Page 27 of A Knight in Tarnished Armor

"Arden," William snapped.

"Warbrooke."

"Warbrooke?" Linnet repeated. She spun around and looked at William. "Baron Warbrooke?"

He nodded.

There was a moment of puzzled silence as she looked from him to her grandfather, then back to him. Her face fell and he could see her reaction. "You are not William de Ros?"

"I am William de Ros, Baron Warbrooke."

"How could you? How could you do this? Am I nothing but a foolish woman to you that you would play such a cruel trick?" She looked back. "And Grandpapa? You knew?"

He nodded tightly.

"Why?"

"I had no choice, Linnet. "I had your welfare at heart."

"Ha!" William shouted. "You didn't want me to have her, old man."

Arden cursed and charged. His fist hit William square in the chin and flattened him to the ground. "She's mine!"

"Bloody hell, she is!" William roared up and tackled Arden. They rolled in the dirt, punching and shouting, calling each other names that should have never been spoken on the grounds of an abbey.

Arden jumped to his feet and so did William. "1 granted you that week alone with her!"

"You sent those knights," William gritted.

Arden wiped his mouth, panting. "They had instructions not to kill you."

Linnet gasped.

William saw red and flew at him. They tumbled again each trying to get to the other. Arden straddled him and had his hands about William's throat while he shouted.

"Stop!" Linnet screamed. "Stop!"

A wall of water hit them both. Arden released him and coughed. William shook the water from his head and stared at her. She tossed a water bucket on the ground and glared down at them. "I'm not yours, Grandpapa."

William grinned.

"And you can wipe that fool’s smile off your face Baron Warbrooke because I'm not yours either!" Tears fell from her eyes like blood from a deep wound. "I'm not some piece of land for the both of you to wage war over! I don't belong to either of you! Do you hear me?”

Both men stared at her in dumbfounded silence.

"And you can cease your fighting because neither of you will win this battle. I'm not going with either of you. Do you hear me? Neither of you! I'm going to become a nun!" And with that pronouncement she burst into sobs and ran inside the abbey.

William watched the door close behind her and stared at it. He swiped at his bloody mouth with the back of hand. And he felt more alone at that moment than he had ever felt in his hard and solitary life.

"Come, come, my dear. Stop your crying."

Linnet looked up at her aunt through a mist of tears. "I shall become a nun, Aunt. I shall."

"Tell me why would you want to become a nun?"

She wiped her tears. "Because there are no men in a convent."

"Aye, dear one. That is a high point," her aunt said wryly. "You have no idea how very many women feel the same."