She couldn’t see his expression as he watched her lowered head. “You ask many questions.”
“It is my right. We are betrothed.”
Gar didn’t reply. Mattie continued sewing as he continued standing there, watching her through the tiny window. But he didn’t want to do that any longer.
He needed to get out there and face her.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have anything to wear. His breeches were in tatters and the tunic he’d been wearing, and the accompanying protection, was in a pile on the floor. The same servant who had washed him was shaking it all out, preparing to clean it, but Gar wasn’t watching the man go about his duties.
He was more interested in what the man was wearing.
He had an idea.
Out in the sun, Mattie continued sewing the pieces of linen together, wondering where Gar had gone. He’d fallen silent. When she dared to look up at the small window, she couldn’t see his eyes any longer. She was wondering if she’d offended him with her attempt to come to know him and thought about calling out to him again, but decided against it. He was still in there, somewhere, but clearly no longer wished to speak to her. As she debated what to do about it, the door to the knights’ quarters suddenly opened. Mattie looked up in time to see an enormous man come through the door, shoeless, with breeches that werefar too small for him and a tunic that hardly fit. He looked like a sausage that had burst its casing.
She erupted into laughter.
Gar knew he looked ridiculous, but her laughter was doing something to his ego. He frowned at her.
“I know how foolish this looks,” he said. “But I have no other clothing and it is not suitable for me to continue to talk to you through a window. With a conversation like this, we must speak face to face.”
Mattie had her hand over her face as she struggled to stop the giggles. Just when she thought she had herself under control, she looked at him and the laughter started all over again.
“You look as if you have stolen a child’s clothing,” she said.
Gar wasn’t happy with her insult, true though it was. “I told you that I do not have any clothing of my own right now,” he said. “Your brother was supposed to find me something to wear, so until he does, this is all I have.”
Mattie was laughing so hard that she was crying. “Do not let anyone else see you like that,” she said. “They will think you’ve gone simple in the head.”
Increasingly annoyed, but strangely charmed by her laughter, Gar folded his arms over his chest and ended up tearing the seam on the tunic. The sleeve came away from the torso portion with a loud ripping sound. Mattie screamed with laughter as he tried to keep his dignity by pretending it didn’t matter to him, but the truth was that the breeches were far too small and he risked tearing those, too. Better say what he needed to say and say it quickly before the entire garment came apart.
“I am glad you find my embarrassment so hilarious,” he said sarcastically. “Lady, I’ve come a long way and I would appreciate it if you stopped laughing at me.”
Mattie took a deep breath, struggling to regain her composure, but it started right up again when she looked at him,so she quickly focused on the sewing in her lap. Furiously, she resumed working on it.
“My apologies,” she said, stitching quickly. “I will not laugh again.”
He cocked a dark eyebrow. “Somehow, I do not think you can hold to that vow,” he said. “I think you find me foolish, which brings me back to the point I was making before. Wouldn’t you rather marry someone who is better suited to you?”
Mattie remained focused on her sewing. “Since you have asked me again, am I to understand thatyouwish to marry someone who is better suited to you?”
“This is not about me,” he said. “I do not want you to make a mistake and regret it for the rest of your life. It would make both of us miserable.”
“Just what is that you think makes us so unsuitable for one another?”
He wondered if he just shouldn’t come out with it. Perhaps he’d danced around the subject long enough.
It was time for truth.
“My lady, let me tell you about my home,” he said. “If we marry, I will take you there and that is where we shall live. My garrison is in a remote area of the Scots border called Gleann na Fola Castle. It is a fortress built for defense, not comfort. The walls are tall, the chambers small, the windows smaller, and it is rather compact. That means the stables and men are crowded into the lower bailey and the kitchen is in the lower level of the keep. The level above that is the great hall. Above that are more chambers, living chambers, but because space is at a premium, those chambers are often full of stores so the Scots cannot steal them. It is freezing in the wintertime and cold in the summertime, and there are no women there at all. It is all men. I have a thousand-man standing army, so it is crowded. It smells of men and animals and I am used to it that way, so have noillusions that it is a fine palace. It would be hell for someone like you. You would hate it the moment you arrived.”
Mattie didn’t reply right away. She kept her head down, sewing with purpose. She was clearly making something, but it still wasn’t clear to Gar what, exactly, she was making. He was more focused on her, on her lowered head, watching her delicate hands fly with the needle, noting the myriad colors in her hair as the sun glistened off it. She truly was an exquisite creature, but even so, he sensed a steely strength in her. She wasn’t a flighty female. That much was clear.
This was a woman of substance.
Already, he knew that.
“And you think I would be unhappy in such a place?” she said after a moment.
