The Gorgon (12 page)

 Summer's expression grew more
intense, filled with astonishment. It was all she had ever hoped to hear, but
in faith, never truly expected to. Indeed, she wondered if she was dreaming as
she gazed into sharp black eyes, gentle and warm as they blazed upon her.

"You are serious?"

"Never more so."

A well-arched blond brow rose.
"You are... you are not embarrassed by my speech? You do not f-find it
repulsive or discomforting?"

"Not at all. In fact, I am
used to it."

"
Used
to it? What on
earth do you mean b-by that?"

He continued to stare at her. In
fact, he'd done nothing but stare at her since the moment they had met.
"Because my mother spoke as you do."

Summer gazed at him as if she did
not fully understand his words. Then, as reality settled, her jaw popped open.
"Your
mother
?"

He nodded and turned away to
regain his seat underneath the massive oak tree. Without hesitation, Summer
followed and deposited herself next to his outstretched legs. He crossed his
ankles, smiling at her awed expression.

"You find that
surprising?" he asked. "Surely you did not believe yourself to be the
only individual who has ever suffered from such an affliction?"

She blinked in thought; in faith,
she'd never considered such a concept and after a moment, she shrugged.
"Sometimes I feel as if I am," she said softly. "B-but, I
suppose, now that I think on it, it would be selfish of me to consider that God
saved this imperfection for me alone."

He laughed softly, displaying a
row of even white teeth. The right side of his mouth was far more pliable than
the left, the cheek moving stiffly, and even within the dim illumination of the
moonlight Summer could see three fierce scars, in parallel succession, gracing
his chiseled cheekbone and disappearing into his hairline.  She found herself
wondering what animal could have caused such scars.

"I would hardly call it an
imperfection where it pertains to you, my lady," he said, his laughter
fading as he interrupted her train of thought. "For certain, I have never
seen such magnificence."

With a shy smile and a fierce
mottle of red flooding her cheeks, Summer forgot all about his lopsided grin
and lowered her gaze, staring to her lap and listening to his soft chuckle,
casting him another coy glance when he continued to snort. As Antony once again
moved from her grasp and onto his master's massive legs, she realized she was
growing quite comfortable with the presence of the beast's gentle master.

"Is your mother still
living, my lord?" she asked, attempting to divert the focus from her
reddened face.

"Nay, she is not," he
replied, without sorrow. "My mother passed away several years ago. And
yours?"

"She died shortly after my
b-birth," Summer answered, also without sorrow. "My father tells me I
resemble her a great deal."

"Then she was a beautiful
woman," Bose said sincerely.

Summer nodded in agreement to his
assertion of her mother's grace, coming to feel comfortable enough that she
could look the man in the face without averting her gaze shyly or uncertainly.
Above their heads, the owl hooted again and Antony paused in his busy
inspection of Bose's leg, looking into the darkened branches of the tree.
Summer watched the ferret and Bose watched Summer.

"He is most threatened by
the owl," she said. "Mayhap we should return him home."

"'Twill be my pleasure to
escort you safely back to Chaldon," Bose replied, then paused a moment to
eye her strangely beneath the silver moon. "Tell me, my lady; was there a
reason why you were loitering about the knights' camp this eve? Considering how
protective your family is, I can hardly imagine they let you wander about the
encampment alone."

So much for her fading blush. Her
cheeks ignited with color again and Summer lowered her gaze yet again, toying with
the grass beneath her hand. She did not want to tell him why she was here,
running from her family.

"I shall answer your
question, my lord, if you will answer m-mine," the golden orbs came up
from the grass, ensnaring him within their power. "Why did you wish to
speak with me after the melee?"

"To ask for your favor. Now,
why are you wandering alone amongst the shelters?"

"Do you still wish for my
favor?"

He cocked an eyebrow, aware that
she was deliberately attempting to evade his question. "Without a doubt.
Unless, of course, the reason why you were lingering about the tents is because
you were waiting for your lover to appear."

She frowned. "Ridiculous. I
do not have a lover."

He sat forward, away from the
trunk, resting his arm on a propped knee. "If you give me your favor,
there are those who would believe that I am your lover."

He watched as Summer rose to her
feet and fumbled with the sleeve of her gown. Abruptly, a blur of white was
dangling from her fingers.  It took Bose a moment to realize she was extending
a kerchief.

He was on his feet faster than he
could ever remember moving. Summer smiled, a bashful, beautiful gesture, as his
timid fingers came up to clasp the delicate material.

"'Tis my hand-kerchief,"
she said quietly. "It is all I have at the moment that I may offer as a
favor."

Gently, the kerchief fell from
her fingers and into his grasp. His expression laced with wonder and pleasure,
he brought the small token to his nose and inhaled deeply.

"God's Beard," he
groaned before he could stop himself. When Summer's expression washed with
concern, he struggled to explain his reaction. "It... it smells wonderful,
my lady. The essence of roses, I believe."

She nodded, her smile returning
with relief. "My b-brother bought me the perfume on a trip to London last
year. The merchant told him that it had been Princess Eleanor's f-favorite
fragrance."

"Princess Eleanor?"

"King John's daughter,
Eleanor, b-before she married Lord Simon de Montfort. Apparently, Lord Simon
preferred his wife to wear gardenia and she relinquished her roses to please
him."

He gazed at her a moment, a faint
smile tugging at his lips. "The man was a fool. There is surely no finer
fragrance."

She blushed pleasingly; in fact,
the faint pink cast had hardly left her cheeks since his appearance. But her
uncertainty was gone, so much so that he felt very comfortable and very bold
when he gently took her hand in his massive gauntlet, bringing it to his lips
for a tender kiss.  He simply could not help himself.

Nor could Summer help the wild
surge of excitement that fired through her body. The only men who had ever
kissed her had been her brothers, chase kisses to her forehead or hand. But
Bose's kiss, as simple a gesture as it was, spoke of untold passion. Her heart
was thumping painfully against her ribs.

"M-M-My lord," her
stammering was noticeably worse due to her quivering nerves. "T-The hour
grows late. I should return to the keep before my b-brothers come looking for
me."

He smiled, feeling her hand
trembling against his fingers and experiencing the resurgence of sentiment
within his heart that he had once believed deeply buried. 

"As you say, my rose
lady," he kissed her hand again. Collecting Antony into one hand, he
tucked her palm firmly into the crook of his elbow. "I am forced to agree
with your suggestion that we return to the keep. I should not want your
brothers to find us out in the wilds, alone. Certainly, their punishment would
be severe."

Summer's knees were shaking so
that she could hardly walk, but somehow she managed to follow his lead.
"M-My b-brothers are afraid of you," she said, unable to keep the
quiver from her voice. "T-They...t-t-they..."

He smiled, knowing it was his
kisses that had affected her speaking manner and enormously pleased with her
reaction.

"Slow yourself, my
lady," he said calmly, continuing their casual walking pace purely to
maintain a level of normalcy about them. If she were to notice that he was
unconcerned with her stammering, it might ease her embarrassment and help her
regain control of herself. "Relax and take a deep breath. There now,
that's good. One more. Better?"

Summer nodded, maintaining her
deep, even breathing; she had been horrified with her worsening condition until
she realized Bose wasn't the least bit concerned. In fact, he was willing to
help her through difficulty. After several moments she looked to Bose with
appreciative eyes.

"T-Thank you," she said
softly. Bose swore the small hand about his elbow tightened. "You are very
patient."

He smiled his faint, lop-sided
grin. "As I told you, I have experience with your sort."

She cocked an eyebrow, sensing
his jest. "Is that so? And what sort is that?"

His smile broadened and he handed
her the ferret. "The right sort, my lady. The right sort," when she
smiled faintly, his free hand closed over the small fingers clutching his
elbow. "By the way; you never did tell me what you were doing in the
knight's camp."

Her smile broadened as she
watched the grass pass beneath their feet. "W-Waiting for my lover."

"You said you did not have a
lover."

Her golden orbs found the silken
kerchief, still tucked within the folds of his massive gauntlet. As Antony
demanded to be set loose into her hair, she put the animal to her neck and
reached out, tugging at the white fabric peeping from beneath Bose’s armored
glove.

"I suppose I do now."

He met her gaze. "I suppose
you do."

CHAPTER
SIX

"Good God, Summer! You gave
him your favor?"

It was just after the dawn of a
new morning. Seated before three very angry brothers, Summer maintained her
courage.

"I did," she said,
gazing defiantly into Lance's blazing blue eyes. "We shared a very nice
conversation and when he asked for my favor, I gladly gave him my
handkerchief."

"And he gave you that...
that hairy rat as a token of his esteem?"

Antony, hovering in the folds of
Summer's unmade bed, was intimidated by the loud voices and angry gestures. As
small black eyes peered from beneath the bedrug, Summer looked to the tiny
creature as if to apologize for the uproar.

"He said that Antony liked
me b-better," she replied evenly. "And I could hardly refuse his
generous gift."

Standing by the lancet window of
his sister's bower, Stephan gazed over the tournament field without emotion. As
the day emerged bright and clear, the final touches to the joust barrier were
being completed by the carpenters and the lodges were being readied for the
second day of guests.

His thoughts, however, were far
removed from the arena below. He was concentrating on his sister's first
display of rebellion, the harsh words to his wife that had reduced the woman to
tears. Oddly enough, he wasn't angry. Summer was a bright, intelligent girl and
it was only natural that she desired more of a public life once she had sampled
a taste. But the fact that her desires seemed to center around Bose de Moray
was disturbing to say the least.

"I told him to stay away
from you," Stephan muttered, his tone far more relaxed than his youngest
brother's. He moved his attention away from the window and back to his sister.
"Did he tell you that I asked him to stay away from you?"

"Nay," Summer shook her
head; although he was outwardly calm, Stephan's temper was legendary. And he
had a knack for holding a grudge as well. Combined, the two factors frightened
her more than Lance's wild raging and Ian's brooding silence. "He said
that he asked to speak with me, but that you had denied him."

Stephan stared at her a moment
before returning his focus to the field below. "Is that why you ran off
last night? To be with him?"

Summer gazed at her brother a long,
heady moment. "Nay, Stephan, I did not. I ran away last night because your
wife and our father greatly embarrassed me in front of Sir B-Bose. It was
purely coincidental that he found me later on, seated beneath Grandfather's oak
tree."

"You were at Grandfather's
oak tree?" Lance repeated incredulously. "Good God, Summer, that's
located in the heart of the knight's camp! What on earth were you thinking,
girl?"

"I was thinking to be alone,
Lance!" she shot back, her composure slipping. "It's p-perfectly acceptable
for me to be alone, wherever or however I chose!"

"Not in an encampment full
of knights," Lance jabbed a finger at her. "And what about that,
anyway? Did you and de Moray do anything other than talk? Or, mayhap, did he
pick up where another knight left off?"

Summer bolted from her chair,
furious and insulted. "How dare you accuse m-me of... of... damnation,
Lance! You k-know me better than that!"

Stephan pushed himself away from
the window, placing himself between his two siblings. "Lance did not mean
to infer that you were... God's Blood, Lance, apologize for your slanderous
statement," he frowned at his youngest brother. "Whether or not you
meant to accuse your sister of wanton actions, your statement was uncalled
for."