He laughed then, and the magic between them dissolved. It would be ignited between them again, and soon, he knew, but not now. He released her from his embrace. “Set up the board, madame,” he told her.
They sat down to play, and as in most of their games Philippa quickly gained the advantage, capturing his rooks and his queen. “You are too impatient,” she told him. “You must study the board, and consider at least three moves ahead.”
“How can I?” he replied. “I do not know what piece you will move.”
“Crispin!” Her tone was exasperated. “There are only so many moves you can make in each play. You must contemplate in your mind which ones they are, and then weigh and balance the best of them.”
The earl of Witton was very surprised by her explanation. “Do you do that?” he asked her, and knew before she spoke what she would answer.
“I do. I dislike losing. You must allow me to teach you better, for you are no challenge for me now. There is no fun in playing an opponent you know you will beat,” Philippa said in matter-of-fact tones.
“Did no one ever tell you that to best a man at chess is not particularly feminine?” he queried her.
“Yes, they did,” she said, “but the queen never lets the king win easily, and more often than not she will beat him. I but follow her example, my lord. I am not nor will I ever be one of those fluttering females lacking intellect, and giggling over the latest gossip making the rounds of the court.”
“Nay, I do not imagine you will,” he said, “but sometimes women of reason who revel in their sense of intellectual superiority miss the obvious. Check and mate, my dear countess.” He grinned triumphantly as he captured her king.
Philippa stared openmouthed, but then she burst out laughing and clapped her two hands together. “I bow to your cleverness, my lord,” she told him. “I am beginning to see now that there is more to you than I anticipated.”
“Indeed, madame, there is much more,” he said meaningfully. He stood up and stretched. “It is time we ate something, madame, for we cannot avoid the inevitable forever.” He took her hand, and leading her to the high board he seated her gallantly. “We must be grateful that Lord Cambridge has had the delicacy of manners to leave us alone. I think neither of us would have enjoyed the crudity and general drunken merriment that goes with the bedding of a bride and groom.”
Blushing, Philippa nodded silently. Then she carved him several slices of beef and two more of capon, laying them carefully on his plate before she served herself. Her own appetite had suddenly faded away at his careful mention of the night to come. She poured them both goblets of rich and fragrant red wine.
He, however, ate with good appetite, but he saw how she picked at her capon, and how she drank half a goblet of wine down after she had poured it. She was afraid. But how afraid? Philippa was, of course, a virgin. He did not relish the thought of deflowering a reluctant virgin, but the deed must be done this night. He knew very well, even if she didn’t want to, that Lord Cambridge would expect to see the proof of Philippa’s lost virtue in order to assure himself and his family that the marriage was consummated. He drank deeply of his own wine. The night ahead was going to prove to be a lesson in both diplomacy and his strategic abilities. He hoped that he was up to it.
Chapter 13
When they had finished their meal and the servants had cleared the high board, a long and awkward silence ensued between them. Finally the earl said in a quiet voice that nonetheless brooked no resistance, “I believe we should retire, my dear. I shall remain in the hall until Lucy tells my serving man that you are prepared for bed.” He stood up, taking her hand to lead her down from the high board. Then he kissed the icy little hand, bowed, and said, “I am patient to a point, Philippa.”
She curtseyed to him, the color drained from her face, and she swayed slightly. But then she took a deep breath, saying, “I will try not to keep you waiting, my lord,” and drawing her hand from his, she turned and hurried from the hall. Reaching her apartment she entered her bedchamber and gasped, surprised. “Lucy! What has happened here?”
“Lord Cambridge had the entire room redone today after you left for the church, and while you were all feasting, and this afternoon while you and the earl was in the garden. He had everything prepared and ready. He said that you and your husband should begin on an even playing field. That you should not remember the bedchamber of your girlhood as the place you spent your wedding night. He wanted it all different.”
Philippa gazed about her. Gone were the rose-colored velvet draperies that had hung on the windows and curtained the bed. This had been her mother’s room once, and then it had been hers ever since she had come to court. The furniture in both rooms of the apartment was the same, except for the bed in her bedchamber which had been replaced by a very large bed that would obviously accommodate two. The draperies were now a rich shade of burgundy reds and the Turkey carpets deep reds and blues. The velvet curtains that would surround the bed were hung from fine shiny brass rings.
“Well,” Philippa said, half laughing, “he has accomplished his goal, but I rather liked the rose velvet.”
“It was faded and worn, my lady. This is so rich and fine,” Lucy said.
“For one night,” Philippa said softly, “and all so my memories of the rose velvet room would always be happy ones. Uncle Thomas is the most thoughtful of gentlemen. No one else, not even my mother, would have considered such an extravagance.”
“He loves all you lasses very much, does Lord Cambridge,” Lucy said. “Come now, my lady, ’tis no use dawdling.”
Philippa gave her tiring woman a small smile, and nodded. “It sounds so strange to my ears to hear you call me my lady,” she said to Lucy while the older girl unlaced her bodice. Her own fingers undid the tabs holding the bodice to her skirts.
“You’re the countess of Witton now, my lady,” Lucy said proudly. She worked busily as she spoke, loosening the sleeves and drawing the bodice off by them, laying it aside. Then she unlaced her mistress’s skirts, the petticoats and the shake fold beneath them. Philippa stepped from them, and Lucy gathered everything up, bustling off into the small chamber where all of her lady’s clothing was kept.
Philippa walked over to her jewel casket, opened it and, removing her earbobs and pearls, put them away. Seating herself she slipped off her shoes and, easing her garters, rolled her stockings from her legs. Lucy came from the other room, gathered them up, and disappeared again. A basin with warm water had been set on the oak table. The young woman bathed her hands and her face. Then she scrubbed her teeth with a mixture of pumice and mint, using a small cloth. She was doing everything as she did it every night before she went to bed. But tonight there would be a husband in her bed.
Lucy came back, and thrust the chamber pot at her. “Pee,” she ordered, “and then bathe yourself there.”
Philippa’s first instinct was to argue she didn’t need to pee, but she found that she did. She obeyed her maidservant’s instructions. Lucy emptied the pot out the bedchamber window, then rinsed it with the water from the basin, and emptied it the same way. She tucked the chamber pot beneath the bed again.
“Well, you’re as ready as you’re going to be,” she said. Then she curtseyed, and without another word was gone out the door of the bedchamber. Philippa heard the door to her little apartment close as Lucy hurried into the hallway beyond.
“My hair,” Philippa said softly, and then she laughed at herself. She was perfectly capable of brushing her own hair. Taking up her brush she sat down in the window seat overlooking the gardens. One hundred strokes was what Maybel and mama had taught her. Each morning, and each night. The boar’s bristles slicked rhythmically through her long, thick tresses.
Philippa watched the river as she brushed. There was a crescent moon tonight, and above it a bright star. It was so beautiful. If only it could stay just like this forever, she thought. And then the door to her bedchamber opened, and she heard him as he stepped into the room.
