Page 14 of The Champion

“Are you all right?” Kit asked as he helped her catch her balance.

Her face flushing from embarrassment, she nodded. “Aye, that was just the last name I expected to hear from your lips.”

And no wonder Kit was starved for intelligent conversation. From the stories of she’d heard, his brother was no doubt the type of man who could barely speak of anything save war and his prowess on the field. She could just imagine Stryder posturing in his armor.

Why, I have the biggest sword in all the kingdom. Come, milady, and let me show it to you...

That was the most creative and crude seduction men of his kith could manage.

And if she heard it one more time during her lifetime, she might very well take up swordsmanship on her own just to thrash them for it.

How she hated listening to men who carried on and on about their glorious victories and daring do.

Never mind the size of their...

Assets.

“Why not?” Kit asked, his voice laden in irony. “His name seems to be on the lips of everyone else here this evening.”

“This is very true. But I must confess that I don’t even know which of the men he is. Not that I care, mind you. I’ve heard his description enough these past hours that I swear I could draw a perfect sketch of him.”

He snorted. “Even if you couldn’t, just look for the man with the largest amount of arrogance and you will undoubtedly be looking straight at him.” He winked, then smiled teasingly at her.

Kit was handsome in a very pretty way. Like a dark angel. His features were so finely boned, his limbs long and willowy. A man of pure refinement and grace, Kit moved slow and gently.

He paused at a long, trestle table and pulled a bench out for her.

Rowena swept before the bench, sat, then adjusted the skirt of her scarlet gown around her. Kit took the seat to her right, then motioned for a page to bring them wine.

“If his company is as oafish as the others of his kind why have you been traveling with him?”

Kit cleared his throat. “I never said his company was oafish, my love. Only that he has a single mind about his duties.”

“Of killing people.”

“Of protecting them.”

She frowned at the strange note in his voice as he spoke. “You defend a knight, Kit? When last we spoke you shared my view of them and of war.”

“I still despise war and those who partake pleasure from it, but Stryder is my brother and I respect him and his decisions.”

Rowena wrinkled her nose at his noble words, but then that was Kit. Loyal unto the end. “How is it you came to travel with him?”

Kit looked a bit sheepish. “I had nowhere else to go. Michael refuses to allow me entrance to his home. Even for a night.”

The news surprised her. “Your own brother turned you out?”

“Aye, he never cared much for my bastard status or me personally. No sooner had I returned home from my travels abroad than he said he couldn’t afford to feed a man who wouldn’t fight to protect his lands. Since I know little of holding a sword, I found myself escorted off his lands and told never to return.”

Anger welled up inside her. How dare anyone treat their brother that way. She had expected better than that from Michael de Montgomerie. “That onerous beast!”

“My thoughts were a great deal harsher than that, but ‘twas along the same lines.” Kit leaned back as a page appeared and reached for his goblet to fill it with wine.

Rowena waited while the page poured their cups. Once the boy left, she renewed her conversation. “What did you do?”

Kit took a sip of wine, then set the cup back on the table. “I did the only thing I knew how to, I started singing for my supper.”

That sounded wonderful to her. Oh, but to be a man who could do such...