Now, she understood completely and, anger abated, fought off a smile. “I hope you do not reconsider that after we have spent a few days together.”
“I highly doubt it.”
“Then this… this courtship, or the prelude to a courtship, was not all your father’s idea?”
“At first it was. But not anymore.”
There was something in the way he said it that made her heart leap. He was being completely honest with her and she appreciated it. She was also still having difficulty believing it was true. Handsome, powerful Edward de Wolfe really was interested in her.
She wasn’t sure she would ever truly believe it.
“Then let us converse on whatever you wish,” she said, unable to keep the flush from her cheeks now. “I fear I may not be as clever as the women you are surely used to in the king’s court, but I will try.”
His golden eyes glimmered at her. Then, he held out a hand. “Walk with me,” he said softly.
When he used that tone, Cassiopeia would have followed him straight into the fires of Hell. It was warm, deep, and soft. She didn’t even care where they were going. She put her hand in his without hesitation and he tucked it into the crook of his elbow as they began to walk along the river’s edge in the green grass that was thick with moisture. All Cassiopeia could do was stare at him as they walked, utterly thrilled and, perhaps, even a little bewildered.
It was like a dream.
“Tell me something,” Edward said.
“What shall I tell you?”
“How many children shall we have?”
She giggled. “Isn’t it a little early to be speaking of such things?”
“Not at all. If you want twenty children and I only want two, we have a problem and we will know it right away. So, I must know how many children you want.”
“As many as God sees fit to give us.”
“All boys?”
“I would want a daughter or two.”
“Pah,” he said, making a face. “Girls are expensive. They require big dowries and the fact that I have a high position in Edward’s court means that only the richest and most prestigious husbands would be sought for my daughters. They would cost me a bloody fortune.”
Cassiopeia laughed softly. “Oh, very well,” she said with feigned impatience. “I want only sons. Satisfied?”
“Perfectly.”
“And where shall we live with this gaggle of males?”
He was trying hard not to grin. “I think we need our own country.”
She appeared to seriously consider it. “Shall we take Scotland, then? They do not want their country very badly. I am sure they will turn it over to us.”
Now, he couldn’t hold back the laughter. “Somehow, I do not see that happening,” he said. Then, he held up a finger as if he had a fabulous idea. “As an alternative to kicking out the Scots, I recently purchased a home outside of London. It was a small royal residence that sat empty and unused, so I made a deal with Edward. In fact, it cost me very little because Edward was happy to turn the upkeep of it over to me.”
“Where is it?”
“It is called Isleworth,” he said. “It is just a few miles west of London, along the Thames, and it is quite delightful,” he said. “It is walled, with a great garden that has been well-maintained. It has belonged to me for about a year and that is where I stay in London. It is my townhome.”
She looked at him curiously. “I had not heard of this,” she said. “Have you had any feasts or parties there?”
He shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “Not Isleworth. It has the feel of a country home. It is peaceful and serene. Bringing noise and laughter into the house almost seems offensive to the very nature of the house. Besides… I do not entertain. Any entertaining I do is on behalf of Edward and it is almost always at Westminster, or Winchester, or some other royal property.”
Cassiopeia tried to imagine such a place. “It sounds beautiful,” she said. “No haunted wells?”
“Not that I am aware of.”
“I’ve not heard you mention it before.”
He shrugged. “Not surprising when you consider we’ve not had any serious conversations, and certainly not conversations that involved my holdings. I think that Isleworth, and Seven Gates, will be remarkable places to raise our fifteen sons.”
She came to a halt, her eyes wide. “Fifteen?” she repeated. “God’s Bones, Edward, you have great expectations of me, don’t you?”
He laughed softly, pulling her back over to him and making sure her hand was tucked into his elbow again. “If I am to negotiate our number of children, then I want to start high.”
“Is that how you negotiate your treaties for Edward? Start high and hope they agree to what you really wanted to begin with?”
He looked at her, nodding in approval. “You understand my business well.”
“I would like to.”
His smile broadened and he patted her hand. But before he could speak, they could hear a voice behind them, calling out.
“Aunt Cassie!”
It was an unwelcome sound in the midst of their flirtation. They came to a halt and turned to see Lisbet there, waving at them. She rushed across the grass towards them, clearly excited about something. When she came near, she gasped for breath.
“God’s Bones, Lissy,” Cassiopeia said. “Have you been running?”
Lisbet nodded, her blonde hair messy. “Bonny sent me,” she said. “He told me to tell you that Sir Daniel has come. He wants you and Edward to come back to the keep.”
Cassiopeia looked straight at Edward in shock, waiting for his reaction. But Edward remained calm; there was no visible reaction to the news. He simply kept his gaze on the young girl.
“Where is Sir Daniel now?” he asked.
She continued gasping, brushing the hair out of her face. “He is in the hall.”
Edward’s gaze remained on the girl, unwavering and piercing, as he contemplated the situation very quickly. That was all part of the skill set he had, assessing situations so he could move on them swiftly. After a moment, he forced a smile.
“Thank you, my lady,” he said. “Return to your grandfather and tell him that we will come.”
Lisbet nodded and took off at a run back in the direction she had come from. Both Edward and Cassiopeia watched her go, a tense silence now settled between them as the appearance of the third party in this courtship equation made an unexpected appearance.
“I did not know he would be coming so soon,” Cassiopeia said after a moment. “My father never mentioned anything about him coming to Northwood, especially not so soon.”
Edward remained exceptionally calm in the face of the arrival of his competition. “I am sure that Daniel thought as I did, as my father did,” he said, turning to look at her. “There is no time to waste when it comes to courting a beautiful woman. Fortunately, I got here first.”
Cassiopeia didn’t look pleased. “I wish we did not have to cut our walk short.”
Edward cocked a dark eyebrow. “Who says we do? I said that we would return, but I did not say when.”
She looked at him, a bit anxiously. “Do we dare?”
He lifted his shoulders and took her hand again. This time, he simply held it. “I have not been to Northwood in many, many years,” he said. “I am curious to see how it has changed since I have been away.”
Cassiopeia’s heart was thumping against her ribs at the feel of his warm hand around hers. “It has been years since I have been here, as well,” she said. “Mayhap… mayhap we should discover it together.”
Edward grinned. “At least for the next hour.”
“Agreed.”
Smiling at each other, they headed off along the river, to the north side of Northwood Castle.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“May I offer you more wine, Daniel?”
Seated in the large, two-storied ceremonial smaller hall of Northwood Castle’s keep, Daniel shook his head politely. “Nay, my lo
rd,” he said. “I have had plenty.”
Paris, seated across the scrubbed feasting table from him, set down the pitcher that had already been halfway to Daniel’s cup. “I cannot imagine what is keeping them,” he said with thinly veiled impatience. “I will send someone to find them.”
Daniel put up a hand. “Do not,” he said. “It is quite all right and quite understandable.”
“What do you mean?”
Daniel smirked. “Edward wants to spend time alone with your daughter,” he said. “I understand that completely. The next time I am out walking with her and you tell me to return because Edward is waiting, I will not return immediately, either.”
Paris reluctantly grinned. “You understand a courting man’s mentality.”
“I am sure yours was the same, my lord.”
Paris shook his head firmly. “I did not court my wife.”
“You didn’t?”
“Nay. All I did was look in her direction and she belonged to me. There was no courting. I would not lower myself to such a thing.”
He said it so arrogantly that Daniel wasn’t sure if he was serious or not, so he simply smiled. “Yet you expect men to court your daughter?”
“Of course I do.”
Daniel turned his head so Paris wouldn’t see him silently laughing. In fact, he had to put a hand over his mouth. “Then I am happy to oblige you, my lord,” he said. “I spoke to my mother about Lady Cassiopeia and she was most anxious that I come to Northwood. My mother wants a daughter, you see, so here I am.”
Paris eyed the young knight but, in truth, he was distracted. Distracted and fuming that Edward and Cassiopeia had not returned from the river’s edge yet. It had been well over an hour since he had sent Lisbet for his daughter and as he sat there, his eldest son, Hector, entered the hall.
Both Paris and Daniel turned to see big, long-legged Hector approach the table, removing his gloves as he did so. Around them, the day was beginning to wane and the light through the windows was growing weaker, so servants were starting to light the banks of fat, yellow tapers around the hall to bring some light into the vast, dark space. Hector reached the table, tossing his gloves upon it.
“I put Atreus and Hermes on cleaning and organizing every piece of equipment in Northwood’s armory,” he said, claiming his seat. “They have until tomorrow morning. Unless they work together and do not fight, they will not get it done. That should be sufficient punishment for their foolish behavior today.”
Paris smiled thinly. “Daniel, you know my son, Hector,” he said. “He is speaking of his two sons, idiots who tried to drown one another today in a disagreement.”
Daniel knew of Hector, as he’d seen the man plenty of times, but he didn’t know him well. He nodded his greeting. “I never had a brother,” he said. “If I had, I am sure we would have found plenty to fight over, as well. It seems that young lads do that.”
Hector nodded in resignation. “Those two are so similar in temperament that putting them together is like putting sparks near kindling,” he said. “They both act like my father, though he will not admit it.”
Paris cocked an eyebrow. “I will admit that they are handsome, like me,” he said. “Everything else is your wife’s fault.”
Hector grinned as he poured himself a measure of wine. “Shall I tell her you said that?”
“Nay,” Paris said. “If you do, she will only tell her mother, and I do not wish to have Jordan down around my ears. She’ll bring that banshee with her and I shall have no peace.”
Hector laughed into his cup. “Aunt Jemma is the ultimate threat when it comes to you.”
Paris snorted. “The banshee is the ultimate threat when it comes to any man,” he said. “You did not know her when she was younger, Hector. She was a hellion, that one. She would do nothing she was told to do, fight everyone she could, and the only one who could remotely control her was Kieran. That is still true to this day.”
Hector savored the good wine. “Aunt Jemma is a sweet and wonderful woman,” he said. “But I would take her into battle without question. She is little, but she is fierce.”
Paris simply gave him an expression of distaste and returned to his wine. Daniel, who had been listening to the banter back and forth, focused on Hector.
“Jemma is Lady Hage?” he asked.
Hector nodded. “She is married to Kieran Hage, who serves William de Wolfe and his holdings,” he said. Then, he lifted his cup as he gestured to the very walls around them. “William used to be the captain of Northwood’s army, long ago. That is how he got his reputation as the Wolfe of the Border.”
Daniel nodded, though he already knew all of that. He knew everything he could about the man he considered his worst enemy. “I had heard that.”
Hector continued. “My father and Kieran Hage served him as his second and third in command,” he said. “There were about nine or ten knights back in those glory days, the greatest days of Northwood Castle. Right, Papa?”
Paris had been listening. “Aye,” he said. “We had the largest knight unit on the border at that time. It was William and me, Kieran, Michael de Bocage, Deinwald Ellsrod, Ranulf Kluge, Corin de Fortlage, Mark FitzGerald, Lewis Arnsworth, Jason Gray, and the Earl of Teviot himself, Adam de Longley.”
Daniel looked at him with surprise. “Teviot was a knight under de Wolfe’s command?”
Paris nodded. “Indeed, he was,” he said. “In fact, William knighted him. William was quite close to Teviot’s father, John de Longley. William never really knew his own father, who died when William was quite young, so de Longley filled that fatherly role. He was a good man, just like his son.”
“And you have served Teviot all this time?”
Paris thought back to when he actually came into the service of the Earl of Teviot. It was, literally, a lifetime ago. “All this time,” he murmured. “My family is from the south, near Bath. My father was Lord Claverton and held the title of Custos of Bath, which was a position handed down for a thousand years, from father to son, until my ancestors came ashore with the Duke of Normandy and the title was offered to us. Although my ancestors were not blessed with the prestige that the House of de Wolfe had, we were offered a very unique position in Baoum, or Bath. My family guards the main road into, and out of, the town, as the custos, or the guardian. My ancestor, the first de Norville, married a woman who was descended from the Romans who had built the great monuments in the village so long ago. That is why we are all named for Roman and Greek gods, as they tend to intermingle, as all those ancient religions do. It is a family tradition.”
Daniel pretended to be listening very intently to the history of the House of de Norville, when the truth was that he cared little for the information. But he didn’t want to offend the father of the woman he was trying to court. “Fascinating,” he said. “How did you end up here in Northumberland, then?”
Paris had a good deal of wine in his veins, which made him more talkative than usual. “I am a second son,” he explained. “My eldest brother, Alexander, is the custos of Bath and he has inherited everything. My father, whose name was Peleus, was a friend of John de Longley’s father, Henry, and he asked Henry to take me to foster. I went to Northwood as a very young boy of seven years of age and I have been here ever since.”
“Then it is your home.”
Paris looked up at the old walls again. “It is my everything,” he said softly. “My children were born here. Even though it belongs to Teviot, it belongs to me, as well.”
As if on cue, a figure appeared in the entry to Northwood’s great hall, distracting Paris from his conversation. He immediately stood up, prompting Hector and Daniel to stand up also. They turned to see the tall, slender figure making its way in, finally becoming illuminated by the banks of candles that had been lit.
Adam de Longley, Earl of Teviot, had made an appearance.
Adam wasn’t as old as Paris. In fact, he was at least fifteen years younger, but he had been in ill health as of late and i
t showed on his face. He had been very handsome, once, with big, blue eyes and pale red hair, but his hair had gone to gray long ago and the stress of bad health lined his face. But he smiled as he approached the table, waving his hand at Paris and the men.
“Sit down,” he commanded softly. “I came down here to get away from the women. My wife and daughters; all they want to do is paw over me and make me rest. So, I left them and told them not to follow me. What are we drinking?”
Paris grinned as he produced a cup for the man he’d known since birth. “Your fine Catalan wine,” he said as he poured the ruby-red liquid from the pitcher. “I stole it from the vault.”
Adam snorted. “Then this is the terrible stuff I switched it with,” he said. “I know you steal my wine so I hide the good wine.”
It was Paris’ turn to laugh. “I know,” he said. “I found it.”
Adam shook his head, exasperated, as he took a drink. “Aye, this is the good wine,” he said, eyeing Paris. “You thief.”
Paris couldn’t disagree, but he pointed to Daniel. “Do not say that too loudly, my lord,” he said. “You know Daniel de Motte, of course. He leads Deauxville Mount’s army. He has come to court Cassiopeia and I do not want him to think she comes from terrible stock.”
Adam’s gaze moved to Daniel, sitting straight in his chair across the table. “Ah,” he said as he studied the young knight. “I have known Stephen Brockenhurst for many years. Is he well?”
Daniel nodded. “Very well, my lord,” he said. “I will give him your regards when next I see him.”
Adam nodded. “Please do,” he said. “Brockenhurst has been a great servant to Northwood over the years. Many a time when he has led Deauxville Mount to our aid, especially in the clan wars we suffered through so many years ago. You would not remember, but around the time William de Wolfe married his wife, there were those in her clan that did not want to see the marriage or the alliance. We had a good deal of trouble with the Scots and Deauxville Mount always came to our aid.”
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