and a rushlight
flickered on the bedside table. It was
obviously night, and Viola was sitting on a stool beside the bed with her hands
clasped in her lap and smiling down at him.
A quick survey of the chamber revealed
that they were also all alone, something not exactly proper.
“What
are you doing here?” he blurted.
“I’m
making certain you’re not seriously injured,” Viola calmly replied. “You might have hit your head during the
fight. I thought it best to keep an eye
on you.”
“No, I
didn’t,” he admitted. “I simply swoon
when there’s blood or other... medical things.”
“Many
people are the same,” she noted.
“You’re
not, thank God.” He sat up more and
spied the dummy bearing his chainmail and helmet now standing in a different
place. His cracked shield leaned against
the wall beside it, and even in the dim light, he could see that the helmet had
a huge dent.
From when he knocked it over, before
he threw it at Barengar, who’d had his nose broken and then the physician…
Moaning, his stomach churning, he put
his head in his hands.
“Are you going to be sick?” Viola
asked with that same calm competence. “I
have the basin --”
“No, I don’t think so,” he
interrupted. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t.
He already felt like a dolt as it was.
Taking a deep breath, he lowered his
hands. “How’s my cousin?”
“Other than his nose, he’s not
seriously injured, and his nose should heal.
It’ll be a bit crooked, perhaps, but that’s all.”
“Barengar won’t like that, not at
all.”
“Perhaps it will cure him of his
vanity, which I assure you, Sir Melvin, is not an attractive quality, however
he physically appears. It was about time
somebody took that bully to task and I’m glad it was you. He’s been very mean to you.”
Nobody had come to his defense since
his brothers had died, and even they had always done so with an air of
condescension. Viola, however, sounded
admiring.
If he wasn’t already in love with her,
he would have fallen in love with her then.
Yet now he was even more aware of the
impropriety of her presence there and the risk she was taking to her honor and
reputation.
He got to his feet and was pleased to
find that he wasn’t dizzy. “I think
you’d better go, my lady. It’s not
proper for you to be here.”
“There’s a servant in the corridor,
and as you can see, the door is open.”
Once again he felt like a fool. He should have noticed that.
Viola rose and faced him. “I believe I owe you a debt of gratitude, Sir
Melvin. My aunt is now quite determined
that I not marry Lord Barengar and I
suspect I have you to thank for that.”
Melvin ran a finger around the collar
of his tunic, which suddenly seemed a bit too tight. “I did tell her a few things about him that
might not have put him in the best light.
I didn’t…that is, I wouldn’t want you…or any kind and sweet young lady
to…he’s not quite what a husband…”
He
gave up attempting to explain himself and simply shrugged.
“Just
as I thought,” Viola said with conviction.
“You did save me from a terrible fate, and I thank you.”
She
came a little closer. His heart started
to race and he was suddenly as hot as if it was mid-summer.
At the
same time he was afraid, too. Afraid that
he was too hopeful, that she was just being kind while he felt…he felt…
Now or never!
He
pulled her into his arms and kissed her full on the lips, with all the passion
and desire and need and yearning he’d been trying to restrain.
Instead of drawing back with dismay or
indignation, Viola threw her arms around him as if she’d been waiting all her
life for his embrace.
This work is protected by copyright. See sidebar for notice.
Note: This novella is PG13. With the exception of GWYNETH AND THE THIEF
and THE WASTREL, my books are usually steamier.
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