Chapter Seven #3
“W-What are you doing here?” she asked Garret, her voice hoarse.
He looked up from the scratches on her arm, meeting her eye. “I have come to visit my brother,” he said. “Are you calm enough that you can speak with me?”
Lyssa nodded. In fact, she was so calm that she was starting to feel weak and lightheaded. “A-Aye,” she said. “I-I am sorry that I behaved so foolishly.”
He smiled, causing her heart to race. “It sounds as if you have had a terrible fright,” he said, calmly and steadily. “What happened?”
Lyssa realized she was trembling as she spoke. Something about his presence was so comforting that she resisted the urge to throw herself into his arms. She desperately needed to feel safe and secure at the moment.
“I-I am not entirely sure,” she said. “I-I was picking violets because that is what the duchess wished. T-The duke was suddenly standing next to me and he demanded that I break my fast with him.”
She was starting to tear up again and struggling not to. Garret could see how frightened she was and he took her hand, tenderly, and held it. “What did you say to him?”
Garret’s hold on her fingers fortified Lyssa tremendously.
That very simple gesture, the warmth and strength of his touch, gave her courage.
She’d never known such a touch, not in her entire life.
She’d spent her life with her mother and female servants, with perhaps an occasional male servant around the house, but she’d certainly never grown up around men or had known a loving father’s touch.
Her father had made it clear many years ago that he had no use for a girl-child.
Therefore, the power of Garret’s touch made her feel she wasn’t so alone in the world.
There was someone who cared.
“I-I told him that I could not,” she said, wiping quickly at her tears with her free hand. “H-He told me that I was disobeying him and that if he wanted me to come to him, then I would. T-Then… t-then….”
The stammer grew worse as she tried to speak on the vulgar actions of the duke that followed. Garret squeezed her hand softly.
“Be calm,” he said. “Take a deep breath. That’s a good lass.”
Lyssa appreciated his patience. She took another deep breath. “H-He grabbed me,” she said. “H-He told me that I would do whatever he wished and if I denied him, he would tell the duchess that I tried to seduce him.”
Garret’s jaw ticked faintly as he listened.
He’d been fighting a battle against his anger from the beginning of the situation but, now, he was in danger of losing the battle completely.
But it wouldn’t do to explode in front of Lyssa; it was true that she did not belong to him, nor did he really have any relationship with her.
That was established last night when he realized he might be feeling something for her.
But it was also true that he had asked to call upon her and she had agreed.
So, in a sense, all of his reasoning that she did not belong to him was thrown out the window.
In a very short amount of time, this lovely stammering woman had gotten under his skin.
Perhaps it was foolish that he felt that way after knowing her only a short amount of time, but he couldn’t help it.
He wanted her.
“Why did he hit you?” he asked quietly. “What did you say to him?”
Lyssa sighed; now came the most embarrassing part of all. “I-I said nothing,” she said it so quietly that he barely heard her. “H-He touched my breast. W-When I pushed his hand away, he slapped me. I-I fell into the rose bushes.”
“And that is why your clothes are torn?”
She nodded. “T-The rose thorns are sharp.”
“He did not try to tear them from you?”
“N-Nay.”
Garret couldn’t help it; he had to look away for fear she would see the raging fire of fury in his eyes. He touched my breast. Of all the beastly behavior.
Kissing her hand tenderly, Garret stood up and walked away, pacing out his anger, hoping that a calm, rational head would prevail.
He was trying desperately not to explode.
But what he didn’t realize was that Rickard had been watching every move he made, including the tender touch and the kissed fingers.
Garret worked his way into one corner of the room, pondering his next move, but when he turned around, Rickard had him boxed in.
“What was all that?” Rickard hissed.
Garret eyed him. “What do you mean?”
Rickard’s eyebrows flew up, clearly astonished. “That,” he said, trying not to speak too loudly. “You kissed her!”
Garret stared at him for a moment as if he had no idea what the man meant.
Truly, he didn’t even think about what he’d done.
It had been an instinct, something too easy with Lyssa that it was a natural response.
But when it occurred to him what his brother meant, he lowered his gaze and looked at his feet.
“Ah,” he muttered. “That. Aye, I did.”
Rickard was looking for more of an answer. “And?” he gave a demanding hiss. “What are you thinking, Garret? That was improper at the very least.”
“Not if I am going to court the woman, it’s not.”
If Rickard thought he couldn’t be any more astonished at his brother’s behavior, he was wrong. “Court her?” he repeated as if he hadn’t quite heard him correctly. “Lady Lyssa?”
Garret nodded, lifting his head as his eyes drifted over to Lyssa. “That was decided last night.”
“By whom?”
“Me, of course.”
Rickard wasn’t sure what to say to any of this. “Garret…,” he began, trailing off. Then he, too, turned to look at the roughed-up woman. “Are you serious?”
Garret nodded. “Never more so about anything in my entire life,” he said.
But he could tell that his brother was ready to explode in confusion so he put a hand on the man’s arm.
“I do not know how or why this happened. Anything you are about to ask me… I simply do not know. All I know is that being with her last night changed my life. I do not say that lightly. But something about Lyssa… she touches me, Rickard, in a way I cannot explain. As if she connects with something deep inside of me that has been neglected for so long. I have asked her if I may call upon her and she has agreed. And Colchester’s offense against her is an offense against me. ”
Rickard paled; Garret could see it. “Are you mad?” he said. “You have no say over Colchester’s behavior.”
“Nay, I do not. But mark my words – he will pay.”
Rickard was beside himself. “If you try to punish him for this, he can have you arrested. Worse still, he can have you punished. Is that what you want?”
Garret knew that; he knew it all too well. It had been his anger talking. He was still struggling to rein it in. “I did not say I was going to punish him,” he said. “I simply said that he would pay because any offense against Lyssa is an offense against me. I will, therefore, need your help.”
Rickard didn’t like the sound of that but, as the man’s brother, he could not refuse. “What help? If you think I am going to….”
“Keep her away from Colchester,” Garret said, interrupting him.
“You are the only one who can do it, Rickard. When I leave here today, I am going to find another house for Lyssa to serve in, far away from Colchester and his lascivious behavior. Keeping her here is like keeping a chicken in a lion’s den.
After what happened today, she is not safe and you know it. I will not stand for this.”
Rickard eyed him; this entire conversation was overwhelming him. He couldn’t process it fast enough. “But… but she serves the duchess. You have no say in any of this, Garret. When did you come to believe you could control this situation?”
Juliana chose that moment to come rushing back into the chamber, a big wooden bowl in one hand containing the items Garret had asked for and a bucket of something steaming in the other hand. Before Garret went to help the woman, he fixed his brother in the eye.
“Watch me.”
With that, he was off to help Juliana with the items he had requested, leaving his brother to stand there and try to understand what had just happened.
Garret intended to marry Lady Lyssa… Colchester had attacked the woman and now Garret considered the man his enemy…
. This wasn’t just any knight they were speaking of; this was Garret de Moray, perhaps the finest knight England had.
There was no man more deadly.
God’s Bones, what was he going to do? Rickard was Colchester’s captain. It was his duty to protect the man from all threats, and now a threat was coming from a most unexpected source…
His brother.
As Rickard stood in the corner and fretted, he also watched his brother tend Lyssa with the gentleness of a mother.
His powerful, brutal, and serious brother had a tender side that Rickard had never seen before.
It was all quite astonishing. But it also underscored the situation as a whole – clearly, Garret felt something for this woman.
As shocking as it was, there was something between them. Rickard wouldn’t have believed it had he not seen it with his own eyes. It didn’t make any sense, but it was real nonetheless. And that put Rickard in a very bad position.
He wondered if his brother understood that.