“Your mistress, the queen, is a good woman, and she has struggled to be a good wife to the king. But your mistress, the queen, is a prude, Philippa. She cannot help it. She was raised in Spain to have a devotion to her duty. A strict piety to the church first and foremost. A fidelity to her position as a Spanish infanta, and secondly as England’s queen. And her last allegiance is to her husband. Duty does not belong in the marital bed, Philippa.”
She gazed up at him, obviously puzzled.
“A man wants a woman in his bed who enjoys being there,” he explained. “A woman who opens herself to their shared passion and trusts that her lord will lead the way to a pleasure they may both enjoy. I know you are a virgin, Philippa. It pleases me that you have been chaste. But the time for purity is past. For the short time we have before our marriage you will yield yourself to my will, little one. And you will not regret it. That I promise you.”
“The queen ... ,” Philippa began, but he placed two fingers against her lips.
“You are not the queen, Philippa,” he told her. “Now I want you to say, ‘Aye, Crispin. I will do as you say.’ ” His gray eyes were dancing with his amusement.
“But you have to understand ... ,” Philippa tried again, and the two fingers were again pressed across her mouth.
“ ‘Aye, Crispin,’ ” he gently prompted her.
“I will not be spoken to as if I were a child!” she protested.
“But you are a child where passion is concerned,” he told her. “And I am he who will teach you and make you the most skilled pupil, Philippa. Now your first lesson is to kiss me sweetly, and say, ‘Aye, Crispin, I will do as you say.’ ”
The hazel eyes glaring at him were most definitely mutinous. She compressed her lips together into a straight, narrow line. She stood up from the bench. “No, Crispin, I will not say it! You are an arrogant horse’s rump!” Then she turned and ran back into the house, the laces of her bodice trailing behind her.
The earl of Witton burst out laughing. Marriage to Philippa Meredith was going to be anything but dull, he decided.
Chapter 11
The day after her betrothal ceremony, Philippa celebrated her sixteenth birthday. Her sister, Banon, now dismissed from the queen’s service, arrived at Bolton House early with all her belongings. Her blue eyes were sparkling, and she had a more sophisticated air about her now than when she had arrived at court several months back. Banon had turned fourteen on the first day of March.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t be here yesterday,” she said, flinging her gloves aside as she pulled them from her elegant little hands, “but the mistress of the maids said since I would be at your wedding it didn’t matter. The old cow!” She hugged Philippa eagerly. “The queen said I might go this morning, and believe me I was out of the palace even before the first mass. The place is in an uproar with the move today to Greenwich. Honestly I don’t see what you see in living at court. All that pandemonium and commotion, not to mention the constant moving.” She stopped. “Oh! Happy natal day, sister!” And she kissed both of Philippa’s cheeks. Then stepping back she said, “You look pale. Are you alright?”
“Uncle Tom says I am suffering from what he describes as bridal nerves,” Philippa answered her younger sister. “I am so glad to see you, Banon! Come, and let us have something to eat before my new sisters-in-law come into the hall. They never stop chattering, and they are so provincial. They are sweet, but I think I am grateful they will not live near us.” She took Banon’s hand in hers, and together they seated themselves at the table while the servants hurried to bring them food, and set goblets of morning ale before them.
“Ohh, real food again!” Banon enthused. “I found the food at court almost inedible, I fear.” She pulled a piece from the hot cottage loaf that had been placed before them, buttering it lavishly and taking a bite. A blissful look came over Banon’s face as the butter drizzled down her chin. “Ah, that is pure heaven,” she said.
“One day you will get fat,” Philippa teased her sister.
“I don’t care,” Banon said. “I shall have Otterly, my bairns, and Robert. ’Tis all I want in life, sister. And Robert won’t care. More of me to love, he always says.”
Philippa shook her head. “How is it that you and Robert can speak so easily with one another? You have known him hardly longer than I have known the earl.”
“Philippa, you are my older sister, and you know without my saying that I love you, but you have too much of the queen in you. I mean neither you nor the queen any disrespect when I say that, but you should be more like mama. She has a zest for life, and devil take the hindmost. She is not afraid of giving in to passion. The first night she and Glenkirk met he bedded her, and she was more than willing, it is said.” Banon dipped her spoon into her trencher of warm oat stirabout, bringing it to her mouth. It was flavored with bits of apple, cinnamon, sugar, and heavy cream.
“How do you know such a thing?” Philippa demanded, surprised.
“Uncle Tom told me,” Banon said. “I have lived with him since I turned twelve, after all. And while she resisted our stepfather, she also longed for him,” Banon added. “But you have held Crispin St. Claire at bay, whether from shyness or prudery I do not know. But no matter, the effect has been the same, and now you will marry him tomorrow, and you can no longer hold him at bay. You would not be doing your duty as a wife if you did.”
“I know,” Philippa admitted. “I am so confused, and not just a little frightened.”
“Of what?” Banon wanted to know.
“Of him. The earl. He is a very strong-willed man,” Philippa explained.
Banon laughed aloud. “You are a very strong-willed girl,” she said.
“He took me into the gardens after the ceremony yesterday, and he kissed me again and again,” Philippa replied.
“And?” Banon probed.
“He loosened my laces! He fondled my breast! He said I was his pupil, and he would teach me passion, that in two days’ time I would be his wife, and I would do my duty towards him,” Philippa said. “I ran back into the house and stayed in my chamber the rest of the day.”
Banon shook her head. “You are determined to be unhappy, I see. What is the matter with you, Philippa? The earl is a charming man. He is not very well known at court but those who know him speak of his ethic and good nature. No one has forced you to this match. I cannot believe you are behaving like a shrinking virgin, and a ninny.”
