“Do you not wish to marry someone your own age?” he said. “Someone who, mayhap, shares your same background?”
“What background would that be?”
Gar scratched his head. “That of a fine education and refined manners,” he said. “Someone who is more civilized. A scholar or a courtier, in fact.”
Mattie looked at him. She could still only see his eyes and nose, but in this brief conversation, she was starting to see more than that. She was starting to see his reluctance. Without a word, she went to sit on an upturned tree stump, one used by the knights to sit outside of their quarters on nights with pleasant weather. She was still within sight of Gar as she planted herself on it and opened up the sewing kit.
“You have been speaking to my brother,” she finally said.
Gar watched her pull out what looked like big patches of linen. “A little,” he admitted. “My lady, we know nothing about one another. I hope you do not fault me for a conversation with your brother about you. I would not be angry if you wished to speak to my father or brothers for what they could tell you about me.”
Mattie laid the large pieces of linen in her lap and pulled out a big bone needle and some thread. “And what else did my brother tell you about me?”
Gar was careful in his answer because she seemed displeased. “Nothing terrible if that’s what you mean,” he said. “He said that you have been looking forward to this marriage for the last ten years.”
Mattie threaded her needle. “From the way you say that, I take it that you have not been looking forward to it?”
Gar didn’t want to dig himself into a hole. He really didn’t. He didn’t want to be married, but that didn’t mean he wanted to hurt her feelings. Even without Maksim’s threat, he still would not have wished to hurt her.
“Men do not usually look forward to things like that,” he said. “They have other things on their mind.”
“Like what?”
Gar shrugged. “It is men who control England,” he said. “Men who keep it safe from the Scots and the Welsh and the French. We worry about making it safe so that ladies like you can live in peace and own wild dogs who tear people’s clothing.”
Mattie glanced up from what she was doing, which happened to be stitching together those big pieces of linen. “Is that what you do?” she said. “Protect women like me?”
“Aye.”
“But I am nowhere near the Scots border.”
“You are closer than you think.”
“They never make it over here.”
“That is because men like me are keeping them on their side of the border.”
She paused in her stitching, looking up at him. “Fair point,” she said. Then, she returned her focus to her sewing. “Tell me, my lord—if I were to ask your father or brother about you, what would they tell me?”
Gar could see that she was making something with those linen squares, but he couldn’t tell what it was. “That I am devoted to my men, to my family, and to my cause,” he said. “What else should they tell you?”
“I would hope they would tell me what kind of man you are.”
“I just told you.”
She continued to busily sew. “You told me of attributes,” she said. “Is that all you are? Devoted to your men, your family, and your cause?”
“What else should I be?”
She shrugged as she added another piece of linen. “A well-rounded man is many things,” she said. “Do you like to laugh?Do you enjoy singing? Do you enjoy telling stories of valor? Do you enjoy reading?”
“Reading?” he repeated, frowning. “I do not have time. I have a clerk that reads and writes for me.”
“But youcanread and write?”
“Of course I can.”
“Then what are your likes, my lord?” she asked. “Do you have any diversions you are fond of?”
