A Knight's Vow Part 9

She was dressed, her hair was braided and done up in some sort of medieval headgear, and she was hustled to the chapel almost before she was awake enough to realize it.

The place was packed.

What she wanted was to sit down and take stock of the situation.

She spent the rest of the day wanting to sit down and take stock of the situation.

But by the time she actually managed to get a grip on the events of the day, it was evening, and she was

in Artane's tower room facing her husband who looked much less bewildered than she felt. She looked down at the simple gold ring that he had apparently given her at some point during the wedding ceremony. She looked up at him.

"Did you propose to me yet?" she asked, scratching her head.

"I believe, my lady," he said gravely, "that 'tis too late for that. I fear I've already wed you."

"And I said yes."

"That was the word you gasped out when I pinched you, aye," he said, a twinkle coming into his eye.

"Well," she said with a frown, "I don't remember much of it."

"Then let me remind you. We met before our beloved priest who demanded a recounting of all we would

bring to the union. You offered-""My sacred relic sack.""Aye, and my family was most impressed with the sheer weight of it. I brought myself-"She looked at him narrowly. "And quite a bit else if memory serves." She pointed a finger at him. "You said you were poor."

"Well, I'm less poor this evening than I was this morning," he said with a snort. "My uncle was pa.s.sing, and stubbornly, generous."

"Of course you didn't have any gold stashed in his castle either," she said pointedly.

He shrugged. "I wasn't completely without a thought for the future. I could have set aside more, I

suppose, but I never planned to need it. My cache certainly wasn't enough to make me rich. But my uncle's gift of several dozen knight's fees..."

"That was a nice thing for him to do."

"Aye, and it will likely get us murdered on the side of the road," he said with a grimace.

"Cheer up," she said. "It could be worse."

He looked at her silently for a moment or two, then smiled. "Aye. I could have pa.s.sed on my grandsire's gift and never come back to England. I could have never gone to Redesburn. And look you what I would have missed."

She smiled weakly. "And I would still be sitting against that wall, covered in various forms of, well-""Aye," he agreed. "That."She stood there and looked at him. He returned her gaze steadily. Julianna wiped her hands on her dress.

It wasn't as if she hadn't thought about doing, well, it before. She had. Lots. She'd just never really had the right guy and the right time in the right place.

She put her shoulders back. All that had changed. She was now married to a gorgeous man who apparently liked her well enough to give up his inheritance for her. His future plans certainly seemed to include her in a big way.

He was waiting.

Julianna held up her bag. "What do you want first, me or my dowry?"

"Your dowry."

Her smile faltered. "Oh," she said. She held out her bag. "Here, then."

He took it and set it down behind him. "That's done, then. Now I'll have you."

"Oh," she said, feeling quite a bit better.

He held out his hands and she put hers into them. He pulled her a step closer, then smiled down at her.

Julianna watched the candlelight flickering over his face and wondered why she hadn't done more things

by candlelight when she'd had the choice. It was a very soft, gentle light. She suspected it was something she could learn to appreciate very much.

"May I say something?" William said. "In all seriousness?"

Oh, great. Was he going to tell her that along with the "minor" amount of gold he'd managed to send

home for safekeeping, he had a mistress or two tucked away as well?

"Yes?" she asked sharply.

He clasped his hands behind his back and looked at her solemnly. "I hope," he began slowly, "I hope that

in time you will, if nothing else, become fond of me." He took a deep breath. "Nay, that isn't what I mean.

I hope that in time, you will come to love me."

Then he shut his mouth and looked at her in silence.

"That's it?" she asked, incredulous.

"Aye," he said stiffly. "Unless the thought-"

"I thought you were going to tell me you had a mistress!"

He looked at her with an expression of complete bewilderment. "I just wed you. Why would I keep a mistress?"

"You tell me."

"I'm telling you that I have fond feelings for you," he said, sounding as if those feelings were about to take

a hike out the door. "Feelings that I am quite certain will only increase with time. And I hoped," he added with a scowl, "that you might feel the same way."

Julianna felt many things, but most overwhelming of which was surprise that she found herself standing in

the tower room of a castle, married to a man she had known not quite a week, and happier than she'd ever been in her life-even when faced with a dwindling stash of junk food and no possibility of indoor plumbing in the near future.

So she took a step forward, put her arms around her medieval knight and snuggled against his chest. His arms went immediately around her in a sure embrace. Julianna sighed happily.

"Well?" His voice rumbled deeply in his chest.

"Yes," she said. "I think it's more than possible." She pulled back only far enough to look up at him. "I think it's unavoidable."

He bent his head and kissed her softly. "Then let me make you mine in truth. With any luck at all, that will endear me to you and start us on the proper path."

"You don't want to look in my bag first?"

He shook her head with a smile. "Later. I've the true prize in my arms and no desire to relinquish it. The other will keep."

How could she argue with that?

And she found that along with being an exceptional swordsman, her husband was an exceptional lover.

She was very grateful she'd had such a good night's sleep the night before.

Julianna opened her eyes and realized that it was morning. She realized then that it had been the cold that had awakened her. Odd how one grew accustomed to the warmth of a husband in such short order.

Odder still how one grew accustomed to other things as well in such short order.

The thought of that made her blush and she was grateful the candle that burned on the table probably wouldn't give her away. Who would have thought it? If she'd known that's what she'd been missing, she might have indulged a little sooner.

Then again, perhaps it all had to do with the man she had married.

She turned that thought over in her head for some time-coming quite easily to the conclusion that

William and a ring on her finger had made all the difference-then she tried to get up. She clenched her teeth to keep from groaning from the protests of sore muscles.

"Are you unwell?"

The deep voice startled her and she sat up with a squeak.

" 'Tis only me, Julianna," William said, sounding amused. He was sitting at the table, but turned to look at

her. "Who else?"

"Who else indeed," she muttered as she gingerly got to her feet and pulled a blanket off the bed. She wrapped it around her and went round the end of the bed to stand next to her husband. He was holding

her copy of The Canterbury Tales and fondling it with what she could only term reverence. "Findanything interesting?" she asked, noting the contents of her bag littering the table.He s.h.i.+vered. "Interesting, nay. Unsettling, aye.""I told you the truth."He looked up at her, then put his arm around her waist and hugged her. "Aye, and more the fool am I for not having believed you at first."