Free The Fairest Beauty by Melanie Dickerson Page A

much.
    After several minutes of silence, Gabe said, “I know you think you can take care of yourself, but I do hope you will be wary of that huntsman. Men like him … they should be kept at a distance.”
    “I suppose you think I should keep you close instead.” Sophie
humphed
as she looked away from him. She continued with her task but looked ill at ease. He began to think she wasn’t going to say anything more.
    She sighed and peered up at him. “I believe your counsel is kindly meant. But I can take care of myself — it is something I’ve done all of my life. I am well aware that men are not to be trusted, whether they be huntsmen, servants, or … traveling noblemen.”
    He couldn’t help but smile. When he had followed her and Lorencz into the woods for their picnic and eavesdropped, he had seen and heard how well she dealt with the man’s forwardness. She was obviously a maiden of personal honor, but the huntsman possessed a smooth tongue. The only question seemed to be whether she would allow the huntsman to marry her in order to get away from the duchess. Or would she entrust her fate to Gabe?
    How alone she was. Sophie, whether she was Duke Baldewin’s daughter or not, was an orphan, without family connections, without any family at all. Brittola, on the other hand, had brothers and sisters. Her father and mother were still alive and in good health and lavished her with loving words and caresses. No man, whether wealthy or poor, would be allowed near Brittola, especially to try to win her affections, without the expressed permission of her father. But Sophie had no one but herself to prevent ill-intentioned men from taking advantage of her.
    The thought stirred something inside him. Even if she was only a poor maiden, she needed … someone.
    Gabe stood, picked up a stick, and started helping Sophie dip the endless row of candles into the hot cauldron of wax. She lifted her eyebrows at him quizzically.
    He shrugged. “I have nothing else to do.”
    She shook her head but said nothing.
    They worked together for a long while, until Gabe’s arms began to ache from the unaccustomed motion of lifting them over and over again to hang the candles on the line. He thought about Sophie lying asleep on the ground when he’d arrived that morning. The cook had seemed very protective of her, and the guard also, once he found out it was Sophie and not some other maiden. He’d heard the cook say Sophie often spent nights in the dungeon at the duchess’s command. Surely the girl hadn’t done anything to deserve such punishment. And dungeons weregenerally filled with all manner of filth and vermin. If the duchess was as cruel as the rumors said she was, and if what Pinnosa had told him was true, Sophie had been mistreated like this all of her life.
    Sophie’s experiences were so different from any other woman’s he’d ever encountered. He tried to imagine his sisters enduring Duchess Ermengard’s treatment and shuddered.
    He wondered what his family was doing right now. His mother had started a school for poor children in the walled town of Hagenheim. Perhaps she and his sisters would go there today and bring sweet cakes and fruit for the children, or new books or other supplies. Valten was probably chafing at his own inactivity, lying in bed and cursing his brother because Gabe was out doing what Valten could not.
    That thought made Gabe smile.
    He turned around to dip more candles in the hot wax and found Sophie staring at him.
    “Thank you for your help … Gabe.” She seemed to find it amusing to speak his name. “Is it a custom of yours to search out scullery maids and help them with their work?”
    Gabe pretended not to notice her teasing tone. “Does it seem strange to you that I would help?”
    “I must admit, there have been times a man has offered to help me with my work, but they’ve always expected something in return.” She eyed him critically.
    “I assure you, Sophie,” Gabe said, gentling