God help her, she could think of little else. Was it possible her new husband could make her feel like that? Was it a sin to hope so fervently it might be so?
She reached for her cup and tilted her head back to take a large gulp.
“Stephen’s family is anxious to get him settled,” Robert said, “before some husband kills him.”
She choked, almost spitting wine across the table. Between coughs she asked, “He has affairs with married women?”
“I shock you again,” Robert said, patting her back. “A fine chaperone I am proving to be.”
It came as no surprise Carleton had affairs. What made her inhale her wine was the sudden image of him actually kissing another woman the way he’d kissed her.
“For a man who wishes to avoid a wedding at all costs,” Robert explained, “married women are the safest choice.”
“He could abstain.”
Robert’s burst of laughter caused heads to turn in their direction, including Carleton’s. “That would not have occurred to me, but of course you are right.” He took her hand and kissed it as he met Carleton’s eyes across the room. “I do hope I am there when you suggest it to him.”
As if in answer to the challenge, Stephen Carleton left the exquisite Claudette and strode across the room to them. His words of greeting were polite, but the devilish smile he gave her made it impossible for Isobel to utter a single word.
He sat on the other side of Robert and fell into easy conversation with him. “By summer we will control most of Normandy, including your ancestral home.”
“It will be strange to return after so many years,” Robert said. “And what of you, Stephen? When will you go to Northumberland to reclaim your family lands?”
Isobel could not help herself. She leaned forward and asked, “Your family lost their lands?”
Carleton’s eyebrows shot up. “You did not know? My father joined the northern rebels, same as yours.”
So he knew about her father. “But your brother is close to the king, is he not?”
“Lucky for me, William fought for the Lancasters,” Stephen said, grinning at her. “William is my half brother. Since he was the only relative not tainted, our mother sent me to live with him when I was twelve.”
“But your father’s lands were confiscated?”
“Of course.” He shrugged as if it were no concern to him.
“You’ve only to ask,” Robert said, “and the king will grant them back to you.”
King Henry was allowing most of the former rebels, or their families, to buy back their lands. She had paid the price for the return of her family’s lands. What price did Stephen pay? What would cause the king to forgive such a debt?
“We have more in common than you knew,” Stephen said, raising his cup to her. “We were both born of foolish, traitorous fathers.”
Was his father’s treachery not a burden to him? What of his mother? Isobel longed to ask…
The person sitting on her other side tugged at her elbow. She turned to find the pleasant, round face of Sir John Popham, a boring man if there ever was one.
“Have you a guess as to how many English merchants will come to Caen to set up shop in the spring?”
When she shook her head, the man began to talk at length about trade. Since all Popham required of her was an occasional nod, she could give most of her attention to the conversation between Robert and Stephen.
“William says he intends to return to England in the spring,” she heard Robert say.
“Aye,” Stephen said, “he’ll not be away from Catherine any longer than he must.”
“And who can blame him? Your brother is a lucky man.”
Robertwas saying this?
“That he is,” Stephen agreed, “that he is.”
