Chapter Three #7
“Aye,” she replied, but she shifted one last time and brushed against his semi-arousal and he grunted. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he growled. “Cease your fidgets so that we might be home before sundown.”
“But your thighs are like rocks,” she sniffed. “’Tis as if I am sitting on the stone floor.”
His thick arm snatched her against his hard chest, stilling any further movement. “Enough.”
He was preparing to rein the horse from the small clearing when there was suddenly movement through the trees ahead of them. Alec stiffened, moving to unstrap his crossbow, when a familiar warrior burst through the trees and headed straight for him.
“Alec!” Ali bellowed. “Where in the hell have you been? Your father is distraught!”
Alec watched impassively as his friend approached. “I was…. out looking for Lady Peyton and her sister. I have only just come across her. How did you find me?”
Peyton’s eyebrows rose slightly at the lie, but the knight simply nodded his helmed head as he reined his snorting charger next to them.
“I heard you whistle for Midas, of course. Greetings, demoiselle,” Ali dipped his head to Peyton. “Lord Summerlin will be glad to see that you have survived your adventure whole.”
“Her sister took to the south, through the woods. Make yourself useful and go find her. I shall return Lady Peyton to Blackstone.”
Ali shook his head, resting a massive gloved hand on his thigh. “I am afraid of her, Alec. Can I not take Lady Peyton while you search for the sister?”
“Whelp,” Alec grumbled. “What is it about Lady Ivy that frightens you? She is a lovely girl.”
“She is indeed, but she can best me in a fight, I know it. And she will most certainly not come peacefully, which could only result in my severe injury or worse.”
Peyton could sense the humor between them and was therefore not offended by the insult dealt to her sister. In fact, it was the truth.
“I will tell you a secret about my sister, my lord,” she said to Ali. “She has a weakness on her left side. She focuses on the right.”
Underneath his visor, Ali grinned. “Thank you, demoiselle. I shall remember to blindside her. We have not yet been introduced, but I am Ali Boratu.”
“Sir Ali,” she greeted. “I remember you from last night.”
“It is not ‘Sir’ Ali, but simply Ali,” he corrected her.
Peyton looked puzzled. “I…. I apologize for the mistake, but I assumed you were…. you are not a knight?”
“Nay,” he said flatly, turning his attention to Alec. “Your mother is raging, Alec. Mayhap you should return immediately and soothe her. You left without a word last night and she is in a foul mood, and the ladies’ disappearance has exacerbated her terribly.”
Alec grunted. “Mother is always aggravated.”
Ali suddenly flipped up his visor, wiping his damp forehead and Peyton’s mouth went agape with surprise.
“You are the black man!” she blurted.
Ali looked at her as if she had just accused him of being a leper. His onyx eyes bulging, he ripped off his gauntlet and let out a high-pitched scream at the sight of his naked hand. “My God! I am!”
Alec grinned as Ali played off Peyton’s shock.
Peyton, however, was too consumed with the dark vision before her to lend credence to the humor of Ali’s jest. Instead, her jaw hung slack and she continued to gaze at him as if beholding Lucifer’s demon.
She’d never seen anything like him in her entire life and was understandably astonished.
It was a moment before she found her tongue.
“Where…. where are you from?”
Ali was smiling in response to Alec’s humorous reaction, glancing at his friend over Peyton’s head. “My family is from a land very far away, demoiselle.”
She closed her hanging mouth, but her expression was decidedly wary. She could only see his eyes and a portion of his face through the raised visor and wondered if the complete picture of him was more animalistic than human. The prospect was terrifying and fascinating at the same time.
“How did you come to England?”
Ali’s smile faded; he could tell from her furrowed brow that she was preparing to view him as every other woman did. She did not have to utter a word regarding her thoughts; he could read them easily. Mind-reading had become a practiced talent for him.
His inbred bitterness made an instant, familiar appearance. “Not by cage or animal caravan, I assure you. I was born in England. England is my home.”
Her shock subsided somewhat with his biting response and she sought to ease his displeasure. Even if he was a peculiarity, she had no desire to offend him. “As England is my home as well. I apologize if I offended you by asking. It’s just that I have never seen a black…. man before.”
Alec’s own smile had long since faded as he watched Ali react to Peyton’s inquiry.
As was usual, he refrained from intervening simply because Ali was better adept at handling discrimination than he was.
But listening to Peyton’s even reply to Ali’s biting statement, he found himself praying that the woman seated before him would somehow be different than the rest.
God only knew he was used to the way women treated Ali; it had never varied much from woman to woman; if they weren’t outright denouncing him as an ape, they were showering him with a peculiar blend of pity reserved for cripples and orphaned children.
Both reactions usually spurred a deep anger within Alec, a fierce protectiveness to defend his friend from the cruelty of the fairer sex.
He did not want Peyton to follow the familiar path.
He found that he wanted her to accept Ali for what he was; no reservations, no questions, no hesitation.
He did so want his future wife and his best friend to be companionable, and he realized with dismay that it was because he couldn’t bring himself to hate her.
Bad temper, bitterness and all, he did not want to hate her.
Ali, too, was studying Peyton guardedly.
Her answer to his harsh reply had been honest and calm, a combination rarely seen where it pertained to him.
His natural reaction was to protect himself, to remain aloof and to prove to the woman that nothing she could say could harm him.
But, somehow, the sapphire blue eyes weren’t immediately intent on harming him, and that in itself was very puzzling.
Still, it was difficult to let his guard down, as she truthfully hadn’t given him any reason to.
“You did not offend me, demoiselle. There is nothing you could possibly say that would offend me. And as for the fact that you have never seen a black man before, I would wager to say that you never will again, either. I am something of a deviation.”
The tone was still sharp but Peyton did not flinch. Instead, her apprehensive expression had become most curious. After several moments, she cocked her head thoughtfully. “Are you black all over? Or just your face?”
Ali nearly choked with surprise, fighting the sudden urge to laugh loudly at the question. Alec cleared his throat, determining that it was time he enter the conversation.
“Ali must go and find your sister before the day progresses any further,” he said firmly. “Ali, we will meet you back at the keep.”
“Wait, my lord,” she stopped him, still eyeing Ali. “Ivy is likely to run from him. Mayhap we should accompany him in the search.”
He cast a long glance at Ali, knowing Peyton’s words to be the truth. “Very well, then.” He reined his destrier into the trees as Ali ordered the soldiers that had accompanied him to return homeward.
“Which direction did she take?” Alec asked as the canopy of trees swallowed them up.
Peyton pointed south. “That way. I saw her go into the forest. Is it possible that she has made it home already?”
The corner of Alec’s lips twitched. “If she is anything like you, I doubt it. She is probably sitting on a stump somewhere, arguing with a bird.”
She made a face at him as he drove his destrier into the trees in search of Ivy.
Ali caught up to them after sending the soldiers back to Blackstone, maintaining his raised visor and continuing to eye Peyton as if her mild reaction to his color confused him.
As they rode in search of Ivy, he caught an occasional glance now and again, but the lady would quickly look away when their eyes met.
Her expression wasn’t hostile in the least, or condescending in any way. But she was definitely bewildered.
Ali could deal with bewilderment; a moderate enough emotion that usually did not precede screaming or taunts.
He began to wonder if her sister would react in the same mild fashion.
It was the very first time in a long while he could remember feeling the least bit of encouragement.
Hope for the wild dream of acceptance he never truly hoped to attain, and couldn’t dare to believe.