He took her by the shoulders. ‘Not yet, but what little I have learned in the weeks since we made our agreement has led me to want to discover more, and I do know that I am already fond of you. It can only deepen. I hope you have at least some regard for me.’
She nodded shyly, feeling hot and cold all over.
‘We are bonded together for life by our marriage vows. I for you and you for me, and I pray come what may that it shall always be so.’
He took her hands, raised them to his lips, and drew her to the bed. He laid her down on it, and knelt over her, kissing her, and Joanna remembered Cecily’s advice and kissed him in return. A first time for everything, she thought as her senses opened to him, the feelings rushing through her excitement and fear. She raised her hand and did what she had wanted to do from the moment he had come to court, and ran her fingers through his hair.
Joanna lay against William feeling the thunder of his heart, listening to his rapid breathing. She was overcome. No advice or guidance from Cecily or the other women could have prepared her for this. It was like the times when she had become dizzy and disorientated from drinking too much wine. The sore feeling between her legs was a background discomfort, although more noticeable now that the overwhelming physical sensations had diminished. He had stroked every inch of her body. Parts that no one else had touched; parts that she could not even reach herself. The experience had been new, intoxicating and strange, but she felt utterly bonded to him because all the boundaries had been swept away by their shared experience. No one else would ever have this intimacy and not only in physical terms. She had never let anyone this close before.
When he moved, she followed, not wanting to lose the contact, and he reacted by putting his arm around her, pulling her close and kissing the side of her head. ‘Now we are truly man and wife,’ he said, ‘and I could not be more blessed.’
Joanna hesitated, for giving her heart made her vulnerable and to admit to giving it even more so, but she seized her courage. ‘Neither could I,’ she said, and buried her face against his smooth chest.
Joanna awoke to find the covers flapped back and William putting on his clothes. She murmured his name as a question, and when he turned and smiled, her heart somersaulted.
‘I didn’t want to wake you,’ he said. ‘It is still very early but I am always up with the dawn.’
‘So am I, usually,’ she answered, ‘but this morning is different.’
He finished fastening his hose to his braies. ‘Indeed. I have never woken up with a wife in bed beside me. I watched you sleeping as the sun rose and thought again how fortunate I am.’
‘So where are you going if that is the case?’
‘Only to see what is afoot and then I’ll return, I promise. I won’t be long.’
He leaned over to kiss her, quickly put on his shoes and left the room, pausing on the threshold to look over his shoulder and grin at her.
Joanna sat up and clasped her hands around her folded knees, feeling pensive. Their wedding night might have been the most intimate of experiences, but she had awoken to find him on the verge of stealing out. She wanted to talk and share her thoughts with him as well as her body. However, she recognised his restless energy, his need to be busy. She only had to look at his hair to know his character.
In the hall, servants were setting up trestles for people to break their fast, although few were about because everyone had drunk and danced to their utmost the previous night. William was hoping to avail himself of sustenance without being noticed, but unfortunately his brothers Geoffrey and Guy were already awake – if they had been to bed at all – and so was John de Warenne.
‘Little brother!’ Geoffrey struck William a hefty blow on the shoulder. ‘What’s all this? Away from your duties so soon?’
‘Leave him alone,’ Guy replied. ‘He’s clearly ravenous after the night he’s spent. Being a bridegroom is like a joust. Lance work takes a lot out of a man. He needs all the nourishment he can get!’
William shook his head at them, but took the joshing in good part. In truth he had been surprised there had not been more of it last night but then the King had been overseeing the proceedings. ‘Thank you for your concern,’ he said. ‘I assure you that all is well and I am both very happy and very hungry. Nor am I being dilatory in my attendance on my beautiful wife.’ He purloined a tray from a passing servant and loaded it with bread, cheese, a dish of honey and slices of cold roast meat. He plucked three roses from a jug of flowers standing on one of the trestles and arranged them on the tray.
Geoffrey raised his brows and shook his head, but John watched with interest. ‘Nice touch,’ he said.
‘Just be careful you don’t contract love-sickness, little brother,’ Geoffrey warned. ‘It is unwise to be in thrall to a woman’s skirts – to what lies under a woman’s skirts.’
William returned the raised brow. ‘It does no harm to be courtly to one’s wife on her wedding morn. Do not worry, I am my own man.’
‘Yes, and a wise one.’ Aliza arrived to join her brothers. ‘A contented wife is a valuable weapon in a husband’s armoury.’ She stood on tip-toe to kiss William’s cheek. ‘Pay them no heed. If I was a new wife and this was my first morning, I would love you for ever if you brought me roses.’
Geoffrey gave an exaggerated sigh and Aliza pinched him hard, making him yelp. John looked on, grinning. ‘I would certainly bring my wife roses if I had a wife,’ he said, looking at Aliza.
‘See,’ she said to Geoffrey, making him shrug his shoulders in baffled disgust.
William took his leave to resounding cheers. Turning at the foot of the steps, he flourished a bow before making his escape.
*
Joanna was dressed in her chemise and undergown and Mabel was combing her hair when William returned, bearing the tray. He had been gone a while and she had decided she might as well rise, but now she looked at the food and the flowers, and her heart blossomed at his trouble and consideration. She was chagrined too, for thinking he had been about his own concerns rather than organising this. He set down the tray in the window embrasure and Joanna dismissed her maids.
‘How thoughtful.’ She gave him a soft look and picked up a rose to sniff the delicate perfume while he poured wine and arranged the food on one of the King’s silver-gilt platters. ‘Will it be like this every morning?’ She gave him a teasing smile.
William laughed. ‘It is your turn tomorrow.’ He pushed the predatory, inquisitive Weazel away from the plate. ‘I hope we shall often talk like this. I know it will be difficult to manage at court – there are always people listening at keyholes and behind the curtains – but even so, these moments will be ours, and precious.’
