Leigh, Tamara by Blackheart

Juliana's fanciful expectations of love, which were too exalted for any man to rise to, been the ruin of her and Bernart? Was she repulsed by her husband's limp? His diminished physique? Did she turn him away? Perhaps this was the reason Bernart sought other women.
    A harsh sound tore from Gabriel's throat. He did not care. His friendship with Bernart was deep in the past, and Juliana... she was a woman. With that thought, he dove beneath the water. He surfaced on the opposite side of the pool and saw that his destrier, which had been grazing only moments earlier, had assumed a watchful stance. They were no longer alone.
    "Gabriel!"
    He looked up.
    Sir Erec stood on an outcropping of rock. "Come on, man," he shouted, "we've bellies to fill."
    Supper in Bernart's hall was not something Gabriel looked forward to, but a necessity; however, as the sun would light the land for another hour and the meal would not be served until its setting, he did not hasten from the pool. "I will join you shortly," he called back.
    Sir Erec turned away.
    Gabriel caught his reflection in the water lapping at his waist. He rubbed a hand over his jaw and considered scraping the stubbled beard from it, but in the next instant abandoned the idea. He had come to Tremoral to tourney, not to please a woman who had never more than glanced his way. A woman who would one day bear another's children.
    He emerged from the water and, at leisure, donned the fresh clothes he'd brought to the pool. As he tugged on his boots, he promised himself he would have new ones made following the tournament. Although the majority of ransom money gained this day would be put toward the restoration of Mergot—the barony in France that King Richard had awarded him for his aid in reclaiming lands seized by France's King Philip—he could certainly afford to keep his feet better than he had of late. Perhaps he would even have some new tunics sewn.
    He mounted his destrier and guided it out of the ravine to where Sir Erec awaited him.
    "Never have I seen you so clean," the knight said. He grinned. "Did that wench you had last eve complain?"
    Had he had her, he doubted she would have. The only reason Nesta had smelled any better than he did was that she bathed herself in perfume. " 'Twas Lady Juliana who informed me I reeked."
    Erec's eyebrows jumped. "Is that so?"
    Gabriel guided his destrier through the trees.
    "Since when have you cared what any thought of you?" Erec asked, drawing alongside.
    Gabriel looked at him. Erec had cleaned his hands and face and donned a clean tunic, but that was all. As concerned as he was with appearance, not until the conclusion of the tournament would he bathe. Wise, for it was a waste of time, considering the morrow would only dirty him once again. If not for Juliana, neither would Gabriel have gone near the water until the end of the tournament. The admission made him scowl. "I do not care what any think."
    Erec chuckled. "Except Lady Juliana."
    He was too observant—an asset in tournament, but not outside of it.
    "Ah, but she is a beautiful woman," Erec murmured.
    "Pity to waste her on one such as Bernart Kinthorpe."
    Gabriel glanced sharply at him.
    Erec's mouth twitched. "What?" He feigned innocence.
    "What rumors have you been listening to?"
    Erec shrugged. "There are several, but the one most spoken is that Lord Kinthorpe is the same as his brother."
    Bernart the same as Osbern? Gabriel fleetingly considered the possibility. Nay, not even Acre could have changed him so.
    "Three years of marriage and no children," Erec murmured.
    "There are other reasons children are not born of wedlock."
    "Which brings us to another rumor. The women servants say Lady Juliana is frigid."
    Juliana, who had been trained in the art of courtly love? Gabriel remembered her oft-repeated profession of love for Bernart. Indeed, he could not forget it. Still, that did not mean she was as passionate in bed as she was out of it.
    "What think you?" Erec asked.
    Gabriel