Tender is the Knight (4 page)

Dennis
put his hands to his sides, clearly not threatened by Lyla’s tactics. “Put the dirk down before you hurt yourself.”

Her pretty brow furrowed. “Hurt myself, will I?
I shall have you know that I am quite capable of using this weapon.”

He shrugged. “Use it if you feel you must. But I am still determined to check on my lady’s welfare.”

He took a step toward her, his intention obvious. A real bolt of fear shot through Lyla and with a shriek, she hurled the dirk directly at him.

He caught it.

Hilt in his massive hand, the blade was pointing at his heart. Slowly, Dennis opened his trencher-sized hand, revealing a calloused palm with nary a hint of blood or injury. His catch had been perfect. He gazed at the sharp edge a moment before glancing at Lyla, a look of casual disappointment on his face.

“Now what if I had truly meant you harm?” he asked, his voice husky. “I would have killed you by now. Truly, Lady Lyla, you must be more accurate in your throwing.”

Lyla was standing there with her mouth open like a fool. Dennis could not determine whether it was horror or admiration on her face. But she suddenly shouted, “Bute!” and almost immediately Dennis was hit from behind. His knees took the force of the blow and he staggered forward, catching himself from falling by bracing an arm against the stone wall. Before he had time to look and see what had hit him, he was hit again in the leg, far less forceful this time, and he put his hand down only to come away with a palmful of horn. The medium-sized white goat in his grip struggled furiously.

He straightened himself but still held onto the bleating, twisting goat. “Pray, what is this?”

Both of Lyla’s modes of protection had been thwarted. She backed up against the bed warily. “That… that is Bucephalus,” she said.

Dennis
cocked an eyebrow, looking between the goat and Lyla. “This goat is named after Alexander the Great’s horse?”

“Aye.”

“Unacceptable. My horse carries the same name. You must change this goat’s name at once.”

“It
is not my goat.”

Dennis
knew the beast could only belong to one other person. Certainly he could not fault the woman her good taste in names. On the bed, Ryan rolled onto her back and gave a heavy cough that sounded more like a boiling cauldron. It was harsh and wet, reminding both Dennis and Lyla just how sick she was. Dennis tossed the goat aside and marched toward the bed. Lyla immediately grasped her cousin’s exposed hand.

“
Ryan,” she whispered. “I am so sorry we woke you, dear. But… well, Sir Dennis is here and.…”

Ryan
was flushed with fever. Her golden brown eyes opened and she gazed first at Lyla and then at Dennis. Dennis was about to say something to her when Bute rammed him again and he grunted with surprise, trying to kick the goat aside without injuring it.  But the goat would not leave him alone, butting his thigh, buttocks and knees and he struggled not to appear as if he was struggling with the damn thing.

“Sir
Dennis,” Ryan muttered. “What are you doing here?”

Dennis
had to grab the goat by the horns again before it did permanent damage. “Aside from being pummeled to death, I have come to see how you are faring.”

“I am not your concern.”

“You are my primary concern.”

Ryan
glared at him. “I am not,” she refuted him. “And let go of my goat!”

She coughed loudly, though she wasn’t having the same difficulty breathing that she had been a couple of days earlier. The inflammation was gone, but there was congestion in her lungs.
Dennis watched her struggle with the cough as he let go of the goat, only to have it turn around and kick at him. He sighed, trying to sidestep the little flying hooves.

“Where is the physic?” he asked. “He should be tending you.”

“He was here,” Ryan said, trying to catch her breath. “He has gone for more medicaments.”

“What medicaments?”

“Willow bark for my fever,” she said. “He has Eucalyptus for my cough. It’s very expensive, from the Holy Land. Lord Richard purchased it especially for me. It helps my lungs a great deal.”

“Indeed,”
Dennis said, already thinking on the merchants that passed through St. Austell harbor and wondering which ones could supply him with Eucalyptus from the East. “Then I take it you are feeling better.”

“Better,” she grunted. Bute was kicking at
Dennis with a frenzy and she had had enough of his tantrum. “Bute! Stop this instant!”

The goat bleated and immediately ceased his kicking. Jumping up on the bed, he lay
down obediently next to his mistress. Dennis scratched his blond head, eyeing the goat.

“
Do not tell me this is your protector,” he rumbled.

Ryan
rubbed the white fur. The goat was incredibly clean, in truth, and apparently quite docile with Ryan. “I raised him when his mother abandoned him. Of course he protects me.”

Dennis
sighed wearily; he’d done enough battle in one day with Richard and Thomas earlier, and now a maniacal little goat. He glanced at Lyla, still standing next to the bed, her pretty green eyes focused on him warily. “I would speak with Lady Ryan alone,” he said. Lyla looked hesitant and Dennis increased the rumble in his voice. “And take the goat with you when you leave.”

Lyla’s eyes widened. “But… I ca
nnot!” she hissed. “I cannot leave you
alone
!”

Dennis
simply stared at her. The same man who had caught her thrown dagger needed no words to convey his insistence on the matter. Fearful and uncertain, Lyla snatched Bute and fled the room. When the heavy door slammed shut, Dennis focused on Ryan’s flushed, displeased face.

She was eyeing him with a great deal of hostility. She
did not have to utter a word in order for him to know her thoughts. “If you are thinking of taking liberties with me, sir knight, do not be so foolish to assume that no one will stop you,” she growled. “I can promise you at this moment that Lyla is calling hysterically for my father.”

“I know,” he said simply. “And it is not my intention to take advantage of you.”

“Then what?”

“I would talk to you instead.”

“Then say your peace and remove yourself. I am too exhausted for your foolishness.”

He was unruffled by her hostile attitude. Lyla’s chair, placed next to the bed, was empty and he planted his massive body upon the wooden frame. His proximity was too close and
Ryan slid away from him, across the mattress, none too discreetly. Dennis pretended not to notice.

“What I have to say is not foolishness, I assure you,” he said. “So listen well. I will not repeat myself.”

Ryan coughed loudly and rolled over so that her back was to him. It was obvious she was showing her indifference. Dennis’ expression did not fluctuate. “I would not advise doing that, my lady.”

She made faces at the wall where he
could not see them. She may have been stubborn and childish, even outright defiant at times, but she wasn’t so brazen that she would sneer to Dennis d’ Vant’s face. She stuck her tongue out and twisted her lips at the darkened wall. “And why is that?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Pray, yes.”

Ryan
yelped as a trencher-sized hand landed squarely on her buttocks. Her flesh radiated with a sting and she sat up in bed, rubbing her bum and scowling fiercely. He simply gazed at her as if they had been discussing nothing more than the weather. 

“Why did you do that?” she demanded.

“Because you need it,” he said. Then, with more animation she had seen from him since their introduction, he sat forward in the chair and gestured with his massive hands. “In fact, I would wager to say you weren’t spanked nearly as much as you should have been whilst growing up, else you would not act like a spoiled, petulant child. God only knows how such beauty hides a beast.”

Ryan
’s flushed cheeks darkened. “You are mad,” she hissed. “You storm into my room, abuse my pet, shout at my cousin, and then you proceed to beat me and tell me that I deserve it. Get out of here before I kill you!”

There was a twinkle in his eye, though his expression was like stone. “
I shall not hear that talk come out of your mouth again. No wife of mine is....”

“Wife?”
Ryan shrieked, cutting him off. “Do you think for one moment I am going to marry you? Why, you are as mad as a hare! You are raving! Any moment you are going to foam at the mouth and howl at the moon!”

“I have your father’s blessing.”

“You are a liar as well!”

“Ask him.”

“He would never allow it!”

Dennis
sat back in the chair and crossed his arms. He was thoroughly enjoying her outrage. “He has and he will. I have already summoned a priest.”

Ryan
’s golden brown eyes narrowed to slits. “Never!” she hissed.

“
You shall like living at St. Austell.” Another first happened at that moment; Dennis actually smiled. By all rights, it was an incredibly handsome smile with big white teeth and slightly prominent canines. “In truth, I wonder how long it will take you and my sister to come to blows. I give two days, maximum. ‘Twill be interesting to see who emerges the victor.”

Ryan
was beside herself with indignity. “No de Bretagne will lose to a d’ Vant, I promise you that. And I tell you again, I am not marrying you nor am I returning with you to St. Austell. I shall commit myself to a convent first!”

“Impossible. From this moment forward, I am never letting you out of my sight.”

Ryan had had enough. She was distraught and furious, and she stumbled up from her bed with the intention of making it to the door. But she’d barely taken a step when Dennis was upon her, his big hand grabbing her by the arm. The moment she tried to struggle, and he knew very well that she would, he tossed her back onto the bed. 

Ryan
kicked at him and he came up from the chair, throwing his big body atop her. Ryan grunted as his weight nearly crushed her. But Dennis had strategically shifted his body so that barely any weight was on her; he simply wished to contain her, not smash her. His big hands gripped her flailing arms and his body pressed her soft torso into the mattress.

“Now I shall continue,” he
growled, his lips beside her ear. “The first rule is no more tantrums. You will do as you are told, when you are told, without question or complaint.”

She looked right at him and coughed loudly, spraying into his face. Whatever humor there happened to be went out of the confrontation at that moment and
Dennis squeezed her wrists enough to bring a yelp from her.

“
The second rule,” he continued. “You will cease your foolish behavior. I shall not have my wife bringing shame to the House of d’ Vant.”

Ryan
had stopped her struggle, gazing at him balefully. “I could do nothing to shame the House of d’ Vant any more than generations of your ancestors have already done.”

He would not be sucked into a verbal argument with her; for certain, she would lose. “
The third rule: if any of the previous two rules I have mentioned are broken, know my punishment shall be swift. My hand to your backside was only a foretaste. You shall become quite familiar with it. Is this in any way unclear?”

She simply stared at him. In fact, they were quite lost in each other’s eyes for more reasons than either one of them could fathom.
Ryan was so outraged at his demands that she could hardly express her anger, but she suddenly found herself thinking how amazing his eyes were. The lashes were thick and blond, and the gray color was like glistening silver. They glittered at her in the dim light, though it was difficult to tell the emotion within. Yet the one thing she could sense was an innate gentleness; the man was as big as a bull yet his manner was completely calm. But his threats were also sincere. The longer she gazed at him, unexplainably, the more her resistance seemed to ease.

Dennis
, too, was having a difficult time concentrating. He knew he should remain firm with her; to show any weakness would be to lose charge of her forever. If she even suspected what sort of affect she had on him, that a mere glance of those golden brown eyes could make his steadfast determination waver or cause a queer tremble in his stomach, then she would be uncontrollable. He could never let her know, even though he’d only been acquainted with the woman for two days, how strongly, already, she moved him.

But there was a subject at hand, one he intended to settle. He could spend the rest of his life gazing into her magnificent face and wondering why her beauty affected him so.

“Well?” His voice sounded rather strained. “Do you comprehend me?”

Ryan
wasn’t happy, not in the least. And she was even unhappier for thinking, just for a split second, that Dennis d’ Vant was gentle and handsome. If she was to gain the upper hand with him, she had to maintain her anger.