Arissa stiffened, catching sight of a very tall, armorless man as broad as a tree. Her mouth opened in surprise. “He cannot play this game!” she suddenly leapt to her feet. “What in the world is he doing?”
Emma and Penelope rose beside her. “Why can’t he play? He’s played many a time before,” Penelope said.
Arissa thought a moment before replying. In her opinion, he couldn’t play because he might become injured and she would surely die if anything happened to him. Especially now that their relationship had passed to heights she had never believed possible. But she refrained from mentioning the truth, a secret far too precious to divulge.
“Because…. well, he simply cannot.” She gathered her skirts. “I must talk to him.”
Penelope and Emma watched her trudge toward the field. Emma leaned toward her friend. “She’s afraid he will injure himself.”
Penelope nodded. “Poor Riss. In love with a man she can never have.”
Emma nodded slowly. “I wonder if she will forget about him after she joins the convent.”
Penelope cast her a long glance. “Would you?”
Emma met her gaze before returning her attention to the field. “Poor Riss,” she repeated.
Arissa marched to the edge of the turf, sending a soldier running for Richmond. He was in the center of the field, whacking the life out of the small leather ball. When the soldier approached him and uttered a few words, his head snapped to Arissa with dizzying speed. Immediately, he relinquished the ball to another player.
He jogged towards her, clad in a simple tunic, hose and knee-high leather boots. It was extremely rare to see him out of armor at any given moment, but to be without protection in a public forum was nearly unheard of.
Arissa watched him approach, thinking him to be far more glorious without his armor; his shoulders were exceedingly broad and his waist narrow. When she remembered the feel of his lips against hers, the tenderness in his magnificent touch, her cheeks flushed anew. She could still scarcely believe it.
And neither could he. Although Richmond was trying to maintain a neutral expression as he approached her, it was extremely difficult. He hadn’t seen her for over an hour and was desperate to taste her again. Her soft expression told him of her very similar thoughts, weakening his control further.
“Is something amiss, my lady?”
She gestured at the stick in his hand. “What do you think you are doing?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “That should be fairly obvious.”
She frowned. “I do not want you to play. ’Tis a rough sport and you might…. well, you should leave the playing to the soldiers.”
A shadow of a smile played on his lips. “What you mean to say is that I am too old and might injure myself.”
“I did not say that. But I certainly do not want you to hurt yourself.”
The smile escaped and his mouth curved. “Riss, I have been playing this game for years. Moreover, you have watched meplay this game for years,” he took a step closer, leaning casually on his stick. “Kitten, if you start showing an over amount of concern for my welfare, people might become suspicious.”
She gazed up at him, suddenly uncertain. She refrained from glancing about to see who might be watching them. “I did not mean to….oh, Richmond, I do not want you to play this silly game. It is too rough!”
He scratched his chin nonchalantly. “Your concern is touching, Riss, truly. But you worry overmuch. Now, return to Penelope and Emma and if I discover you have told them of our…. uh, conversation this afternoon, I shall blister your lovely bottom. Is that clear?”
She pursed her lips wryly. “If you can catch me, my lord.”
He cocked a serious eyebrow. “What happened between us is not fodder for gossips, Riss. You shall never know how serious it is.”
She relented somewhat, her features softening. “I do indeed realize how serious it is. They shall not hear a word from my lips.”
His eyes glittered. “And delicious lips they are. I should know.”
Tad suddenly ran past, cracking the leather ball so hard that the sound made Arissa wince. Her gaze as well as Richmond’s followed the young knight.
“Why is he still here?” she asked quietly.
Richmond sighed, toying with his stick. “Your father spoke with Lord de Rydal and it was decided that Tad would take his leave discreetly after the Stick and Ball game rather than to be abruptly hustled from Lambourn. Lord de Rydal was concerned that Tad not appear as an unwelcome element whom your father is eager to be rid of, instead, allowing the knight to leave with the majority of his pride intact.”
She watched Tad handle himself aggressively on the field; he was a large man and quite strong. Bartholomew tried to intercept the ball and was sent to the ground.
