Page 4 of Hers To Command
“How charming,” he continued, addressing Giselle, “although I must confess, I usually prefer to choose my bedmates. In your case, however, my lady, I’m prepared to make an exception.”
Of all the vain, arrogant presumptions! “That isnotwhat I meant,” Mathilde snapped, her grip on her weapon tightening.
The knight turned to look at her. “Why areyouso angry? I’m the one who ought to be offended. You invaded my bedchamber when I was asleep and unarmed.”
“But not for…for that!”
“No need to dissemble if it was,” he replied with an amiable smile and a shrug of his broad shoulders, and completely ignoring her drawn dagger. “This wouldn’t be the first time a woman has sought my company in bed, although they don’t usually come in pairs.”
“You…you scoundrel!” Mathilde cried, appalled at his disgusting comment, as she started for the door.
The Norman moved to block her way.
“Let us go!” she demanded, tense and ready to fight, while Giselle shrank into the nearest corner.
“Gladly, after you explain what you’re doing here,” the knight replied, no longer amiable or merry as he grabbed her wrist and forced her to drop her dagger. He let go of her as he kicked the dagger away, but continued to regard her sternly.
Looking at him now, she could well believe he was a knight from a powerful family, and of some repute.
“Is this some sort of trick?” he asked, raising a majestic brow and crossing his powerful arms. “Should I be expecting a visit from an irate father or brother insisting that I marry this lady? If so, he’s going to be sorely disappointed. I might have welcomed her into my bed, but I willneverbe forced to take a wife.”
Giselle let out a little squeak of dismay. “Mathilde, tell him why we are here,” she pleaded, her face as red as a cardinal’s robe.
“If we explain, will you let us go?” Mathilde asked warily.
He inclined his head in agreement.
“Then I will explain,” she replied.
Determined to get this over with as quickly as possible, she planted her feet, looked him straight in the eye and said, “We require a knight, and we thought, since we heard you did not have much money, that you would—”
“Do I look like a mercenary to you?” he interrupted, lowering his arms, his face flushing and his brown eyes glowering.
“At the moment, you don’t look anything except half naked,” Mathilde replied, managing to sound much calmer than she felt. “Perhaps if you had some clothes on, I would better be able to judge.”
He snorted a laugh. “Aren’t you the coolheaded one,” he remarked, leaning back against the door and once again crossing his arms. “So, you need a knight. For what, if not for pleasure?”
Mathilde cringed at his reply, but gamely continued, still determined to get away from him as swiftly as she could. “To be at our side should our cousin come to the estate our father left us and try to take it from us.”
“You seek a knight to fight this cousin over an estate?”
“Not fight,” Giselle anxiously interposed from the corner.
The knight regarded her with confusion. “Why do you need a man trained for battle, then, if not to fight?”
“To impress him,” Mathilde said. “To show him that we are willing to defend our rights and that we are not without some means to do so.”
“I am to be forshow?” the Norman asked with a hint of indignation.
“We hope to make Roald think twice about trying to steal our inheritance.”
The knight tilted his head as he studied her. “Roald is an unusual name. Might I have met him at court?”
Perhaps he had, Mathilde reflected, and if so, she would have to be careful. It could be this man was Roald’s friend, or as much as any man could be the friend of anyone so selfish as Roald. “Our cousin is Sir Roald de Sayres.”
The Norman’s lip lifted with derision. “I thought that might be who you meant. You’re related to that blackguard?”
“You know him?”
