Rise of the Defender (57 page)

     But she was pleased. It was a large, wide
band of gold, strong and solid and perfect. It was exactly what she wanted,
exactly like her husband. Christopher watched her face as she looked the ring
over.

     “Are you pleased? Is this what you had in
mind?” he asked.

     Dustin took the ring from the jeweler.
“Take off your gauntlet,” she asked her husband.

     Obediently, he removed the glove and she
slid the big ring onto his finger easily. She smiled and looked up at him.
“It's perfect. What do you think?”

     He looked at the ring. “I think my wife has
very good taste.”

     She smiled broadly and he tapped her
lightly under the chin before turning to the goldsmith. “It would seem that we
are satisfied,” he said. “What is the price?”

     Dustin watched her husband's hand. He held
the gauntlet in his right hand, leaving his left hand bare as he bartered for
the price of the rings and when he was satisfied, he paid the man with several
gold coins. Dustin swallowed hard when she saw the exchange of money; her ring
had cost him a great deal and she wasn't even that fond of it. Yet, since it
was a gift from him, she would treasure it.

     Purchase complete, Christopher took Dustin
out of the shop and into the faded late-morning sun.

     “Would you like to look about?” he asked.

     She looked down the street, busy with
hundreds of people. “Aye,” she replied. “Are there any bakers down there? I am
hungry.”

    
Perfect,
he thought. She could
occupy herself with food while he selected her gift. He feigned irritation at
her. “You keep eating like you do and you are going to be fat as a pig,” he
said sternly, although it was far from the truth. He liked to see her healthy
appetite.

     She stuck out her lower lip in a pout. “And
then you will not want me anymore?”

     He could not help but break into a smile,
giving her a few coins. “Eat yourself sick. I have business to attend to.”

     He turned to his soldiers and gave them a
few sharp orders, putting one of the men in charge. Dustin grinned at her
husband as she walked down the street with her escort, noticing he hadn't put
his glove on yet. Even from where she was, she could see the wide gold band
gleaming in the weak sunlight and she was immensely pleased. Selecting it had
been much easier than she thought.

     She walked down the street with her guards,
glancing here and there when vendors would call out to her, but shaking her
head and passing on. She asked the soldier who was in charge where the baker's
shop was and he pointed to the junction where two roads crossed. Dustin truly
was famished, for she had had no morning meal and the nooning meal was rapidly
approaching. But the streets were alive with people and things, and she was
thrilled with the new sights and smells.

     On the corner was a man with a little
monkey on a leash. Dustin had never seen a monkey before and was entranced at
the little thing as it danced about and held out its little hat for coin. She
laughed with delight when the monkey would take a bow after receiving a coin.
The vendor, a thin man with bad teeth, politely answered her questions about
the animal and gave her permission to pet the beast.

     The monkey was affectionate and soon curled
up on Dustin' s lap as she stroked it tenderly. It was a tiny little thing with
a beard that moved comically when the vendor gave it something to eat. Dustin
forgot all about the baker.

     She lost all track of time petting the
monkey and playing with it, laughing when it would smile a big monkey-smile.
Her guards never said a word and neither did the vendor, although she was
costing him money the longer she played with his source of income. But after a
while she realized that she was taking the man's valuable time although she was
depressed at the thought of leaving the monkey.

     Thanking the man for his kindness, she gave
him all of the coins that Christopher had given her for the baker. She turned
around to the soldier in charge and shrugged carelessly.

     “I guess we are not going to the baker,
after all,” she said. “We should go back and find my husband.”

     The soldier nodded and they started back
the way they had come. They hadn’t moved five feet when there was a great
screaming and commotion behind them, and Dustin whirled around to see the
vendor fighting with the little monkey viciously. The monkey was flipping over
and over on the end of the leash, biting at the man when he tried to grab lt.
She continued to watch in horror as the man swatted the monkey heavily on the
side of the head and the little animal fell, dazed, to the ground.

     She rushed forward as the vendor picked the
monkey up by the scruff of the neck, mumbling curses at the creature.

     “How-dare you strike that monkey!” she
accused loudly. “Put him down, I say!”

     The nice vendor was suddenly not-so-nice.
“'Tis my beast, missy, and I shall thank ye to stay out of my affair.”

     Enraged, Dustin grabbed his arm. “I shall
not stay out of it, not when you go about beating tiny defenseless animals. You
should be ashamed of yourself.”

     The monkey was beginning to come around,
squirming and crying just like a human baby, and the vendor struck it again to
keep it still.

     Dustin shrieked. “Don’t do that!”

     The man bit off a retort and turned his
back on her, moving to gather his things. Dustin was furious.

     “Don’t you dare ignore me,” she snarled,
yanking his arm so hard that he nearly lost his balance. “I will not allow you
to mistreat that monkey no matter what it's done. Give it to me.”

     The man shoved her back roughly, still
holding the monkey cruelly. “Go away, ye fancy bit of chit. This is none of yer
affair as I warned ye before.”

     Before her guards could even make a move,
Dustin balled up a fist and slugged the man squarely in the jaw as well as any
soldier. The vendor sailed back, tripping over his own feet and the monkey fell
from his grasp. The men-at-arms were moving in to kill the man but Dustin beat
them to it, pouncing on the fool and pounding him twice with her hard fists until
he struck back and caught her in the face, sending her off him and onto the
cobblestones. By that time the soldiers were there and Dustin was pushed aside.

     Dustin hopped to her feet, furious and
ready for another go-around, when there was suddenly a huge hand on her
shoulder. Startled, she looked up to see her husband walking past her, pushing
his way through the soldiers and grabbing the vendor by his hair. He then
removed his dagger as swift as a desert wind and slit the man's throat. The
vendor's life slipped away in a gurgle of blood and mucus.

     As fast as it had started, it was over. The
people on the street who witnessed the event quickly moved away and went about
their business, pretending to be busy. Anything to keep from making eye contact
with the massive knight lest they be the next victim. But they all knew why he
had done it, even Dustin. The vendor's mortal mistake had been to touch the
knight's woman.

     Christopher wiped his dagger on his mail
and sheathed it, turning to his wife as calmly as anything.

     “Are you all right?” he asked. “He hit you
fairly hard.”

     “I am fine.” She let him turn her face to
get a look at her cheekbone. Her anger was fleeing and she was beginning to
feel tremendously guilty for what she had caused. “I hit him first,
Christopher. He was beating the monkey and….”

     “I know,” he replied, eyeing her cheek.
“You are going to have a slight bruise. It's already swollen.”

     That was the extent of his comment - no
lecture, no anger, no questions. Dustin wondered if she should explain what
happened, anyway. He had killed for her so easily and the thought frightened
her. Did she have so much power?

     He let go of her chin and took her by the
arm, but she suddenly balked. “The monkey!” she cried. “Where did it go?”

     “Monkey?” Christopher repeated, watching
his wife go bounding away, cooing into crevices and under tables and carts.

     Dustin was determined to find the monkey.
Christopher turned to his men, demanding to know what she was talking about and
they told him eagerly. They also told him what events had started the fight,
for in faith, he had only seen his wife strike the man and the return blow.
Now, with an explanation from his soldiers, he understood completely. It was a
good thing he had finished his business when he had and had gone in search of
her, for there was no telling what would have happened to the man had his wife
been let loose on him. Her passion for animals was deep. She would have done
anything to protect the weaker creature and the man could have very well been
beaten to death by an enraged female. As it was, his death was relatively quick
and painless, a lesson hard learned for touching the Lion Claw's wife.

     Christopher continued to watch her search
for the little creature until she stopped by a storm drain and he could see her
talking to something inside of it. He moved forward slowly, listening to the
soft tone of her voice as she extended her hand gently. It was virtually no
time before a tiny little monkey with a white beard gingerly came out of the pipe
and held onto one of her fingers. She smiled and spoke to it as if it were a
child, capable of understanding every word she said.

     He paused a moment, his heart warming at
the sight of his beautiful wife, resplendent in silk and brocade, crouching in
the filthy gutters of London coaxing, of all things, a monkey from a hole. Had
he not seen it he would not have believed it, and the confirmation of what he
had been feeling for nearly a week hit him full-bore. He was hopelessly in love
with her.

     The monkey climbed onto her hand and Dustin
rose, cradling the frightened little thing against her warm cloak as she went
back over to her husband.

     “Look at him,” she crooned. “Isn't he
sweet?”

     He raised an eyebrow. “A monkey? You
recently acquired three dogs and now you need a monkey?”

     She looked up at him. “I do not need him,
he needs
me
. Just look at him, the pathetic little thing.” She kissed
the monkey's head.

     He snorted. “Lips that touch monkey fur
will not touch mine.”

     She gave him a saucy little grin. “Is that
so? And how long can you be faithful to that vow? An hour? Two?”

     He shook his head reproachfully, wondering
what he was going to do with the menagerie she was collecting. He chose to
ignore her taunt, knowing she was correct.

     “That vendor, mayhap, had a family,” he
said. “If that is the case, this monkey belongs to them.”

     She looked stricken but surprisingly,
didn't protest. “I am sure you are right,” she said softly, hugging the monkey
closer. “Mayhap it is only right to turn the monkey back over to them.”
Considering that because of her, her husband had just killed the family's
source of income.

     Christopher could see her downfallen
expression. As she hugged and kissed the monkey, he felt sorry for her. Turning
around, he caught the attention of the nearest vendor.

     “You, man,” he said sharply, then pointed
to the dead peddler. “Do you know if the man had family?”

     The vendor was a silver smith. His eyes
widened and he scraped the ground a couple of times before answering. “Nay,
sire, he was all alone,” he said. “His wife died a couple of years ago and they
had no children.”

     Christopher turned back to his wife,
noticing that her expression had brightened considerably. He felt himself
relenting.

     “Very well, you may keep it,” he said
reluctantly. “But it had better behave or I will spank you for any
transgressions it commits.”

     She laid her cheek on the top of the
monkey's head and smiled at him. “Sir George will be a perfect gentleman,” she
promised.

     He rolled his eyes. “Sir George? You named
it after the greatest knight who ever lived? The Dragonslayer?”

     Her eyes took on a warm glow. “You are the
greatest knight who ever lived,” she whispered.

     He gazed back at her, a smile spreading
across his lips, pleased and flattered yet knowing just the same that she
probably said it simply because he granted her desire.

     “Well for you that you have finally come to
realize it,” he said, winking at her.

     She lowered her lashes coyly and he smiled
broader, taking her arm and leading her back up the street from the direction
they had come.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

     Sir George had entwined himself in Dustin's
hair and refused to come out. He sat on the collar of her cloak, completely
covered by her thick mane and screamed every time she tried to remove him.

     Even now, back in their apartments, she
could not coax him forward and told her irritated husband that he would come
out when he was ready.