Affairs of the Heart by Maxine Douglas Page A

Heartsease’s dressmaker. He leaned in toward
the raven-haired, blue-eyed young woman, his heart already hers.
She smiled and tied the token around his lance, making him her
champion.
    “ How can I help but not
fail, Catherine,” he whispered to the lovely but plainly dressed
maiden.
    “ I know not, but thou wilt
find a way to right this wrong,” she said, a trusting smile
brightening her worried face. Touched by her faith in him, he rode
off to the east end of the list, doom flittering down his spine.
The only honorable way out would be to lose, even though it went
against his nature, and he could possibly lose Catherine as
well.
    “ Sir Reynold?” William
queried.
    He gave his squire a confidant smile,
seeing the fear in the boy’s eyes. “I will not allow the queen to
dictate my life any longer, my young friend. If I must leave my
home and country to save Thomas’s family name, I will.” Reynold
dismounted and handed the reins to William.
    “ The queen would rather
see thee dead, sir,” William commented, leading the stallion
alongside Reynold toward their tent.
    “ Beware what thou sayest,
young William. In this court, even the ground hast ears,” Reynold
cautioned his bold squire, placing a hand on the young man’s
shoulder. “Lest thou take care in those words, or it could be thee
riding Abraxas and carrying a lance against thy father instead of
me.”
    “ What of my cousin?”
William tethered Abraxas to a post outside their tent. “What will
become of Catherine if thou art no longer here to protect
her?”
    “ Catherine knows I’d not
bring shame on thy family name. I will find a home and send for her
when the time is right.” Reynold walked into his tent to prepare
for his joust against Thomas, his blood brother and childhood
friend. “Wherefore Isabel hast chosen this course now is beyond my
knowledge, Will. Her jealousy runs deeper since her father’s
death.”
    “ Some say that Isabel hast
consulted the stones. They say the stones have foreseen thy failure
and disappearance from Heartsease, Reynold,” Will said in a hushed
tone, as if afraid to be heard by anyone but himself. “Father is
fearful that Isabel plays with the darkness of life to rid thee of
thine. Her witch is powerful in the black arts.”
    Reynold handed his arnet to Will,
shook his head, and took a deep breath. It confirmed his own
thoughts. “I have heard the same words whispered behind tankards of
ale. It is more than my life she yearns to rid me of, it is my will
to refuse her advances and physical pleasures.”
    * * * *
    Reynold pulled himself into the saddle
and waited for Will to hand him his shield and cronel-tipped lance.
Much was at stake in this event. At the other end of the list, his
oldest and closest friend waited for their time at the
joust.
    They all had grown up together—Thomas
Astley, Catherine, Isabel, and he. Thomas was the son of a farmer,
and his cousin, Catherine, was the dressmaker’s middle daughter who
was more of a tomboy than a girl. As a child, Isabel hadn’t known
the difference in their positions in life. Her father, King David,
had allowed her to play with the children of Heartsease. She’d been
a big-hearted girl, filled with passion and love. Reynold had been
the king’s eyes and ears even as a boy, up until the king’s death
when Isabel was but an enthusiastic girl of sixteen. Something
inside her changed that day—something dark and evil.
    At one time in Reynold’s life, he had
thought he loved Isabel. These past years with her ruling cruelly
as queen made him realize that Catherine, and not the selfish woman
Isabel had become, had his heart.
    After years of fulfilling the promise
he’d made to Isabel’s father as he lay dying, Reynold continuously
refused the provocative suggestions Isabel presented him on a
regular basis. He’d promised the king he’d defend Heartsease and
look after Isabel, not become a bed toy for her to play with like
so many others. Isabel proved to