now. Maybe that was part of her role. To help heal him.
She looked up at him and raised her hands to attempt to smooth the distress. The muscles in his jaw were clenching, his eyes begging for answers.
“Arthur—”
“Tell me true, Isabel.”
“Listen to me. Mary has become my trusted friend. She knows me better than anyone here.”
“Yes?”
“Who do you think she was clearing the way for? Who do you think she felt I would want to spend time with privately?”
“Every man here would want to be with you. I could not even begin to count—”
“Arthur. Who do you believe Mary would be convinced I would wish to be alone with?”
She watched as the lightbulb finally switched on in the big dumb man’s head. It was a hilarious sight to behold, but she knew laughing at this point would not be a good idea.
“Me?” he said.
“The man wins the duh prize.”
“She was attempting to give you and me time alone?”
She shook her head. “As was James, dummy. They conspired to allow us to spend time together without being interrupted.”
“There is no other?” he asked.
Her heart broke. She placed a hand over his. “I know you’ve been hurt, Arthur. But we will go nowhere while you keep suspecting that I might be the next to hurt you.”
He took her hand and kissed her fingers, then placed it right back against his beating heart. “I am so sorry, Isabel. I know not how to properly ask for your forgiveness.”
She could think of several ways. But first things first.
“You told me today that you confided in me because you felt you could trust me.”
“’Tis true.”
“And yet tonight, that trust was gone.”
He frowned. Really frowned. “Not true. It was a totally different matter, Isabel. I trusted you with private matters.”
“Have I broken that trust?”
“No, of course not. Still, ’tis not the same.”
“Tell me, what is so different?”
“You have so many men friends. You have all of my men wanting to do anything to make you happy. You even made my son learn what loyalty means. Something I have ne’er been able to do.”
“Your point?”
He looked down and then finally up. “So many men want you, Isabel. It eats at me.”
Isabel sat down. “Just what happened today in the woods, Arthur?”
“I admitted my feelings for you,” he said.
“And?”
“And you also said what you felt for me.”
“Was I lying?”
“It would hurt beyond imagination should that be a lie.”
“Yet you still harbor doubts.” Isabel stood up. “Mary was trying to give us time alone. It would have been perfect. You could have shown me how to undress you. We could have made love. But you are so sure I’m just as other women, that trust you said you felt was not entirely true, was it?”
“Please do not let us end the evening this way, Isabel. I have made so many mistakes, and I am sorry for them all. But you told me you loved me this very day, and I am not allowing you to take that back because I am a . . . dolt? Then I am a dolt. But that does not mean I do not love you as much as I do.
“I answer to my mistakes, Isabel, but my feelings for you I refuse to say are wrong. You tell me, how, if you indeed return my feelings, as you said this day, that you can turn your back on me now?”
Isabel didn’t think she’d ever love another man like Arthur. Stupid as she might be, she turned to look at him.
“There are no other men, Arthur. Tom, Dick and Harry are friends. As for others here in the castle, I believe you are a bit overly concerned on that front. Not a single one of your men has made an inappropriate move or said an inappropriate word to me. Well, maybe Mordred, but we took care of that. The others in your realm? They have been nothing but complete gentlemen.”
“I see the way they look at you. I hear what they say during skills practice. I nearly knocked Edward down with my sword just yesterday. Too many dream of getting close to you. I can barely hold back my anger at the thought that any might try.”
“And I see castle maids nearly swoon every time you swagger into a room. I hear them giggle and comment on the fact that they work for the most handsome king in all the world. Do I accuse you of being inappropriate with any of them?”
“I would ne’er!”
“Well, I would ne’er, either!” she said.
They stood at a standoff, practically glaring at each other. She felt like she was in the medieval OK Corral.
Isabel took a deep, calming breath. “There is no other, Arthur. Not here, and not back in Ok—in Dumont. If you wish, you may interrogate Tom, Dick or Harry. They will tell you the same thing. In fact, they would all probably laugh at the notion.”
He cocked his head. “Why is that? You are so beautiful and smart and funny. I would think you would have suitors lining up for a chance to court you. To ask for your hand.”
Isabel laughed. “You would be wrong. I am so busy on various assignments, I have no time.”
“Assignments?”
She waved. “You know, countessing things.”
Finally, finally, his lips curved in a smile. “Countessing things.”
“Yes, you know. ‘Hey, you! You do this.’ And, ‘Hey, you! You do that.’”
“Ah, yes, countessing things.”
“Right. Just as you are busy doing kingly things.”
“Right. Where I say, ‘Hey, you. You do this.’ And, ‘Hey, you. You do that.’”
“Exactly.”
His smile bloomed into his full-blown, heart-melting grin. “I understand.”
Sure he did. Even she didn’t understand the babble she’d just blurted out.
He looked down. “Then why me? Why now?”
Men. Ego stroking apparently had not begun during her generation. It was an age-old tradition.
She touched his arm. “The why you is easy. Because I felt the same as you did the moment I laid eyes on you. Quite before I had any idea who you were.”
“I was there, Isabel. I saw your face. You feared me.”
“Because you startled me. You have a way of silently approaching that is awesome. But the moment you smiled at me, Arthur, I was toast.”
“Toast.”
“Smitten. Taken with you. Attracted to you.”
“Oh. Appears I like this toast thing. Then I, too, was toast.”
She nodded, hiding a smile. “As for why now, who knows, Arthur? As you said, fate perhaps. Would I have chosen to fall for a very married king? I don’t think so. Especially one who was still grieving over . . . well, things.
“I did not choose the time, the place, the man. In fact, the last thing I was supposed to do was fall for King Arthur.” Boy, that sure was true. “But I cannot help or decide what happens or why.”
