*
“Explain what hashappened to me so clearly that there will be no doubt in my mind as to what you have done,” David was struggling to keep his patience. “I am waiting, Gart.”
Gart stood just inside the door of the solar of Bellham, a lavish room that generations of de Lohr males had made their own. Now it belonged to David and his brother the earl, a pair that was deeply entrenched in the security of England. Gart always thought the room smelled of power, a scent somewhere between leather and smoke and hot steel. Right now, it wasa somewhat intimidating smell considering he was here to ask release from his oath. So far, things weren’t starting off in his favor.
“With your permission, my lord, I remained at Dunster Castle to become reacquainted with my best friend’s sister,” Gart began.
“I know that,” David snapped softly, leaning against his desk with his arms crossed. His expression was decidedly unfriendly. “Tell me something I do not know.”
Gart braced his legs apart, hands clasped behind his back. His manner was professional and non-emotional.
“I spent several weeks with the Lady Emberley de Moyon, my lord,” he continued. “I came to know her children as well. In spite of the fact that they attempted to rob anyone who entered the keep at Dunster, they are good boys. They will make fine knights.”
“Go on,” David urged impatiently.
Gart complied. “Although it was never my intention at the start, during the time I spent with Lady Emberley, I fell in love with the woman,” he finally met David’s gaze. “She is the most wonderful, kind and beautiful woman in the entire world and I love her with all my heart.”
David looked at him, waiting for more of an explanation. When nothing more was forthcoming, he lifted his eyebrows.
“And?” David demanded. “What else?”
Gart wasn’t sure what he meant but he continued. “And… and I intend to dissolve, break up or otherwise destroy her marriage to Buckland. The baron is a vile, repulsive excuse for a man and….”
David cut him off. “And hiswifeis pregnant withyourchild.”
Gart didn’t flinch. “Aye, m’lord.”
David just stared at him. Then he clenched his teeth and threw up his hands, pushing himself off the desk.
“You told me that you held no feelings for the woman,” he jabbed a finger at the knight. “You lied to me and wove me into your web of deceit.”
Gart was shaking his head before David even finished. “Untrue, my lord. I did not love her at the time we last spoke. That came much later.”
David grunted and growled, making a fist at Gart as if to punch him in the nose but then drawing back, running the same hand through his cropped blond hair. He was clearly agitated.
“I should, at the very least, turn you over to Buckland,” he growled. “It would serve you right for getting yourself into such foolish trouble. What on earth possessed you, Gart? You have always proven yourself to be far wiser than this. I would have never expected this from you, not in a million years.”
“If that is true, my lord, why did you send de Lara to Dunster to warn me of Buckland’s approach?”
David came to a halt, looking at him as if he truly wanted to punch him. But posturing was all he did, clenching his fists and growling to himself.
“Because I suspected you would still be there,” he told him, less bark out of his tone. “In fact, I was sure of it. I suppose all of this is my fault. When you asked me if you could stay at Dunster, I should not have allowed it. You told me that you held no feelings for the woman and I gave you the benefit of the doubt although I guess in hindsight, I did not believe you. I should have made you leave Dunster when I did.”
Gart could see that David wasn’t truly angry at him, simply at the mess the situation had become. Gart decided to lay it all on the line because at this point, he suspected honesty was the only thing de Lohr would be receptive to.
“Please believe me when I tell you that it was never my intention to do anything immoral or clandestine,” he lowered his voice to a beseeching tone. “In fact, even as I say that, it still doesnot seem wrong or immoral to me. I love the woman with all my heart and soul, as I also love those little ruffians she has raised. I love all of them, so much that I would die or kill a thousand times over for them. Buckland is an abominable, depraved man who flaunts his affair with the queen as if he is doing nothing wrong or immoral himself. He beats his wife senseless when the mood strikes him and has since the day they were married. Why is it wrong for me to love the woman and want to remove her from that hell?”
By this time, David was gazing at him with less anger and more understanding, reluctant though it might be. He sighed heavily.
“It is not as if I do not completely agree with your assessment of Buckland,” he said quietly. “But the fact remains that Lady Emberley is his wife. There is nothing you can do about that.”
“I can if you will help me.”
David’s eyebrows lifted. “Help you do what?”
Gart remained calm. “Help me persuade the Church to grant her a divorce.”
David looked at him as if he were mad. “That is impossible,” he said, “and even if it was possible, the Church would only grant a divorce to her husband and not to the lady. You know that the male is only considered in marital disputes– the wife is property. It would be no better if a horse asked to be given another master.”
