Page 40 of A Knight for Gwenllian

Despite her best efforts, she wasn’t sure she had managed to stop her voice from trembling. Peter looked just as wretched as she felt. Had he guessed why she was so distraught? She dearly hoped not.

“Of course.”

She could try her luck again another time. But what if something else required his attention then? Bethan and Cameron had decided to rest at Sheridan Manor because it was conveniently situated on the way to Castell Esgyrn, but they would not remain here more than a week. That had seemed short enough. And now she was told that instead of having half a dozen days—and nights—with Alexander, she might be lucky to get one.

She had worried about his reaction when he saw her. But she had not even thought they would not see each other at all.

Still, there was nothing to be done for now. She climbed onto her uncle’s mare and rode back through the gate.

Well, that visit to the village had been an utter waste of time. It might have been funny if it had not been so pathetic. But pathetic it had been, from beginning to end.

When a man had come to Audley early that morning to ask him to come settle an ongoing dispute between two of his friends, Alexander had imagined it would be something to do with a contested boundary between two fields, or the number of sheep supposedly stolen from a herd. He had not imagined that he would find two louts arguing about who was in possession of the biggest cock, or that he would be called upon to decide who was right.

And yet that was exactly what had happened. When he had arrived, the miller and the baker had been by the church in the middle of a large crowd, taunting one another with crude gestures and even more unsavory insults.

“I have the bigger one, and I will poke your eye out with it if you don’t concede,” a man whose clothes were covered in flour was saying. The miller or the baker? It was impossible to tell, as it could have been either.

“If you get it anywhere near my face, I’ll bite it right off,” his enemy countered with a sneer. “You’ve been warned.”

“Ha! You like stuffing your mouth with cock, then? Why am I not surprised?”

Alexander turned to the villager by his side, stunned. Was that the dispute he had been called to arbitrate? Surely not, and the men had only resorted to this crude display when the quarrel about the land had become too heated.

“Do not tell me that you dragged me all the way here so I could establish which of these two men has the biggest cock?” he asked, barely able to get the words out for anger and disbelief.

“Aye, my lord, I did.” The man was not shamefaced in the least. “The argument has been tearing the village apart. The miller refuses to deliver flour to the baker, so there is hardly enough bread to feed the weak and the children, never mind the rest of us, but even if we convinced him to relent, the baker refuses to bake bread made with the flour coming from the miller. It’s been going on for weeks. It has to stop.”

Unable to believe the absurdity of the situation but seeing that the feud would indeed create problems for the whole community, Alexander stepped in between the two men, who instantly went quiet.

“It appears that I am here to pass judgement on the size of your cocks and declare a winner.” This had to be the most ridiculous sentence he had ever uttered, but to his surprise, no one laughed, which told him that the situation really was as bad as the man had suggested. “Has no one here been able to do it?” he asked around.

Mutterings answered him, then a tentative voice called, “There’s not much in it, that’s the problem, and they won’t let us⁠—”

“Well, I see an easy way of establishing the truth,” Alexander cut out, patience finally at an end. “Take them out. If I cannot immediately see the difference, I’ll have to cut them off so we can place them side by side and measure them. Then we will know for sure. Not that either of you will care to be declared the winner by that point, I don’t think.”

He brought his hand to the hilt of this sword and placed himself in front of the man to his left, who blanched.

“No need to be so drastic, my lord. I volunteer to see the matter at rest,” a stout matron called out. This time, there were a few tentative laughs. “Though I doubt that any of them can match my Albert, I’m willing to take them both to bed and pass judgment.”

“Do that,” Alexander barked, already striding back to his horse. “And then tell everyone. If I hear that either man has contested your decision, I will be back, and I’ll make sure they regret disturbing me for something so trivial.” He vaulted into the saddle. “And there had better be bread for everyone on the morrow. I will be sure to send one of my men to check.”

Still fuming from the whole debacle, Alexander steered his horse into the forest. To add to his annoyance, this part of the woods was almost impenetrable, forcing him to be on constant alert for low branches and thorny bushes. He could have gone around, of course, but that would have meant a huge detour, a detour he didn’t want to make when he had already wasted so much time talking to two fools who thought that a man’s worth was measured by the size of the piece of flesh dangling between his legs.

As he was exiting the forest, he spotted a rider coming through the gate of Audley. His first instinct was to remain hidden amongst the trees. The last thing he wanted now was to get embroiled in yet another absurd conversation. He brought Starburst to a halt and sighed.

He was about to dismount when he saw that the visitor was a woman, a fact that his agitated mind had not registered at first, obvious though it was. Not only that, but she had long blonde hair that gleamed in the sun, the color reminiscent of buttercup petals. He was certain that she also had sparkling green eyes, the most tempting smile he had ever seen and a maddening scent.

Gone was the desire to hide and wait. He had to show himself, he had to go to her, now. Heart in his throat, he launched his mount into a gallop, heading straight to Gwenllian.

At the sound of Starburst’s hooves, she brought her horse to a halt and then turned it to the side, as if she were considering riding back to the safety of Audley. Had he scared her? Very possibly. He slowed down, but by then he was close enough for her to have recognized him, and she was facing him once more, a dazed look on her face.

She attempted a smile as he came to a halt in front of her. “Alexander,” she breathed.

He jumped down from his horse. “Gwenllian.”

She dismounted in turn.

It all happened naturally, as if they had been moved by an invisible hand that knew better than they did what they needed.