Surely it is only obligation he feels!
“Ye jest with me,” she said, her cheeks flushing again. “And other than my English cousins, ye’re the worthiest knight I’ve ever heard of. By the way, what’s a Blackchurch?”
His smile grew. “It’s simply Blackchurch,” he said. “Or, the Blackchurch Guild. It is a training guild where one learns to become the best knight in the world.”
“Is it difficult?”
“If you truly wish to know, I’d be happy to tell you sometime.”
“Why not now?”
He looked around. “Because it is dark and it is cold,” he said. “All proper young ladies should be in bed.”
“Yet I’m not,” Annaleigh said. “I’m here with ye. If ye send me back tae bed now, I’ll spend all night wondering what a Blackchurch is. Ye wouldna do that tae me, would ye?”
He flashed his teeth as he laughed softly. “Nay, I would not do that to you intentionally,” he said. “Where shall I begin?”
Annaleigh knew that she had him in her power now. She could see it in his eyes. He was willing to do whatever she asked and she realized it was a frightening amount of power. But he was doing it so willingly, so kindly. Surely tomorrow would see her power ended, but while she had it, she was going to enjoy it.
And him.
She pulled the shawl tighter against the night air.
“From the beginning,” she said. “Tell me where ye were born and where ye lived as a lad. Then ye can tell me how ye came tae the Blackchurch and everything about it.”
His eyebrows lifted. “You want my entire life story?”
She averted her gaze and looked away. “’Tis too much tae ask,” she said. “I’m very sorry. I was simply enjoying the conversation.”
She started to stand up but he put an enormous hand on her arm, stopping her. “I did not mean it that way,” he said quickly. “I am simply in awe that such a fine lady should be curious about me.”
Annaleigh was a smart girl. She knew how to flirt, and how to bend a man to her will, when the mood struck her. She didn’t use those charms very often, if at all, but they seemed to come naturally with War. And, like a weakling, he succumbed. Fighting off a grin, she sat back down.
“Of course I am,” she said. “Ye’re the commander of Bamburgh Castle, a knight sent by Henry himself. Ye must have dozens of ladies throwing themselves at yer feet, wanting tae know yer life story.”
A smile played on his lips as he looked at her. “Are you one of them?”
“I asked ye, didna I?”
His grin broke through. “Mostly, I ignore those women,” he said. “But you… I will not ignore you.”
She smiled because he was. Maybe he understood what she was doing, just a little, and he was more than willing to go along with it.
Morethan willing.
“Good,” she said. “Then tell me from the beginning. Where were ye born and why were ye named Warwick?”
He settled in for a long and hopefully meaningful conversation. “I was born in Suffolk and named for WarwickCastle,” he said. “My father fostered there as a child and had fond memories of the place.”
“Where did ye grow up?”
He told her.
It was Jordan who came looking for her young cousin about an hour later. She’d gone to check on Annaleigh to see how her bellyache was faring and when she found her bed empty, her first destination was the great hall. In order to get to the hall, however, she had to pass by the walled garden. Glancing through the gate was simply a habit, as she always did that, but in this case, it paid off.
She found her wayward cousin.
And with the very knight she’d hoped there might be an attraction for.
