“You are still so nervous about meeting Henry?”
She nodded and gave him a baleful look.
“Then we will return to Crewel.”
She was stunned. “You would do that for me?”
“Of course,” he said simply. “I didn’t realize you were so frightened.”
“It is not fear, exactly. More like…unease,” she assured him. “I am sure it will pass.” Knowing that he was willing to change his plans for her added greatly to her self-confidence. “It is too late to turn back now. The king expects us.”
“Henry can be disappointed once in a while.”
“No, my lord, truly, I will control my nerves.”
“You are sure?”
“Yes. And the worst that will happen is that my old rash will reappear. It used to whenever I went to court as a child.”
“That might not be so bad.” He grinned. “Then Iwon’t have to worry that every knight in the kingdom is being smitten by you.”
She shrugged. “I have outgrown my nervous rashes, so it will not happen.”
Rolfe frowned. “Leonie, you had a rash on the day we married.”
“Of course, my lord,” she replied dryly.
“You mean you didnothave a rash?”
Her eyes flashed. “You know why I was veiled. I do not wish to speak of it.”
Rolfe stared incredulously as she got up and stalked angrily to the door. Did she really think he understood?
“Leonie!”
She turned only long enough to say furiously, “I will not speak of it! Now, stir yourself, my lord, or we will not reach London before nightfall.”
She slammed the door, leaving Rolfe more bewildered than he had ever been in his life.
Chapter 31
BECAUSE Leonie had been confined so long at Pershwick and then at Crewel, she was fascinated by the journey to London, whereas Rolfe had traveled through France and England for so many years that he barely bothered looking around, leaving the enjoyment of the journey to her.
They passed through villages she hadn’t seen in years, and she gazed hungrily at everything, from the mundane sights of peasants working their masters’ fields to beautifully gowned ladies on horseback traveling with their guards. She was glad there was no older woman with her to scold, for she knew she ought not to be staring so avidly at everything around her. But she was enjoying herself tremendously, and she didn’t give a hoot for convention most of the time as it was, she reminded herself.
They passed through a village just as the bells were ringing for Sixtus, and the midafternoon quiet touched Leonie’s memory, bringing back the times she had finished with her lessons and been taken to her parents by her maid. From three until four o’clock was a sacred hour, when the three of them talked and, if the weather permitted, walked in the forest together. Nobody was ever allowed to intrude on their hour together.
With her mother’s death, all of that peace, those joyous times, were swept away forever.Damn her father, she thought. Why hadn’t he taken care of her after her mother’s death? Why had he been so weak? In his place, she would have forced herself to rise above grief.
Leonie shook herself. When would she ever learn not to think about her father? The few moments she indulged in would cause a day or more of brooding unhappiness, she had learned that much—and she had enough to contend with in her present circumstances without grieving over her past.
She turned again to look around her, reminding herself to enjoy this treat because London was not, she feared, going to offer much enjoyment.
There were more than a hundred parishes in London, each with its own church, and the hundred church spires rising above the city walls was an awesome sight. Leonie well remembered her first journey to London as a child, and the most outstanding building seen from a great distance—Saint Paul’s Cathedral, which rose high over the city, commanding with its mighty roofs and bays and Gothic arches.
The Palatine Castle, nearly a century old, was another formidable stone structure in a city built mostly of one-story frame houses. It was the only royal palace within the old Roman walls of the city, and it was where Leonie and Rolfe would be staying.
Leonie was glad. The king was in residence at Westminster Hall, which was outside the city, so she hoped to see Henry only once. She was to be presented to him the day after their arrival. Rolfe, however, would be seeing him on the evening they reached London.
