For Love And Honor Read Online Free

dreamed of foreign lands, and now
she would see them. She would cross the Narrow Sea to Normandy and
follow the pilgrim route into glamorous, mysterious Spain, where
Saracens lived. She might even see a Saracen in flowing robes,
mounted upon his fleet steed, or gaze upon the fabled cities of
Moorish Spain. Bedazzled by the prospect, she almost convinced
herself that she wanted to marry Crispin, until she saw Alain watching her. Then
her heart constricted with a painful twist, and all thought of
travel and an interesting life beyond the gates of Banningford
Castle crumpled downward into ashes.
     
    * * * *
*
     
    “Art moonstruck?” Piers clapped a hand on
Alain’s shoulder.
    “Does it show?” It was no use trying to keep
anything from Piers. His eyes were sharp and his quick thoughts
went to the nub of every problem.
    “To me it shows,” Piers said. “But I think
Crispin has not noticed yet. At the moment he’s divided between
concentrating on his lady and paying respectful attention to her
father’s rantings.”
    “I’d hide my feelings from both of them. I’d
not hurt Crispin or Joanna, or make either unhappy for my
sake.”
    “If I were you, I’d watch the lady’s father
too,” Piers advised. “I think he has noticed your interest in his
daughter.”
    “Thank you.” Alain forced a smile. Trying to
sound like his usual carefree self, he said, “Let’s eat and drink;
let’s celebrate Crispin’s coming nuptials.”
    “Don’t drink too much, lest you speak amiss
when the wine fills your head and say something you ought to keep
to yourself.”
    “You were not always so cautious before you
became a knight, old Sir Piers,” said Alain, laughing now.
    “All’s not as it should be in this place.
There is something strange about Radulf’s determination to keep his
daughter and son-in-law at home. I think he is truly angry about
Crispin’s plans to travel to Normandy and to stay away for several
years. From what I’ve seen of Radulf so far, I doubt if it’s
because he loves his daughter too much to part with her for
long.”
    “ Who
would not love her?” Fortunately, Alain’s voice was too soft for
anyone but Piers to hear him. He watched Crispin lead Joanna to the
high table. “What a sweet and lovely lady she is. See how
gracefully she moves, how her face lights when she smiles. And her
hair – dear God, that
wondrous , golden hair!”
    “Have a care.” Piers’s voice was as quiet as
Alain’s own, but the note of warning was sharp and clear, and it
sobered Alain at once.
    “Aye,” Alain said, linking his arm with
Piers’s and pulling him toward the tables, “I have always found
your advice to be well-spoken. I’ll heed it now.”
    But for
the immediate future heeding Piers’s excellent advice was clearly
going to be difficult, for at that instant Crispin saw them, and at
his insistence extra seats were brought so they could both be placed at the high table among the most favored guests, with Piers next to a pretty young
noblewoman and Alain beside Joanna.
    At first she did not look at him. She could
not bear to. Fearing he would see how her hands trembled, she ate
little, but sat with her right hand tightly covering the bracelet
on her left wrist, hoping thus to keep them still. She averted her
eyes, looking toward Crispin, who ate meat pie and a large slice of
roasted ox with healthy relish and without seeming to notice her
discomfort.
    “I hope Lady Rohaise did not mind the change
in seating,” Crispin remarked between bites of meat. “I could not
let my kinsmen sit at the lower tables.”
    “Of course not.” Then, realizing what he had
said, she added, “I did not know they were related to you. I
thought they were but friends.”
    “ They are
friends, and much more besides.” Crispin lifted his silver goblet
for a servant to refill it, then drank deeply before he went on in
the serious, solemn way she was beginning to think was his
natur al manner of speaking. “We three