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AT the sound of the knock, Gwen glanced up fro quite beautiful in a wine-colored gown

In comparison, Gwen knew she oas not at all flattering "Please," she said, running her fingers through her hair, "enter"

Isabel stepped into the roo so this , Gwen?"

"I believe somewhat better," Gwen said Which was a bit of a lie In truth, other than a lingering tenderness in her chest, she felt just fine However, as long as she was abed, she knew that Arthur would continue to visit her, and she e hisLance Truth was, she loved him desperately But she feared the loss of her husband just as desperately

She was being so very selfish, she knew And deep inside she felt such sha when Arthur had courted and then married her, she knew no other life And fear of the unknoas a powerful thing

"What have you there?" she asked, nodding at Isabel&039;s hands

"We&039;ll visit that in aas we broke fast He tells me that he sees no reason why you are not up and about by now"

"What business is it of yours?"

"Probably none But the day-to-day running of Ca lost without your steadying presence They are concerned and confused They need you, Gwen"

"You know this how?"

"During our daily recesses I hear things"

Gwen sat up further in her bed "You have continued with the recesses without ive consent"

"Does Arthur know about this?"

"He does He has no objections But the point is, your people ood to see you up and about"

"Why has Arthur not voiced this opinion?"

"Because he is concerned for your health He is not a healer He doesn&039;t know that, for whatever reason, you are staying abed long after you have needed to do so"

"But you do"

"Well, Tom does"

"My chest is still quite sore, and I hear I have you to thank for that"

"You&039;re welcome"

"I did not nize sarcas petty In fact, she are that if not for this woht not have survived She lowered her eyes "I aies necessary I understand that illness tends to make people not the heart Iwethat is Toet out of that bed and get back to the business of being queen"

"Why does this matter to you?"

"Because I hate to see your servants worry They feel adrift without their queen&039;s guiding hand"

"I will consider what you say However, I would like to hear the sa to de for the hts But he could certainly use your help in that matter"

Gwen nodded "I see"

"There is also thebetween James and Mary Plans to bea bride to prepare for the most important day of her life?"

"&039;Tis a lot of fun," Gwen said

"It sure is Do you really want to miss out on that?"

Gwen cocked her head "Tell me, Countess, why you have never married"

"I&039;m very picky"

"Does that mean you do not ever want to be wed?"

Isabel see out Perhaps Sohtlike that"

"All right, Countess, you have made your point and I have much to mull over Now please tell me what is in your hands"

Isabel held up the black garment "Your breeches"

Gwen nearly choked "Breeches?"

"Yes, reht before you beca breeches for the woue memory of that"

"Well, these were made for you, in case you decide to join us at recess"

Rubbing her teain e decided breeches for woood idea"

"So that they haverecess They do not have to worry about displaying s or worse while they play"

"Do you wear these breeches?"

Isabel grinned and lifted her skirts Yes, indeed, she was sporting a pair of these things She laid the pants at the foot of Gwen&039;s bed "We will be gathering in the bailey in a short while, should you decide to join us" She nodded her head and lanced over her shoulder "Yes?"

"May I ask a favor?"

"Of course"

"Can you find Jenny and let her know I have need of her services?"

Isabel smiled "Gladly Welcome back, Gwen"

"Thank you"

"SO?" Mary asked as the woed "We shall see"

"Whate&039;er," Madeline, one of the cooks said "We thank you for trying"

"Thanktoday,called baseball Well, a Camelot version of baseball," she amended

As she went to place the four small rushes around the yard, she explained, "We will divide into two tea to score points and the ones trying to keep the other tea to score points will send one player at a tiround "This is called home base The player will toss a rock as far as she wants, but try to keep it froht to a member of the other tea to defend - "

"Mum!" Mary squealed, then nodded her head toward the far side of the bailey "The queen She is co over, holding up her skirts just enough that Isabel caught a glimpse of black beneath them

Everyone in the bailey seemed to freeze as they watched their queen join the ladies

They all curtsied and remained in that position, heads down

"Please rise," Gwen said "We have games to play So what have Iinto Arthur&039;s working study without knocking Arthur was about to chastise him for the unannounced interruption, but the look on his man&039;s face stopped him "What is it?"

"Sir, you must come see this"

"What?"

"I cannot explain Well, I ht try, but trust me, you ant to witness for yourself"

Arthur rose quickly and followed Jareat hall and out into the bailey

He stopped short as he watched one young girl running around in a circle while others around her tossed a stone to one another and tried to chase the girl down

There were squeals of delight and clapping and cheering It appeared to be soame Arthur had ne&039;er before seen

His eyes sought out Isabel, because as certain as he was breathing was he that this was her doing She was clapping, then cupped her hands around her mouth "Try for third, Sarah! You canwith glee, touched her foot on aas the stone was thrown all about "What in blazes are they doing, Jaame the countess calls Camelot baseball"

"Camelot baseball," Arthur repeated

Over the last several days, he had watched as Isabel had engaged the servants in increasingly stranger and stranger play This one, by far, was the strangest

And yet the ladies appeared to be having such fun "You were right, James, you could not have described this to me It is too priceless not to see it forhis eyes from the bizarre scene before him, he asked, "Is it true that our ement?"

"Oh, indeed, sir They report that their wives and sweethearts seem to be in much happier moods, that they seem to have an extra skip to their steps"

"Do you see this in Mary?"

"My Mary has always had a skip to her step, but yea, I see her joy and excitement when she tells me of her day She also reports that productivity in the kitchens, in the laundering rooet back to ith a newfound vigor I would report, sir, that this recess tireat success"

"Leave it to Isabel," Arthur said, shtly "She seeoes with her creativity"

He alhed out loud at the understateet to work, to start a new day afresh, he also could not wait for night to fall, so that he could join Isabel in her quarters And &039;twas not just the love that he treasured, but also the ti quietly of their days He found hi her counsel on matters important to hi concepts he was certain she had never needed to confront or consider in the peaceful lands of Dumont

Her ideas were as inspired as they were - as that word she used? Oh, yes Quirky She often prefaced a sentence with, "This ht sound quirky, but hear hts h, but then the more he pondered, the ht variations But they always, always provoked thought

He loved that so much about her He also loved her passion in bed sport One touch froht place and she would ier lover He craved the et her naked, save for that blue necklace, which as far as he knew, she never, ever took off

Her skin, so soft and creamy -

He realized suddenly that Ja and he had not heard

"I am sorry, what?"

"I said do you see, sir, anyone else fast the women?"

Arthur peered closer at all the others Most were familiar, of course He had too many servants to count, but he made it a mission to know as , they deserved that , who they served so faithfully and with little complaint

"I see many familiar faces, James Anyone in particular you would like me to notice?"

"Look at the one in the pale yellon The one chasing Mary at the lanced at the woure "Gwen?"

"Indeed,The queen has arisen froods," Arthur said, his voice low

But her obvious good health was a bit too suspiciouslyafore he headed off to exercises, this morn he had stopped by to inquire of her health Just as the ile and acted as if she felt too weak to rise up and dress and go about her duties as queen Although, as was the case day in and day out, she made attempts to lure hi increasingly difficult to ht When had all attraction for his wife dried to nothing but a pile of dust? He knew not He could not lay it all on Isabel&039;s door, as he had already begun to lose interest before Isabel&039;s arrival The hurt had remained, but the desire had waned before Because as sure as he knew his own name, he knew that if he had still been passionate about Gwen, he would not have given Isabel a second glance He was a one-woed, he had eyes for no woman save the one who held his love and desire in her hands

He shook his head

On the one hand, he was relieved that Gwen had regained her good health However, knowing she was bedridden had given him the freedom to move about as he pleased Now that she was back on her feet, he knew that his movements would be watched much more carefully by his wife &039;Twas a conundrum He would need to discuss it with Isabel later

"Well, it is good to see she is better," he said Then he looked closer "Ye gads She is also wearing those black leggings things that the others wear during sport"

"Mary told me this morn that Isabel was deterings would entice her to rise up and join the staff for the recess time"

"H he&039;d actually spoken aloud until James answered him

"It seems that the servants met and discussed the problems with their queen Since Isabel is the one that they have been turning to to find answers for questions that arose around the castle, they believed perhaps Isabel would be the logical choice to approach the queen"

"Isabel has been handling some of Gwen&039;s duties?" Arthur asked

"You have not noticed?"

"Ito kick himself in the ass "No, I did not notice, and Isabel hasforced to take over tasks that are not her concern She is a guest at this castle, for Thor&039;s sake"

"I do not notice the countess co about much," James offered "Save perhaps whatever happened betwixt the two of you, nights ago"

Arthur rolled his eyes "Do you knohat aArthur, I know of none"

"That I allow my most trusted hter "My apologies," he said "For speaking out of turn"

Arthur looked at him "You appear not one whit sorry"

"I ork on my contrite expression"

Arthur clapped James on the back "You do that &039;Twill probably take years of practice"

With one last glance toward the wo blond hair as now being chased down by several of the servants, Arthur turned and headed back to his study, Ja in his ears Yes, indeed, he and Isabel had et her alone