Read My Noble Knight for Free Online Page A

was young.”
    He lifted his gaze to her eyes. “And your father?”
    “Why do you ask me so many questions?”
    Griffin cocked his head. “If you are to be with me, in my care, I must know your character.”
    She straightened. “I should find that insulting. You mean because I am a woman who likes to joust and sword fight there is a flaw in my character?”
    “Hmm.” He shook his head. “Because you disobeyed your brothers and jousted anyway, there is a flaw in your character.”
    She sighed softly and dropped her chin to her chest. “Yes. I suppose that could be true.” She looked up at him and there was something in her deep blue eyes that held more mystery. “If you truly think that, why did you stop them from throwing me in the dungeon?”
    “Women should be protected and cherished. The dungeon is no place for a woman.”
    “Even a woman with a flaw in her character?”
    His gaze swept her face, from her long lashes to her full lips. “Any woman.”
    She nodded and began to collect the cloth. “I thought you saved me from the dungeon because you wanted to know how I could have possibly unhorsed you.”
    He reached out, grabbing her arm and preventing her from moving away from him. “I do want to know how you beat me.” No real training, never jousting in a tournament before. It irked his pride beyond all measure.
    Her lips curved up in a grin. “With a lance.”
    He stared at her curved lips. Those insolent, mocking lips. He remembered his father teaching a servant woman her place. He had used his fist. Griffin released her and leaned back. He glanced at his shoulder. “Finish,” he commanded.
    Her gaze dipped to the juncture of his thighs. Or was that his imagination?
    She put down the cloth and picked up a fresh one. She moved closer to him and placed the cloth on his wound. He lifted his arm as she began to wrap a thin strip around the clean cloth to hold it in place.
    Griffin’s gaze slid from her hands to her lips. She was very close. He could just lean in and sample her lips. He grit his teeth. What was he thinking? That would dishonor her and her brothers. He was trying to teach her a woman’s place and all he could think about was her naked body and her lips. God’s blood!
    Finally she sat back with a nod.
    He inspected her work and found it satisfactory. He rose, towering above her. She knelt before him, her hands folded in her lap. His gaze moved over her. This was going to take a lot more will power than he had thought. He brushed past her, toward the exit.
    “I found a flaw in your style.”
    He froze. Impossible. There was no fault with his style. It was perfect. It was… He turned to her. She was just a woman. What did she know about jousting style? She was only trying to punish him for insulting her. Still… she had unhorsed him. He clenched his teeth, leaving his biting retort unspoken. He spun and strode from the tent.

    Layne sat in the middle of Griffin’s tent. How many times had Colin told her she was not to joust? How many times had her father chastised her for picking up a sword? Again and again she had been warned. But none of them had told her that her disobedience was a flaw in her character. A flaw in her character. A flaw. She had accepted long ago that she would never be the perfect woman like her aunt. She didn't like embroidery or playing an instrument. She didn’t care at all about fashion.
    Her father would often punish her by banning her from the fields or from the stables. It had never worked. She had simply waited out the punishment, endured it without bemoaning the injustice of it all. As she did now. Be a good little girl. Follow the rules until all is forgotten and forgiven. Or until Colin saved enough coin to pay Griffin back.
    She looked around the tent. The weapons gleamed invitingly on the floor, the reflection of the setting sun flashing off the polished metal. Every instinct demanded she touch them in reverence, pick them up, swing one of them. But