Prologue #2
Gar de Wolfe had been the young man who had picked her up out of the dirt and chivalrously helped her to sit down at one of the tables.
She was bleeding down the front of her lovely silk garment and Gar had ripped the sleeve of his tunic to come up with soft wool to stem the blood.
He was being quite kind and gentle with her, a youth who had probably seen somewhere between fourteen and fifteen years, but he had a sweet, deep voice already and his big hands were quite careful.
He held the wool to her nose, encouraging her to tilt her head back to stop the blood flow, as her anxious friends gathered around.
“You’ll heal,” he told her kindly. “I’ve seen this kind of thing before and it will heal quickly. You’ll be chasing your brother again in no time at all.”
Head tilted back, tears streaming on to her temples, Mattie was trying desperately not to sob. “Who is that boy?” she said. “Why was he so mean to me?”
Gar looked over his shoulder at the young man who was becoming a battered mess thanks to Maksim and the de Wolfe brothers.
“I do not know,” he said. “But I heard what he said. Do not listen to him. You are not ugly.”
That seemed to stop Mattie’s tears like magic and she lowered her chin a little, just so she could look at this sweet young man.
“You… you do not think my nose is broken, do you?” she said as she touched the bridge of her nose.
He shook his head, daring to take the cloth away to see if her nose was still bleeding. “It is not broken,” he said. “But you took a good fall. You should find your mother and tell her what happened. She can make a compress for you to keep the swelling down.”
Mattie smiled at him, feeling better with his kindness.
The fact that he was easy on the eyes seemed to be the best medicine of all.
He was a big lad with nearly black hair, rather ruddy skin, as if he spent most of his days in the sun, and eyes of the palest green she’d ever seen.
They only time she’d ever seen a color that bright was when lightning bolted across the sky or the flame in the hearth was blinding.
There was something mesmerizing about his eyes.
Kind eyes, she thought.
He was kind.
“I will send one of my friends to fetch her,” she said, tearing her eyes off him long enough to send one of the hovering girls running for Lady Hensingham. “You have been very kind, my lord. You did not have to help me.”
Somewhere over in the pile of young men, Percy emitted a cry for mercy that was quickly silenced. Gar grinned at the sound of it.
“Of course I did,” he said. “You were set upon by a foul beast, who is now more than likely wishing he’d not been so dastardly. We do not take kindly to men who mistreat women.”
“That is very chivalrous.”
He shrugged. “It is the right thing to do,” he said. “Women are weaker creatures. They must be protected.”
He was regurgitating what he’d been taught, but he sounded as if he meant it. Meanwhile, over in the skirmish, two of the de Wolfe brothers were hauling Percy to his feet and shoving him onto the nearest bench. He couldn’t stay upright, however, and toppled onto the ground.
The de Wolfe boys simply stood there and looked at him.
Maksim, however, didn’t care about his victim. He came over to his sister, rubbing at his bloodied knuckles, and looked at her with concern.
“Did he hurt you badly?” he asked.
Mattie shook her head. “Not too badly,” she said. “Who is he, Max?”
Maksim wasn’t convinced that she didn’t have one foot in the grave. He peered down at her, looking at her eyes, which were already starting to darken underneath with the starting of a bruise. He sighed sharply, with displeasure.
“That’s Percy de Vries,” he said. “I heard Papa speaking with his father earlier today when he asked if you were betrothed to anyone. Papa said you were too young and Lord de Vries seemed to take that personally.”
Mattie peered around her brother, at the body still on the ground as the de Wolfe men kicked at him. One of them was even kicking dirt on him, trying to bury him like a dog burying a bone.
“He… he is angry with me for being young?” she said, confused. “But Mama says that I almost a woman. Why would Papa say such a thing?”
Maksim scowled. “Because he does not want you to marry Percy de Vries,” he said, stating the obvious. “You do not want any part of that family. They are mean and stupid, and I should think what Percy just did to you would be proof of that.”
Mattie wasn’t quite sure what to say after that. She looked at Gar, who simply nodded. “’Tis true,” he said. “Everyone knows that the de Vries family behave like lowborn.”
“But they are nobles.”
“They live like pigs,” Gar said. “The only reason they’re here is because they have a big army, or so my father says.”
“Who is your father?”
“Troy de Wolfe.”
Maksim pointed at Gar. “That is the kind of betrothed you want,” he told his sister. “A de Wolfe is the most sought-out husband in the north. You do not want a de Vries, Mattie, trust me.”
Mattie peered around her brother again in time to see the de Wolfe men heaving Percy onto the end of the table.
The young man was so beaten that he couldn’t sit up, so they simply laid him on the table.
Gingerly, Mattie touched her nose, realizing that it was beginning to throb.
The events of the day had already taken a toll on her and the day wasn’t even over yet. Her focus returned to Gar.
“You have been very kind, my lord,” she said with appreciation. “I do not think I want to wait for my mother to attend me. I will retreat to the keep, if you will excuse me.”
Gar stood up as Maksim helped his sister to her feet. “I’ll take you,” Maksim said, grasping her by the arm. “Can you walk well enough?”
Mattie could have been honest with him. She felt well enough, but she could also see Gar out of the corner of her eye and she wasn’t quite yet willing to part with him.
He’d touched her with his chivalry, which wasn’t difficult at her age.
She spent her time being harassed by Maksim when he wasn’t defending her, so a gentle and kind young man had her little heart fluttering.
“I… I think if both you and Gar help me, I shall make it,” she said. “I feel a little faint.”
That brought Gar. He took her left arm, as Maksim had her right, and they began to walk her very slowly back toward the keep. All the while, Mattie feigned weakness and, at one point, even pretended to stumble so Gar would hold her arm more tightly. It worked, because he did.
Smiling to herself, she let Gar and Maksim take her all the way to the keep steps.
At that point, Gar had to let her go. She thanked him again and Maksim helped her inside, all the way to her bed, where she wearily lay down.
Maksim wandered off to find a servant to help her remove her shoes and make her comfortable, so Mattie had plenty of time to lie there, staring at the ceiling and dreaming warm, little dreams about Gar de Wolfe.
That is the kind of betrothed you want.
If her father was already thinking about marriage for her, then perhaps he needed to know.
Better lock down Gar before someone else did.
Margaret de Reyne was horrified when she saw her daughter and heard the story of Percy de Vries and his deliberate actions.
She went so far as to send for her husband so he could see the de Vries lad’s handiwork.
Reece de Reyne was predictably upset about it, his anger focused on the de Vries son, until Mattie tactically informed him about Gar de Wolfe’s kindness toward her.
Surely her injuries would have been much worse had Gar not protected her.
Mattie leaned heavily into Gar’s actions, going so far as to mention he’d make some woman a wonderful husband someday.
Perhaps even her.
Mattie was young, that was true, but she wasn’t too young for a betrothal.
Even Reese knew that. It hadn’t really been on his mind until de Vries brought it up, but now…
now, Mattie had him thinking about it. A de Wolfe husband for his daughter?
He couldn’t ask for finer. Gar de Wolfe was Troy de Wolfe’s eldest son with his second wife, the daughter of a clan chief.
He had Scots in him, but he was all English.
He was a young man with a big future ahead of him.
Why not Gar for his Mattie?
Troy de Wolfe wasn’t in attendance because Gar had come with Patrick de Wolfe, Troy’s younger brother.
As soon as Reece returned to the great hall, he started in on Patrick about a betrothal between Gar and Mattie, linking two longtime allies with an unbreakable familial bond.
Gar wasn’t Patrick’s son, and he thought he was a little young to be betrothed, but he agreed that the alliance would be beneficial.
That was all the ammunition Reece needed to approach Troy, a man considered by most to be someone of little humor and abrasive in manner.
Troy, surprisingly, didn’t think his son was too young for a betrothal, especially when Reese sweetened the deal with a landed title for Gar that had come through Mattie’s mother and a dowry in the thousands.
Before the year was out, Mattie got her wish.
Gar de Wolfe had become her betrothed, which was something she would remember when she came of age and saw Gar again for the first time in twelve years right before their wedding.
Be careful what you wish for.
In this case, it happened to be true.