“Yeah, you already said that.”
He smiled. Was that envy he heard in her tone? Mayhap any woman would prefer not to be reminded there were other beautiful women in the world.
“Not only that, but she is also a capable woman and, like you, not afraid to speak her mind. She is brave and feisty. Before she came to Pradwick, she had not ridden a horse, and she confessed her fear of their size, but she did not flinch when Garlain lifted her into the saddle and once he explained how to use the reins and her body to guide the horse where she wanted it to go, she practiced every day at dawn until she could race Garlain and me and win.”
Briana’s eyes widened. “Where were your parents? They shouldn’t have let you race adults.”
Horland drew his brows together and glared at Briana. “What? Do I appear so young to you? I am thirty-three summers and if I’m not mistaken much older than you are.”
“A few years, yeah, but you would have been a child whenGarlain and Patricia met, and you shouldn’t have been racing horses. You could have been killed.”
“Mayhap I have confused you with all my talk. I know not how you could think that I was a child then because I am but a few years younger than Garlain.”
“Hang on. When did Garlain and Patricia meet? When was the tournament?”
“Three years ago.”
“Three years?”
The woman looked like she was about to cry. “Why would that trouble you so?”
She bent her head and pushed her fingers into her forehead as if trying to diminish a headache.
She gazed up at him and breathed in and out deeply. “My head hurts a little but really, it’s okay. Please go on.”
Horland regarded her. Was she telling the truth? She did look as though she was in pain; mayhap her headache caused her to become confused.
“Garlain’s and Patricia’s story really started at the tournament. She was already a fine archer and Mark told me she had won many a tournament in their land. In fact, that was where she and Garlain first met. She, dressed as a young man, bettered him in the archery tournament where he hoped to win the prize.”
“What prize?”
“Princess Leeta’s hand in marriage.”
Briana’s eyes widened again. Horland knew he told a good story, but he wouldn’t have thought anything about it was so surprising. However, Briana seemed surprised ofttimes throughout the telling.
“Garlain wanted to marry the princess?” Briana asked.
Horland chuckled. “He thought he did, but when he unmasked Patricia, and even though he tried to make theking see she couldn’t compete in a royal tournament because she was a woman, he was smitten from the first look. Princess Leeta was happy a woman had won the tournament and she insisted all tournaments should include any woman who thought she had the skills to compete, and the king agreed. Garlain acted wronged and angry over the decree, but I knew he was secretly thankful not to have to marry the princess.”
“How do you know? He might have been in love with the princess.”
“I know when a man looks at a woman, like he looked at Patricia, he is lost for all time.”
“So Garlain loved Patricia. Did you too?”
“I liked her very much, very much indeed, but love? No.” He smiled at his memories of the other strange woman from a strange land. “However, I believed that he did when I left.”
“But not now?”
“I don’t know. From all that I heard from his sister, he was a changed man when he returned without his wife and child.”
“Maybe she left him? Maybe she found someone else?”
“I have also debated that in my mind, but it could not be so. Patricia worshipped Garlain, so much so, she even let him win the next tournament.”
Briana laughed. “Did he know?”
“Yes, but he didn’t tell her he knew. That is how in love they were—they would have done anything for one another.” He shrugged. “Perhaps they confided in one another in a time I wasn’t privy to. However, none of it makes sense and for Garlain to leave Pradwick castle is completely against his nature. His loyalty to the king and his sense of duty would not let him leave his position as the head of the king’s guard.”
