The Marriage Bed (The Medieval Knights Series) Read Free Page A

and she would not leave her father alone in his grief. Finally, because her father had taken ill himself and there was none to push her from his side. And so now. She had never mentioned Richard as the cause of her continued delay, but did not God see her heart and was she not guilty of disobedience? She was not married, certain proof of her silent rebellion.
    Still, Edmund must win his spurs, and only his lord could see it done. If she had gone to Hubert... but she had not gone to Hubert. She had run to Richard, and Richard could confer the buffet on no one. Richard had cast aside his own spurs, the symbol of his knighthood, in favor of a cowl.
    "I shall," Abbot Godric answered Edmund. "Your day will come," he assured.
    Yea, when Hubert came to the abbey to fetch her... nay, he would come to marry her. Edmund would win his spurs, and she would win a husband she did not want. Unless God answered her impossible prayer, but God did not answer prayers rooted in disobedience and willfulness, no matter how heartfelt.
    "Father Abbot!" Brother Anselm said, entering the room in a flurry of black Wool. "Father! A message most urgent."
    "Hold, Brother Anselm," Godric soothed. "A message can wait until we are alone."
    "But, Abbot Godric," Anselm said, trying for control, "the message concerns the Lady Isabel."
    "Speak then, Brother," Godric said.
    "Lord Robert sends word that Lord Hubert, the lady's betrothed, is dead."
    He said more; she could hear the buzzing of his voice calling for Brother John, but she could not stay to hear the rest. She had prayed to be released from Hubert, and, as effortlessly as watching a petal fall to earth, Hubert had died. Such was the fruit of her careless and selfish prayer. In a gray and dim rush, Isabel fell in a swoon to lie heavily upon the cold stone floor.

 
     
    Chapter 2

     
    "You have much to learn in the art of courteous communication," Brother John said to Brother Anselm as he urged wine past the lady's lips.
    Brother Anselm, good-hearted and only slightly impetuous, looked properly abashed.
    Edmund looked ashamed and contrite; he clearly felt that he should have caught his lady before she fell so heavily to earth.
    Brother John spoke softly to the lady as she slowly came to her senses. "You have had a shock and taken a fall. All will be well. Take a sip of wine to ease you."
    She opened her eyes with effort and then made to stand immediately, her face flushed in profound embarrassment.
    "Hold, Isabel," John said gently. "Be sure you are uninjured before you rise. Is your head clear?"
    "My head is clear. My dignity is trammeled," she said with a rueful smile.
    "You have had a shock. It is understandable. None fault you."
    "I fault myself. I was taught better," she murmured.
    "Rest easily," he coaxed, bringing the cup to her lips yet again, "and allow yourself to be helped. It is no great sin to lean upon others when the need is great."
    "Thank you, Brother John," she said, rising as swiftly as he would allow.
    John watched her, noted that her color had returned and that her eyes were clear and bright. He would not have faulted her for tears, but perhaps she did not have enough knowledge for tears, the news of death still too hot and bright. He knew her well, as well as any monk could know a woman, for he had helped ease her father's wife into eternity only six short months ago. She had stood well against that loss, tending Lady Ida in her slow march toward death with rare tenderness and skill. And now Lord Bernard gone so quickly, leaving Isabel alone. Still, Isabel would hold her place in the world, no matter what trammeling her dignity suffered.
    "I am sorry, child," Godric said, his eyes soft and full of pity. "You should have heard such words in less abrupt a manner."
    Anselm hung his head and tugged at his belt in silent agony.
    "It would have jolted no matter the delivery," she said, smiling her pardon at Anselm. "What happened?"
    The messenger from her overlord, Lord Robert, stepped