“May I echo his lordship’s good wishes, Mistress Philippa?” William Smythe said, bowing to her. He was standing by the bed.
“You may,” she told him.
“Darling girl, what is that piece of jewelry you are wearing about your lovely neck? I have not seen it before, and I certainly did not give it to you. Come closer so I may inspect it more thoroughly,” he said.
“Isn’t it lovely? The earl gave it to me as a gift for my natal day, uncle. He says it belonged to his mother, his grandmother, and all the way back to an ancestor of his who fought with Coeur de Lion and brought it back from the Holy Land.” She lifted the chain and pendant from about her neck and handed it to Lord Cambridge.
He took it and examined it, then handed it back to her. “It is quite superior, darling girl,” he told her. “I can but hope his taste is as good as his ancestor’s.”
“I came to tell you that we are going to take mama’s barge and picnic somewhere on the river today,” she told him. “The court just went by down to Greenwich.”
“Why the king will not schedule his goings with the tide is beyond me,” Thomas Bolton said. “But he will control everything touching his life, won’t he? Go, darling girl, and enjoy your day. I shall keep the sisters amused, you may be certain. Perhaps I shall take them to the tower to see the king’s lions. I will wager neither has ever been. Where is Banon? She has arrived already?”
Philippa nodded. “We broke our fast together, and she has gone to nap. She is most delighted to be with you and going home to Otterly. Will Robert Neville go with you, or has he already left for the north?”
“No, no, he is here. He will travel with us, for we must stop at his father’s and settle the betrothal agreement and set the wedding date before we may reach home. I expect him at Bolton House before day’s end. Is that correct, Will?”
“Indeed, my lord, it is,” the secretary replied with a short bow.
“Then I am off,” Philippa said. “Pray I can escape into the garden without being accosted by one of my sisters-in-law.” Then she was gone out the door. In the upper corridor it was still quiet. Philippa scampered quickly down the staircase, and peeked into the hall. It was empty but for a serving woman polishing the furniture. Moving through the door into the garden, Philippa almost danced her way down to the stone quay where she found the earl awaiting her. Gallantly he handed her into the barge.
“I have given the rowers their instructions,” he said as he settled her, and then sat next to her. “We are ready,” he called to the two bargemen.
The little vessel moved off upriver, struggling against the tide, keeping close to the shoreline where the current was less treacherous.
“Where are we going?” Philippa asked him.
“I have absolutely no idea,” he answered. “This is not a part of the river with which I am familiar. I’ll know the spot when I see it.” He drew her into his arms.
“How will you be able to see what you’re looking for if you’re kissing me?” she asked curiously. His gray eyes held an expression she didn’t understand, but it didn’t frighten her at all.
“I doubt there is a perfect spot so near Lord Cambridge’s house,” he quickly replied, “so it is best to fill our time kissing, madame. Practice, I am told, makes perfect.” His lips brushed hers. “You have been very negligent in your studies, little one.” He kissed her softly and slowly.
“I was but waiting for the proper instructor, my lord,” she told him coyly when he freed her lips once again. “Are you he, mayhap?” She was flirting, Philippa thought. She was actually flirting with the man she was to marry on the morrow.
He tipped her face up to his, gazing into the hazel eyes that looked shyly back at him. “I am he, Philippa,” he told her. “I will teach you with all the skill at my command, not just kissing, but the ways of passion as well. Do you understand, little one?”
“Aye,” she whispered, and then she said, “I did not wear a chemise today, and my gown is front-laced, my lord.” Then her cheeks grew pink with the bold admission.
He was astounded. “Philippa,” he said low. “You do me honor.”
“Well, we are to be married tomorrow, and we are formally betrothed,” she reasoned. “You are an honorable man, I know. If I am a bit liberal today with the cream, you will still purchase the cow, I am sure now.”
“I will,” he agreed, smiling down into her eyes.
“You have never before been wed?” she asked him. “Not even betrothed?”
“Nay. While my father lived I saw no need to marry, and my sisters had sons to take the title should something happen to me,” he explained.
“But you did not remain at Brierewode,” she noted.
“There was naught for me to do, Philippa. My father managed his estates with little help. He and his old bailiff, Roald. He had no intention of sharing his authority even with his only son and heir. I cannot be idle. I drifted into the court and caught the eye of Cardinal Wolsey. The next thing I knew I was being sent on diplomatic missions. Little ones at first, and then larger ones. And one day I was sent to San Lorenzo, one of those little duchies between France and Italy. The king’s ambassador had managed to irritate the duke, and was dismissed by him. I was sent as his replacement, but the duke would have no more Englishmen.”The earl chuckled. “I managed to smooth the duke’s ruffled feathers, but was sent home nonetheless. My next posting was to the duchy of Cleves. I was there when my father died. It was at that point I left the royal service. There was no time for a wife while I served the king.”
“You are younger than your sisters,” Philippa said.
“Aye, I am. I am thirty, Marjorie is thirty-seven, and Susanna is thirty-five. My mother was not very strong but she was determined to give her husband a healthy son. The effort sapped her strength. She died right after my second birthday. My sisters mothered me until they wed, and by that time I was old enough to survive on my own.”
“I was barely six when my father died,” Philippa told him. “I can remember him but barely now, and my sisters remember him not at all. My littlest sister, Bessie, is said to resemble him, but Banon and I are like our mother. And my half brothers look like my stepfather, Logan Hepburn.”
