“I am a shrinking virgin,” Philippa protested.
“You are a ninny first, I suspect. I am almost tempted to stay my own betrothal in an effort to aid you. That is what sisters are for, but I will be damned if I hold back from my own happiness because you are behaving like a silly fool,” Banon declared. “If I were not in love with Robert Neville I would steal the earl from you and marry him myself!” She drank down half the contents of her goblet in irritation. “He is most preeminent as prospective husbands go.”
“Why, thank you, Mistress Banon,” the earl said, coming up to join them at the high board. He gave her a warm smile, and then turned to Philippa. “You are feeling better this morning, little one?” He kissed her forehead as he sat down next to Philippa.
“Aye, my lord,” she answered him, her eyes lowered.
“Well, I’ve had all I want to eat for now,” Banon said, getting up from the table. “I’m going to go and take a nap. One never gets enough sleep at court, I fear. I shall see you both later.”
“I will go with you,” Philippa said, and she made to stand up, but the earl would not let her. She turned to him questioningly.
“I don’t want you to go with me, you lackwit!” Banon snapped, and she ran from the hall.
“This foolishness must cease,” the earl told Philippa.
“I know,” she agreed. “I do not know what is the matter with me, my lord. I have never before been a coward.” She filled his goblet from the pitcher on the table, and buttered a piece of the cottage loaf for him.
“We will spend the day together,” he told her. “We will take Tom’s barge out on the river, and row upstream away from the city. We will bring a basket with us and have a picnic, just the two of us. Not my chattering sisters, or your charming sister, or the flamboyant Lord Cambridge. Just us. And you will tell me of your family, and why you have an aversion to sheep,” he teased her, “and I will tell you of my early years.”
“Oh, I should like that,” Philippa said, and she smiled at him.
“You are tired, little one. I can see it. You take life most seriously, and I wonder if you have ever been care-free in all of your life,” he said, and he caressed her face with his fingers.
“When I was little, and lived at Friarsgate,” she said softly. “Mama watched over all of us and saw we were happy and safe. There were lessons with Father Mata, and we learned to swim in our lake. I remember seeing newborn lambs just from their mother’s wombs. Sheep are not very intelligent, and drop their newborns in the worst of winter,” she told him.
“It sounds most peaceful and idyllic,” he replied.
She laughed. “It does, doesn’t it.” She stood up. “I am not running away, I promise, my lord, but I would go to the kitchens and tell cook we will need a basket for our picnic. I shall return quickly, and you shall eat while I am gone.”
He caught her hand and kissed it. “Do not be long, little one. I find I am coming to quite enjoy your company,” he said to her.
What a sweet thing to say, Philippa considered as she hurried off to the kitchens of Bolton House. Banon was right. She was being a ninny. But the queen had instructed all her maids of honor to chaste behavior, and was not the king’s wife a shining example of virtue to her kingdom’s womenfolk? While Philippa had seen the king give his wife a public kiss now and again, he was far more familiar with some of the court ladies, and Philippa knew that the court was in certain areas a haven for licentious behavior of a salacious variety. She wasn’t certain what was right and what was wrong. If indeed there was a right or wrong about it all.
Reaching her destination, she instructed the cook to fill a basket with bread, ham, cheese, and wine. “And some of those delicious-looking meat pasties coming out of the ovens right now,” she said, “and oh, I see early strawberries, some of them as well. Pack enough, Master Cook, for the earl is a big man, and likes his food.”
“When will you want it?” the cook inquired politely.
“In an hour, or possibly even less,” Philippa said. “I’ll send Lucy for it.”
“There will be just the two of you?” the cook asked.
Philippa nodded, feeling a small blush touch her cheeks. “Aye,” she responded, and then departed the kitchens.
Upstairs in the hall she found that the earl was just about finished with his morning meal. He was yet alone, for Lord Cambridge rarely rose before ten in the morning when he was in London. Neither were the earl’s sisters in evidence.
“I will wait until Uncle Thomas is up,” Philippa said, “so I may tell him where we are going. Would you like to go into the gardens? The day is fair.”
“Aye,” he agreed, “but first I have a small surprise for you, Philippa. It is your natal day, is it not? You are sixteen today. I have brought you a small gift.” He held out a velvet bag to her.
“How kind!” she exclaimed, surprised. “What is it?”
“Open the bag,” he smiled, “if you wish to know.”
Philippa spilled the contents of the bag into her upturned palm to reveal a delicate gold chain to which was attached a round gold pendant studded with sapphire stars. “Oh,” she exclaimed. “It’s beautiful, my lord. Thank you so much! The only man who has ever given me jewelry before is Uncle Thomas.” She held the chain and pendant up, admiring it as it sparkled in the sunlight of the hall.
“Well, now it will be my privilege to gift my wife with jewelry. Let me put it on you,” the earl said, taking the chain from her and turning her about to slip it over her head. “My mother wore this piece, Philippa, and my grandmother. It is always given to St. Claire countesses. I had an ancestor who fought with King Richard. He brought it back from the Holy Land.” Then his arms went about her waist, and he dropped a kiss upon her shoulder. His hand adjusted the pendant, his fingers slipping between her breasts for the briefest moment as if by accident, but they both knew it was no accident.
Philippa’s pulse raced, but she did not scold him, or even flinch. By tomorrow she would be his wife. Whatever the queen said about the virtue of chastity in a marriage, this innocent play could not be wrong between a man and his wife. The betrothal agreement made them a married couple already according to the law of the land. Once the church rendered its blessing and gave them the sacrament it would be fact. If the purpose of marriage was children, then she must yield to his desires. And why should she not yield to her own desires? There were so many questions she needed answers to, and for the first time in three years Philippa Meredith wanted her mother.
