Knightless in Seattle Read Free Page A

people here than she had thought.
    Beside her, Lila grinned, while hugging her clipboard to her
chest. "I know, right?" The pride in her voice was obvious. "We've
been planning this for a year. There are European martial arts
fencing masters from six different states here for an all-out
competition as the highlight of our storyline. It's been a hell of a lot
of work, but totally worth it. C'mon, I'll show you where your spot
is."
    Jackie trotted after Lila, trying to keep pace with her
ground-eating stride.
    "You're going to be a lady in waiting to one of the nobles,"
Lila said over her shoulder. "Basically, the plot of our LARP involves
six noble houses and who will become the new ruling house because
the King and Queen are stepping down. So there's a lot of scheming
and intrigue going on at the moment. You can always tell who is who
by the colors they wear. Each house has its own colors--you've
probably noticed the flags. Your dress is green and black because
those are Lance's colors."
    She grinned as Jackie caught up. "Your Lance is really the
key to a big power move by his house. There's a lot riding on him
winning the overall competition. You might just be the extra
inspiration he needs."
    As they crossed the field to the arena, Lila nodded at the
huge, billowing purple-and-black-striped tent standing just outside
the circle of flags.
    "That's the knight's tent. They go there before their turn at
the competition to prepare for their round. All the equipment is kept
in there, so be careful if you go near it, since it gets busy and there's a
lot of weapons."
    "Lila, thank God I found you!"
    Jackie recognized the familiar tone of panic. A teenage girl,
also dressed all in black, skidded to a stop before Lila. Her brown
eyes were wide in a pale face framed by a mop of black curls.
    "Jason needs you and he says now ."
    Lila sighed. "Guess I'd better go find out what he wants this
time." She put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "I told you, Roxie, don't
let Jason scare you. His bark is worse than his bite." She looked over
her shoulder and gave Jackie a pained smile. "Jason is in charge of
plot. I swear that man can't tie his own shoes without making a
production out of it."
    Jackie grinned back. "Don't worry, I totally understand. Just
point me to where I'm supposed to go. I'm sure I can find it."
    Armed with the description and location of the noblewoman
she was supposed to belong to as a lady in waiting, Jackie headed
towards the entrance of the arena.
    Passing the purple-striped Knight's tent, she ran her fingers
along the softly billowing fabric. Her fingers caught unexpectedly on
the unseen edge of a panel, pulling it open. A hand shot out from a
slit and grabbed her wrist.
    "Do you consent to physical role play?" The low voice came
from the other side of the panel.
    What was she supposed to say to that? "Um, sure.
Okay."
    The next thing she knew, she was pulled into the darkened
interior and brought up hard against a muscled body at her back,
held in place with one of her captor's arms around her neck and the
other around her middle, effectively pinning her own arms to her
sides. The grip wasn't overly tight or painful in any way, but she
couldn't move, that was for sure.
    "Who are you and what business do you have in the knight's
tent?"
    Jackie swallowed hard. Boy, these guys really took this
knightly battle stuff seriously. "Um, hi? I'm really sorry about all
this." Boy, was she ever. "Didn't mean to disturb you or anything, I
was just going to find a seat in the stands."
    "Jackie?" The hands that had held her helplessly pinned now
spun her around until she was brought chest-to-chest with a
particular tall, blond, knight-in-shining-chain mail. Well, almost
chest-to-chest. He did have a foot on her in height, after all.
    "You came."
    Lance took a step back to get a better look at Jackie. He ran
his hands up and down her arms, and gave a low whistle. He couldn't
help himself.
    "Nice costume." He made an effort to raise his