Eliza Knight - The Rules of Chivalry Read Online Free Page B

short, his eyes riveted on her . Suddenly he felt like a little boy spying on his first love. But this was no little boy’s heart warming toward a female. No, this was much different.
    “ Elena …” he whispered.
    A sheer gold hood covered part of her hair, but he’d know those wavy honey-hued locks anywhere. She stood with a retinue of ladies, looking just as regal as he remembered her. He frowned, his hands fisting at his sides. What he knew of her now was only through a third party—a mutual friend. She looked so full of pride, not like anything he would have guessed from the missive. A slow smile curved his lips. She was the same. Even at her lowest she would never let her back curve in defeat. The woman would go down with her chin held high, and her stance as battle ready as any knight.
    She turned toward him, the fairest beauty in all of Christendom. He ducked behind a stand full of oranges, apples and walnuts before she could see him. The last vision of her mossy green eyes flashed behind his closed lids.
    How was it a woman could do such a thing to a man? Michael was no simpering fool, but a fierce knight, and just looking at her had his stomach twisted into knots.  He had to get a hold of himself. Hell, if just seeing her did this to him, how was he to ask for her favors before the joust?
    Or face her in any social situation?
    Straightening and putting some sense into his mind and brusqueness into his form, Michael stepped from behind the stand with every intention of at least making eye contact.
    Before he could approach her, a strolling minstrel bounced in front of him.
    “Care to hear a ballad, sir? You must be in need of entertainment, your face is more strained than mine this morning in the privy,” the man laughed.
    Michael groaned inwardly and tried to walk around the minstrel but bystanders crowded around him, blocking his view of Elena . He wouldn’t be able to move without causing a scene. Attention toward himself was the last thing he wanted.
    He could do nothing but stand there and listen, his mood growing foul. The minstrel began reciting the ballad, Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight. With each word, Michael’s irritation burned another degree higher.
    “ Fair lady Isabel sits in her bower sewing. Aye as the wildflowers grow gay. There she heard an elf-knight blowing his horn. The first morning in May…”
    Michael tuned the man out and craned his neck, even pushing a few people aside for any sight of Elena . He met with no success, and only incurred several wrathful looks from those watching and listening to the minstrel.
    By the time the minstrel moved on and the crowd dispersed, she was nowhere to be seen. Just as well, he needed to prepare for his joust, and it would be best to get her out of his mind.
    That was of course, easier said, than done.
    *****
    Elena’s nerves prickled. Someone was watching her, someone always was. Her husband’s spies were everywhere. Turning to look through the crowd, she spotted a knight’s gaze fixed on her. But she wasn’t repulsed as she normally was with gaping knights—there was something familiar about his black wavy hair. She squinted, half in memory and half trying to decipher how she recognized the man. His eyes. Even from here she could see the depth of emotion clouded within them. She only knew one man with eyes as powerful as his. Bright blue by the irises, then slowly fading into a brilliant green. Flecks of gold sprinkled throughout. He was a little older, brawnier, having lost the boyish look she’s remembered.
    “Michael…” His name left her lips on a breath, and a smile curled her lips.
    Before he could come her way, he was blocked by the crowd. She searched the sea of faces for a moment, but he was lost to her.
    “Ladies, I am indeed in need of a scarf for a noble knight.”

 
     
    Chapter T wo
     
    E lena’s blood raced through her veins. She felt giddy, overjoyed—scared. When she’d written him months ago —trusting a knight