Queen Of Knights Read Online Free PDF Page A

The depth of his eyes was bottomless, and the strong, angular cut of his chin was commanding.  His prominent cheekbones added to the power that was in his face.  Dark, almost black hair fell to his shoulders, framing his deeply tanned face.  His full lips held only a faint trace of smile, and a flash of white teeth showed between them
    Miles turned from the woman to face his squires .  “Take him and fetch the men.  I will await you here.” A moment later the twins, along with the sole survivor of the trio, disappeared from the grass that surrounded the Pool of Pendragon.
    Gwendolyn wi l led her heart to slow and her breath to return to normal as she faced the knight.  She had yet to take her eyes from him, and from the fact that this man was the first she did not look down upon, he must be at least three inches taller than she.
    “Thank you , Sir Knight, for your gallantry.  I daresay, if you had not arrived when you did, it would have taken me a bit longer to fin i sh the two . ”
    Miles cou l d not believe his ears as he listened to the words she spoke, but in his heart, he heard not the words, but the bravery and the spirit which filled them.
    “Perhaps, yet I think you lack the experience to have finished them .  But we shall never know , and for that I am grateful .  I would not want to have seen you, if your valiant effort had failed.”
    “I would not have failed, but again, Sir Knight, you have my thanks, and my debt , ” she said as she curtsied to him.  “And whom do I have the honor of being saved by?” Gwendolyn asked with a smile.
    “Forgive me, but my manners have always been a poor second to my sword.  Permit me, I am Miles Delong,” he sa i d with a slight bow .
    “Sir Miles? Earl of Radstock?”
    “The same, I fear,” he replied with a smile.
    “From the tales I have heard, Sir Miles, you fear little . ”
    “And you?”
    “Forg i ve me .  I am Gwend o lyn Kildrake.’
    “Sir Hughes’s daughte r? ” asked Mi l es, a frown creasing his forehead .  Word had r each ed Miles, several years ago, that Hughes’s daughter had died.
    “His granddaughter, Sir Miles.  Daughter of Gwyneth, who was wife to Guy of Halsbred,’ she explained.
    “Of course!” Miles exclaimed, a smile erasing his frown as he looked at her.  Her height should have told him who she was.  Miles had heard of Gwendolyn Kildrake; his mother had told him the tale ten years ago, when he was fifteen, and word of Sir Guy’s death had reached their lands.  Rumors had flown, and Miles had heard of the strange affair of Lady Halsbred’s return to her father’s lands.  When he asked about it at the table one night, a gale of laughter had followed his question, and many explanations had flown across the boards.  Bu t later, his mother had told him that Gwyneth, her distant, fourth cousin, had given birth to a daughter, eight years to the day of Mi l es’s own birth, and that the child was not the daughter of Sir Guy .  His mother , gentle soul that she had been, spoke only good of Gwyneth, and advised him not to listen to unfounded rumors.  Then, almost four years ago, when Miles was fighting with Richard in Normandy, word had come of Gwyneth’s death, followed by other tales of her strange daughter, a blonde-haired girl, beautiful but overly t all
    Wh i le Miles recal l ed these facts, his eyes cont i nued to trace the lines of Gwendolyn ’ s face until she turned and moved to the rest of her discarded clothing .  Silently he watched as she completed dressing.  When the l eather girdle had been buckled, securing her tunic, and her jewe l ed knife returned to its sheath, Gwendolyn moved toward the eagle which now stood a l ongside its conquered victim .
    He watched the tal l , golden - haired woman kneel and extend her arm .  It was then he noticed a leather binding covering her right wrist .  And she flies an eagle, he thought when the bird climbed onto her arm.
    Gwendolyn felt a surge of warmth when