Free Hellion by Bertrice Small

the bully who had been previously warned, yet stepped boldly from her woods carrying the carcass of a dressed deer, which he then proceeded to try to sell for profit to her villagers. The family of the illegal hunter was fiercely driven from her estate, for Isabelle knew to allow them to remain would be but to court trouble. The people of Langston respected the lady, even if they did not all like her. If I had been a man, Isabelle thought bitterly, my actions would have never been considered unusual.
    Now she was faced with Hugh Fauconier, knight. Heir to the last Saxon lord of Langston. Sent by a king she didn’t evenknow, to take over not just her lands, but her person. Why, Isabelle wondered as she pondered her next move upon the chessboard, why had she never considered the possibility of a husband? Her father had never discussed the matter, although she realized that if he had not gone away, a betrothal would have been made and a marriage settled by now. Somehow in those years without him, she had become used to being her own mistress, and she liked it . She did not want to give over her authority to a husband. Langston was hers! She moved her knight piece, realizing even as she did it that it was a very bad move.
    “Check,” Hugh said quietly, taking her knight. Then, “Why did you make such a foolish move?”
    “I had lost my concentration,” she answered him honestly. “I was thinking of something else, my lord. You have won this game fairly, I think.” She even gave him the tiny vestige of a smile.
    “What were you thinking of?” he asked her.
    “You,” she said, surprising him.
    “ Me ?” The sandy brows over his blue eyes rose questioningly.
    “I know that you are not to blame, my lord, but I do not think it fair the king take Langston from me,” Isabelle said. “I know I am only a woman, but I have kept my lands peaceful and prosperous.”
    “What would you do if there were a war?” he asked her quietly. “How would you defend Langston from attack? How would you meet your obligations to your liege lord to send soldiers in his defense? You cannot go into battle for the king, or train others in warfare. And who is your liege lord, Belle? Will you pledge your fealty to King Henry, or to Duke Robert? What if your brother claimed these lands for himself? What would you do?”
    “Is there to be a war?” she queried him.
    “Probably in the coming spring, or summer,” he said. “King Henry will prevail, of course, but Langston is too close to thesea. Should your brother, who is the duke’s man, come here to find you and the lady Alette alone, he would certainly take these lands for the duke’s good. The king will not have it, ma Belle. You are not some silly little girl who does not understand what I am telling you. You have courage, and intelligence. These are words I never thought to use in reference to a woman, but they fit you.
    “Langston must have a lord to defend it, and you must have a husband, unless, of course, you have a calling for the religious life. If that be so, I should not stand in your way. I would dower you fairly into the convent of your choice. Your mother could then return to Manneville in Normandy. Perhaps your brother would not like it, but he would have no right to refuse his father’s widow shelter and sustenance.”
    Isabelle arose from her seat, and walking over to an arched window, looked out into the darkness. “It is snowing,” she said, seeing a buildup of white flakes upon the stone sill outside. She heard the scrape of his chair. She heard his footsteps stopping behind her, and then his arm slipped about her slender waist. She stiffened.
    “Why are you afraid to marry me?” he said quietly.
    “It is not you, my lord,” she told him. She could feel his warm breath on the back of her neck. “I am afraid of no man. I have no calling for a religious life. I simply wish to be free. No woman who is a wife is free. You may beat me without justification, or cast