A Dishonorable Knight - By Morrison, Michelle Page 0,100

herself out of her dusty cotehardie. "I will be glad when I can see the end of this gown."

"Tis beautifully made, my lady," Annie said.

"That may be, but I cannot stand the sight of it after wearing it for the last month straight!" Elena pulled the new dress over her head and held her hair out of the way while Annie quickly laced it up the back. "Oh it fits wonderfully!" Elena exclaimed. She craned her neck to see the dress from every angle. "Leave the hem long in the back." Spinning around crazily like a child, she laughed in delight. "I can't believe I'm so excited over such a simple dress!"

Annie's smile disappeared. "Should I change it, milady?"

Elena stared at Annie, perplexed. Why in the world should Annie want to change the dress? Belatedly, she realized that Annie may have taken her exclamation over the simple dress in the wrong light. "No, of course not, it's perfect. What I meant was, I'm so used to having beautiful dresses..." That wasn't helping, Elena thought. Oh curse Gareth for making her worry what miserable servants thought! "What I meant was," Elena began again, "I'm used to wearing beautiful dresses and this one is the most beautiful I've ever worn."

Annie's eyes widened. "Oh, do you mean it, my lady?" She clasped Elena's hands in her own work-roughened ones.

"Well of course I do. You have done an admirable job on this gown. I can't wait until it's finished."

"Oh it will be finished tomorrow, my lady. Even if I have to stay up all night working on it!" Annie vowed.

Elena smiled and disengaged herself from Annie's grip. "I'm sure you will." Turning so the seamstress could unlace her, Elena said, "Sir Gareth and I will be by in the afternoon to pick it up. Will that be late enough."

"Oh yes, my lady."

Downstairs, Elena found a distressed-looking Bryant holding a sleeping Oengus. With obvious relief, he relinquished his armload to its mother and took Elena's arm. Once outside, Elena had to figure out which direction they needed to travel. After a false start down a dead end, she remembered where they needed to go in order to reach Samuel's shop. Consumed in her thoughts of her new dress and new book, not to mention Gareth, Elena did not hear Bryant when he first spoke to her.

"My lady?" he repeated.

"Oh, yes?"

Bryant cleared his throat and tugged on the neck of his brown tunic. "About Gareth..."

"Yes? What about him?"

"Please do not misunderstand. Gareth is one of my best friends, along with Cynan. We grew up together and I think of him as a brother."

Elena waited for him to continue, but when he merely looked uncomfortable, she prodded him. "And?"

"Well, for all that I care for him and admire him, sometimes he forgets himself."

"Forgets himself? What do you mean, Bryant?" Elena was quickly growing weary of Bryant's meanderings, but since he always treated her with the utmost respect, she tried to be patient.

Bryant must have sensed her impatience, however, because he said in one quick rush, "Sometimes he forgets who he is and where he comes from. Sometimes he forgets what his father taught him and what he should know as a knight about treating ladies with respect."

"I agree completely," Elena said, ruefully thinking of Gareth's mockery of her position in court. "Wait until we return to England and he tries to call me 'Elena' or speak to me like I'm his horse. Richard will have his head!" She finished with a laugh.

"That wasn't exactly what I meant."

Elena looked at Bryant, surprised to see him flushing furiously.

"What I meant was that he seems to forget sometimes that there are...women...with whom a man may be more—uh--forward. But a lady such as yourself should never be treated in the same manner."

Elena quickly looked back to their path, wondering uncomfortably how much Bryant knew of Gareth's and her new relationship.

"You certainly deserve to have a beautiful new dress, my lady, don't misunderstand me. But I would caution you that Gareth may have forgotten himself when he purchased the fabric and he may forget himself even more when it is finished and you are thankful to him for his generosity."

"What exactly are you saying, Bryant?"

From the corner of her eye, Elena could see Bryant flush more brilliantly red than he had been moments before.

Bryant came to a stop and Elena turned to face him. "I'm afraid he may put undue pressure on you to share your favors with him in an unseemly