being infidelity, which, as you know, would have serious consequences.”
“Yes, I believe death would qualify as fairly serious.”
“But,” he said, “she may divorce me.”
“On what grounds?”
“Neglect, physical abuse, infidelity and a few other horrid crimes I forget at the moment.”
“You aren’t guilty of any of those!” Isabel said. “Okay, maybe one, but she started it!”
“What does it matter? We can agree on whate’er she wants to claim.” He stopped. “With the exception of infidelity, because I will not allow you to be involved.”
“Arthur, do you hear what you’re saying? You are going to allow her to accuse you of crimes you have not committed?”
He waved. “I care not what accusation she decides upon. The people who know me will realize ’tis not true. The point is that Gwen is free to dissolve our marriage with no harm to her or Lance, and I will be free to make you my wife, which, Isabel, is what I desire most in the world at the moment.” He smiled. “I want to proclaim to the world that you are mine, that we are one. I no longer want the pretense of what we had to endure this eve.”
“You would rather endure being labeled a wife beater?”
“I do not care! People may call me anything they want. I will be free to marry you.”
Isabel didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Arthur, I love you so much.”
He looked down at her and his smile disappeared. “I’ll take Do Not Care to Hear a ‘But’ After That Sentence for a thousand, Alex.”
Well, damn,
“I don’t want you taking the blame for something you didn’t do, Arthur.”
“If it wins me freedom to marry you, it matters not.”
“It matters to me.”
He shoved his hand through his hair. “Dammit, Isabel, what do we do? I do not want to hide my feelings for you. I do not want to pretend to be happy in a marriage that is a sham.”
“Change the law,” Isabel said softly. “You are the king, it shouldn’t be that hard.”
He rubbed his neck. “Harder than you think, Isabel. I cannot take out my sword and whisk it around and say, ‘I have changed the laws of the land because it suits my purposes and desires.’”
“Too bad, huh?” Isabel said. “Being king is not all it’s cracked up to be.”
He shrugged. “I suppose I
“That would be called a dictator.”
“A what?”
“An evil ruler who changes laws for his own gain.”
“I do not ever care to become one of those.”
“Arthur, if you were, there is no way I could possibly love you. It is the man you are that I love. We’ll figure this out. We will.”
That made plenty of sense. She banged her head to get herself back into reality. Or at least this reality.
“Tell me this, Arthur. What brought this on?” Isabel asked him
He sat down on her bed. “As I witnessed the vows betwixt James and Mary, I was envious, wishing that it was you and me in their place. Do not mistake me, I am very, very happy for those two. But I could not help but feel that it should have been us.”
She sat down beside him and took his hand, intertwining their fingers. “I felt that way as well.”
“It grows worse,” he said, his thumb caressing her palm as he seemed to always do. And which she loved. “When I called Gwen up as my queen and wife, I nearly spoke your name.”
“Oh, Arthur!”
“It was so wrong, Isabel. All upside down. It should have been you standing aside me. ’Twas you who scrubbed and directed the kitchen staff and—”
“Hold on, sport. Gwen worked her tail off, too, to pull this off in record time. Please don’t discredit her part.”
“No, I do not. I know that Gwen worked very hard as well. It is just that you received so little recognition for all you did. I was forced to call Gwen up to stand with me. And as much as I admire Gwen’s contribution, I only know that the woman I wanted at my side, nay, the woman I wished was standing afore me exchanging those vows, was Isabel. I know it is very nasty I would feel this way, and I am ashamed. But ’tis how I feel right now, and the funny part of this is, you are the only one I feel safe admitting this to. When it is your heart that I hope to win. Stupid way of going about that, is it not?”
“Perfect way of going about that.”
He glanced at her sideways. “Am I batty or are you?”
Her free hand slid up his arm. “Probably both of us.” She settled farther back on the bed. “Look, I believe that what attracted us to one another was our ho—”
Whoa, she backed up on that one. Her entire life here was a lie. “Was that we could be honest about our feelings.”
He was still staring down, but he grinned. “It did not hurt overmuch that I thought you the most beautiful woman I had e’er laid eyes upon.”
“You definitely need to get your vision checked, Arthur.”
He chuckled. “My eyesight is just fine, Countess. It might have improved since you arrived.”
“Flatterer.”
He shook his head, still laughing softly. “Oh, Isabel, you have no idea the amount of my men that James and I have had to ward off from you.”
“James and you?”
“James has my back. He knows my feelings and he anticipates what I care for. He would no more allow anyone at Camelot to try to court you than he’d allow someone to look at his Mary.”
“But—”
“He believes we belong together, Isabel. Is he wrong?”
“No.”
They sat together in silence for several minutes. Finally Arthur rose. “I realize how exhausted you are. I will not bother you any more tonight, beautiful lady.”
“Wait!”
“Yes, love?”
“I still need help out of this freaking gown. And . . . and, it’s true I’m too exhausted to even consider making love. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want you to hold me. Please stay.”
His grin was exhausted as well, but he pulled her up and turned her around. “I will take the Two Words I Wanted to Hear from Isabel’s Lips for a thousand, Alex.”
“What is, ‘Please stay.’”
“Correct!”
She was naked and in bed fast. It took Arthur a while longer as he was wearing what she decided was a
