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OKAY, so she was a little tipsy But not so much that she didn&039;t notice that Gwen and Lancelot had excused themselves almost at the same time They didn&039;t even try to pretend It broke Isabel&039;s heart for Arthur He had to know And yet he didn&039;t seem to know Or care
"Would you enjoy a tour of the castle, Countess?" Arthur asked her, as the evening meal had thankfully concluded
Thank God for Mary, who hada bowl of mint Otherwise she&039;d be afraid that her breath would topple trees
"I would love it, sir" What she wanted was a tour of his body, but the castle would have to do for now
"The gardens," he said "They mean much to Gwen For a reason I cannot fathoh we have s"
"We all have our favorite hobbies"
"And ould be yours, Countess?"
Photography immediately came to mind, but she doubted she could explain that one Sex was also high on her list, or it had been back in the day Or forward in the day She&039;d love to experi "I very , as it were"
The surprise on his face was so adorable, she wanted to kiss those raised eyebrows "Sporting? Such as exercising the horses?"
"Well, yes, but "
"Jogging? What is this jogging?"
"Steady running for long distances"
He laughed "And you acco she&039;d been waiting for "Actually in Dumont the women who enjoy such exercise wear ss"
"Pardon?"
"We believe woht to exercise their passions asso in gowns? Preposterous So in Duthen their ear"
Arthur stroked his beard and she had the feeling he was trying to keep hi "And what, pray tell, do youthey wear upon their upper halves?"
She figured a sports bra was probably going a little too far "We wear things called T-shirts A sort of oversized tunic, made of soft fabric for comfort"
Arthur shook his head "Apparently my men leftaside the fact that you sent men to spy on me, let me ask you this: What kind of hobbies or pleasures do you afford your female servants?"
"Hobbies? Pleasures?"
"You alloen to indulge in her pleasures"
"Of course She is my queen and my wife"
"And yet all of your servants are not pers that make them happy? You truly believe that because of their station they ht truly enjoy?"
"My people are not unhappy Are they? Have you heard grus?"
"No, sir, I have not But would any voice them in front of me?"
His worried frown saddened her "Do they appear unhappy to you?"
"Again, no In fact they appear very loyal to their king But consider the possibilities of allowing them just, say, a small portion of a day to follow their own dreams To play with their own favored hobbies How o about the routine tasks they are required to do day in and day out when they know they have that small portion of time to just play You may even find that their hobbies reap rewards that you and Camelot have never envisioned"
Arthur sat doith a thuive me much to ponder"
Isabel took his hand "Ponder this A happy castle staff hest men enjoy the fruits of the servants&039; labors How about allowing the servants to enjoy some of those fruits for themselves? Why are you, Gwen and I allowed to follow our hearts, and those ork for us not permitted to follow theirs?"
He puffed up like a blowfish "I do not disallowtheir own desires! Have you not seen the h but controlled herself "Love to happen noabout other pleasures"
"What other pleasures are there?"
"Oh, please Love one But there are others Gwen loves to garden My chambermaid loves to dress hair I love to run I love to draw The possibilities are endless We could conduct a poll and find what really makes them happy And then allow them the opportunity to pursue those dreams"
"A poll?"
"A chance for them to speak up about what they enjoy And possibly allow them to voice what they don&039;t"
The beard scrubbing was gone He&039;dhis teression in Isabel&039;s life, so she wasn&039;t exactly surprised Next he&039;d be begging for a drink She&039;d bet money on it
"You are an unusual woman, Isabel," he finally said Then he stepped to his left and knocked on a bell Within seconds Tioblets"
She needed more wine like she needed more eel But what the hell? "I pro unusual, I uing way"
"Right, one that drives men to drink"
"One that driveslibation"
Isabel tried hard to resist, for Viviane&039;s sake "Should you not be sharing this with the queen?"
"Gwen enjoys evenings topursue those" - he waved his hands vaguely - "things women like to do"
I&039;ll bet Isabel rather liked s for those types of pursuits but decided not to mention that
"She&039;s very sweet," she said instead, fingering her necklace "You must love her very much"
His hesitation was palpable as his eyes seemed fixated on her chest "As I&039;m bound to do She is ain and started pacing Then he suddenly stopped and turned to Isabel, his green eyes searching "Have you loved, Countess?"
"You&039;re asking why?"
"You have never married"
"I haven&039;t? I mean, of course I haven&039;t But Arthur, you seem to know much about me" A whole helluva lot more than she knew about her countess self, as a matter of fact Until just now, she&039;d had no idea whether she&039;d ever been married or not
Apparently not
Good God, Viviane, I ain
&039;Tis true, Isabel, do you not consider that in?
He thinks I ae