After Justin left, Isabel missed him terribly and in rebellion refused to learn any of the household skills her grandmother tried to teach her. It was summer, and Isabel continued to roam the forest and swim in the pond that she had shared with Justin.
Isabel’s loneliness ended when she met Emma. The daughter of one of her father’s tenant farmers, Emma turned out to be a kindred spirit. Isabel initiated Emma into the pleasures of the secluded pond, and before long the two girls became inseparable. A few years later when Emma married, she showed her husband the secret pond and taught him to swim. Isabel had tried not to be jealous, but it was hard to lose her exclusive relationship with Emma.
Even in the cool water, Isabel’s face flushed when she remembered seeing Emma and Derek together. She had never told her friend she had happened upon them one hot summer evening. As she watched, the swimmers emerged from the water. Both were naked, a fact that surprised Isabel as she and Emma always kept their shifts on when they swam. When Derek began to caress Emma’s breasts, the sight made Isabel’s own breasts tingle with longing, and she had fled.
Although Isabel hadn’t watched for long, the scene had made a lasting impression. The memory returned as she stretched out her arms and twisted her hips to propel herself slowly across the pond. Loving the freedom her body possessed in the water, she closed her eyes. Touching her own breasts, she tried to imagine what it would feel like to have a man touch her the way Derek had touched Emma.
A shadow suddenly alerted Isabel that someone was near. Lifting her head, she gasped at the sight of a soldier looming above her on the shore. His face was shaded from view because the sun was behind him, but his hair was lit from behind. A halo seemed perched above his golden hair.
Struggling to secure her footing on the sandy bottom of the pond, Isabel lost her balance. The deep water closed over her head. When she resurfaced, her hair covered her eyes. Quickly pushing it away, she searched the shore. In the few seconds it had taken her to clear her eyes, the vision had evaporated.
Fear quickly replaced her excitement. Perhaps it hadn’t been her champion. Was a soldier hiding, waiting to spring upon her?
Not eager to tempt fate, Isabel leapt out of the water and grabbed her gown. She pulled it over her wet shift and was already running as it fell into place. As she rushed toward Emma’s cottage, she tried to reconstruct what had taken place so quickly. She hadn’t had a chance to see his face, but she was sure the outline of the figure she’d seen had a sword hanging at its side. She had no doubt it was a soldier. Remembering her movements in the water, she bit her lip. How long had he been watching her?
Lifting her long skirts out of the way of her bare feet, Isabel pushed herself to run faster. In her haste she had left her slippers and outer vest at the pond. By the time she reached Emma’s open door, she was panting for breath. Unable to speak, Isabel flopped down on the straw pallet in the corner of the one-room cottage.
“You shouldn’t be running in this heat,” Emma chided absentmindedly. Accustomed to Isabel’s sudden arrivals, she continued settling her babe in his cradle in a dark corner.
Although Isabel was the daughter of Lord Theodoric, and Emma the wife of a tenant farmer, a stranger would have trouble telling which was which. Most of the time, Isabel adopted peasant dress and left her hair free of the head covering her grandmother insisted was proper attire for a noblewoman. Only her thick, long dark curls and delicate features suggested her noble heritage.
“Emma,” Isabel gasped out between pants. “Listen. At the pond . . .”
“You went swimming without me?” Emma’s eyes narrowed. “Why didn’t you come fetch me? I could have brought the babe.”
Ignoring her words, Isabel pushed her wild hair away from her heat-flushed face and blurted out, “There was a soldier at the pond.” She was satisfied to see that her words had captured her friend’s full attention.
Quickly pouring Isabel a cup of water, Emma sat beside her on the pallet. “Just calm down. There was talk in the village. I heard a company of soldiers arrived today. How could one of them find the pond? What happened? Are you all right?”
Isabel noted the worry lines on Emma’s forehead. It was clear her friend was remembering the day the soldiers had surrounded Isabel.
“Nothing happened,” Isabel assured Emma. Her heart slowed and she took a long drink. “I was swimming when something caught my eye. A shadow over the pond. When I looked up, I saw an outline—nothing more, as the sun was behind him. It was a soldier with a golden halo.”
“Saints preserve us,” Emma declared in a disgusted voice. “Not that again.” She began to stand up, but Isabel grabbed her arm.
“This was no silly imagining. I really did see him, Emma. But, just as last time, I didn’t see his face.”
Shaking her head with resignation, Emma settled down again. “Isabel, your obsession rules your life. If it was a soldier, it’s good that you ran away. But it could have been anyone.”
“I know that, Emma. No obsession rules my life,” she protested.
Emma narrowed her eyes. “Eight years ago, you sent Lord Frederick away.”
Isabel interrupted before her friend could continue. “He was old, Emma. You have a short memory. At the time, you thought I should discourage the match.”
“It’s how you discouraged it that worries me. You let him believe the soldiers defiled you.”
Isabel shrugged. “He noticed the scar and asked what happened.”
“You could have hidden the scar. Or you could have told a tale. You don’t usually have problems in that area.”
“I don’t lie, if that’s what you mean. Sometimes I embroider the
