Adair’s fair skin blotched scarlet. “Of course I am a virgin!” her voice squeaked angrily. “Do you believe I am some wanton creature?”
“You did have a husband,” he reminded her. She was untouched! He thought it would not matter, but it did.
“Do you really believe I let that pimply boy put his hands on me?” she demanded of him. “I should have gone into a cloister first, sir!”
“Andrew,” he said quietly. “My name is Andrew, Adair, and I expect you to address me by my name when we are together.”
“So there is no mistake between us, Andrew, I am a virgin,” Adair said. Did he think she was unable to control her emotions, like the man who sired her?
He tipped her face up with a half-closed hand, and kissed her gently. “Good,” he said. Her mouth was sweet beneath his. It softened with her little gasp of surprise, but she did not draw away from him. His kiss deepened as his arms slipped about her to draw her closer to him.
He felt the softness of her breasts pressing against his chest as he suddenly realized how very much he had wanted to kiss her these past months.
Adair’s heart raced with excitement as he kissed her.
She had never been kissed but for that one time FitzTudor had mashed his wet mouth against her mouth. This was completely different. It was thrilling and tender all at once. She kissed Andrew back, and felt the nipples of her breasts tightening even as a delicious shiver raced down her spine and her belly heaved with tiny eruptions of excitement.
Finally he stopped kissing her, but he kept his arms around her, and his warm gray eyes smiled into her violet ones. “If you keep kissing me like that I shall want more than I should have at this time, Adair.”
“I think I want more too,” she admitted boldly.
“Then shall we tell the duke we are of one mind, and will wed as soon as it may be arranged?” he asked her.
“Aye, I think it best,” Adair agreed. “We need to return to Stanton before the wicked weather sets in, Andrew.”
“Would you prefer to wed at Stanton?” he asked her thoughtfully.
A smile lit Adair’s lovely features. “Oh, yes! Do you think it would be permitted, Andrew? Do you think Uncle Dickon would allow it?”
“If the betrothal papers are all signed by both parties, by the duke and his priest, and witnessed by the duchess and another, I do not see why not,” Andrew told her.
“It would so please the Stanton folk,” Adair said.
“They have been so loyal to me, and I know that they will be loyal to you, Andrew.”
“Then I shall speak with the duke, sweetheart,” he said, and he did.
The duke agreed it would be an excellent idea for Adair to be married at Stanton, in her own hall surrounded by her own people. It would bind them all closer. He had the papers drawn up. Both Andrew and Adair read the agreement that would unite them as husband and wife. The priest read the contract and approved it. Then, in the duchess’s private chapel at Middleham Castle early on a late October morning, the papers were signed by the couple and the duke, who was Adair’s guardian. The sun was not even up, but its colorful advance was evident in the clear blue sky. The priest then blessed Adair and Andrew, and while a marriage ceremony at Stanton would be held, they were now for all intents and purposes man and wife.
The Mass was then held, and afterward they ate ameal of poached eggs in a cream sauce, thin slices of country ham, oat stirabout in bread trenchers, and fresh-baked bread still hot from the ovens. There was ground pepper in the cream sauce, and a silver crock of sweet butter, and several dishes of summer preserves on the table. The goblets were filled with fresh sweet cider or October ale, depending on the diner’s preference.
And after they had eaten, Adair and Andrew were escorted to the courtyard by the duke and his wife to begin their journey home to Stanton. They would be escorted by a large troop of the duke’s men. Richard of Gloucester would take no chances on his favorite niece being harmed.
Adair knelt before him for his blessing, which he gladly gave her, raising her up to kiss her on both of her cheeks and her forehead. “I believe that this husband will make you happy,” he said with a small smile.
“Thank you for seeing what I could not, Uncle Dickon. Look after yourself, I pray you, for you worry far too much.”
The duke nodded in acknowledgment, and passed her to his wife.
The two women embraced.
“Tell Neddie I am sorry he had to stay in bed today, and give him a kiss for me,” Adair told Anne.
“I will,” the duchess said. “It is his lungs, and he will persist in riding, though the weather has grown cold.
You will find a mother has but so much control over her sons, I fear, my dear Adair. Be as happy with your Andrew as I am with my Dickon.” The duchess kissed Adair as her husband had. “God bless you both,” she told them.
Adair and Andrew mounted their horses and, surrounded by the duke’s men at arms, rode out from Middleham Castle, heading north and west toward Stanton.
