“Crispin,” she murmured against his mouth, “the oarsmen.”
He raised his ash brown head, and smiled wickedly at her. “Why do you think I sent them out of sight, Philippa? They understood my instructions, and the reasons behind them. Now do not fuss at me, my prim little bride. I have every intention of making love to you in this treed glade. If you do not allow me to satisfy my lust for you here and now, then sometime this afternoon as we are rowed along, I shall have you as I earlier described, little one. The choice is yours to make.”
She could see in his gray eyes that there would be no bargaining with him. “I think you are very wicked, my lord. What if a shepherd or a milkmaid should come upon us, and catch us in flagrante delicto?”
He pushed her skirts up, and his palms slid over her milky thighs. “A man with his wife can hardly be called a sinner, madame,” he replied. “God’s boots, you are deliciously tempting, Philippa!” He kissed her hard, his tongue pressing past her lips.
Why did she feel so weak when he assaulted her senses like this? Her mouth opened to suck his tongue into her mouth. She was acutely aware of his fingers playing between her nether lips. Her breasts felt as if they would burst from her bodice, and she silently cursed the lacing up the back of her gown. He had found that sensitive little nub of flesh, and was now worrying it with a fingertip. Philippa moaned. “Crispin, that is really quite wicked of you. You must stop.”
“Why?” he asked low, and pushed two fingers into her love sheath.
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “Oh, that should not be so good!”
“Why?” he demanded a second time, and his body covered her, his manhood replacing his fingers as he pushed into her.
“Oh Holy Mother of God, it is too sweet, my lord!” She could feel every inch of him as he filled her. She felt his length. His thickness. His warmth.
“It’s good, isn’t it, Philippa?” he murmured softly, his tongue licking at her ear. “It’s very, very good. Tell me you want me even as I desire you, my little one.”
“Yes!” she sobbed. “Yes!” And then she cried out softly as he began to move upon her, slowly at first, and then more rapidly until they were both gasping with the pleasure the union of their two bodies was giving them.
Afterwards they dozed for a brief period, and then the earl arose, straightening his gown back into a semblance of order. Philippa opened her eyes and gazed up at him. She had never anticipated that this elegant and urbane man would be so passionate. She had never anticipated that she would be so passionate. Turning, he saw she was awake again, and reaching down he drew her up into his embrace, and kissed her gently.
“We must go now,” he said. “I will call the oarsmen.”
She nodded. “Is my attire neat?” she asked him.
He brushed her skirts, and then smiled at her. “You are perfect, madame.”
“Next time unlace my bodice, Crispin,” she told him. “I had difficulty breathing, I fear. Perhaps all my gowns should now lace in the front rather than the rear.”
“Perhaps they should,” he agreed with a grin. “I missed those adorable little fruits that you possess, Philippa. Tonight I shall apologize to them for my neglect.”
“I will not couple with you in a public inn!” she declared indignantly.
“On a riverbank, but not an inn?” he teased her.
“People might hear us,” she said.
He laughed. “We will see the accommodation we are given,” the earl told her.
“Even the best accommodation will not guarantee us enough privacy, and we are fortunate not to be coming down from the north,” she replied. “Uncle Thomas and I stayed mostly at convent and monastery guesthouses where the sexes are separated.”
“I should not like that,” he responded, and now it was Philippa who laughed.
She gathered up the cloth, folding and tucking it in their basket. There was no food, for they had eaten everything that had been packed for them. The earl sought out their two oarsmen. They were once again carried upon their servants’ backs to the barge, and settling themselves, they sat back to enjoy the river views as they once again got under way.
They passed the great castle of Windsor, its towers and battlements soaring over the Thames. It had always looked large to Philippa but from her vantage on the river it looked huge and almost forbidding. She thought of the autumn hunting parties she had joined as the queen’s maid of honor. Their barge left Windsor behind, and to the east she could see the Chiltern Hills of Berkshire. They reached the King’s Head Inn shortly after sunset, but the sky would be light for several more hours to come with the spring twilight. Lucy and the earl’s valet, Peter, were awaiting them. Lord Cambridge had engaged an entire wing of the inn for the newlyweds. There was a large bedchamber for the earl and his bride, two small chambers for their servants, and a private dining room. The two oarsmen would be fed in the inn’s kitchens, and housed in the stables for the night.
“The dinner was pre-ordered by Lord Cambridge, milord,” Peter told his master.
“Have the innkeeper serve it then,” the earl said. “It has been a long day, and I can see her ladyship is anxious for her bed.”
“Yes, milord,” the valet answered politely,
Lucy had taken her mistress into the bedchamber, where she had a basin of water waiting so Philippa might wash herself. “The trip weren’t half bad,” she told her mistress. “That Peter of his lordship’s is a good fellow, and pleasant company. Was your river voyage a nice one, my lady?”
“You should have seen Windsor from the water,” Philippa told her. “It looked twice the size it looks riding up to it. I felt very tiny in our little barge. Everything is so different when you travel upon the river. How clever of Uncle Thomas to arrange it.” She bathed her face and hands, telling Lucy when she finished, “Go and get your supper now, lass. But come back to prepare me for bed.”
“Thank you, my lady,” Lucy replied, curtseying. And when she had escorted Philippa back into the dining chamber she hurried off, Peter in her wake.
The innkeeper himself arrived with three serving wenches struggling beneath the weight of three large trays. “Good evening, my lord, my lady. I am Master Summers, and I shall serve you myself.” He beamed effusively at them as the earl seated his bride.
He offered the earl a dish of cold fresh oysters, and Crispin St. Claire grinned to himself. Tom Bolton was hardly being subtle, he thought. Oysters for himself, and gazing across the table he watched his young wife eating fresh green asparagus in a lemony sauce, sucking the meat from the stalks and licking her lips enthusiastically.
“I adore asparagus!” Philippa enthused. “How kind of Lord Cambridge to remember it.” She had no idea how her innocent consumption was affecting her husband.
The trays now revealed a roast of beef from which the innkeeper carved several slices; a well-browned duck, its skin crisp and golden, in a sauce of orange and raisins; individual little pastries filled with minced venison and sweet onions cooked in butter; a platter of little lamb chops; a bowl of tiny carrots, and another bowl of small onions swimming in butter and cream that had been sprinkled with fresh dill. The innkeeper filled their plates. He poured a fragrant wine into their goblets. Lastly he took a fresh cottage loaf, still hot from the oven, and placed it between them with a large crock of butter.
“Your lordship will find an apple tartlet and clotted cream on the sideboard,” he told the earl as he bowed himself out of the room, shooing his serving girls before him. He shut the door with a firm click.
Crispin and Philippa burst out laughing.
“I see Uncle Thomas’s hand in this,” she giggled. “Poor Master Summers has been given most specific and careful instructions by him. I expect he visited in person to deliver his orders to this innkeeper.”
“Well, I shall not fault him, little one. The menu is perfect, and the food delicious,” the earl told her. “I can only hope each inn in which we stay is as good.”
“It wil
l be,” Philippa replied. She knew Thomas Bolton well, and with each passing moment she realized she owed him a greater debt than she could ever repay him. And she was certainly enjoying the bedsport she and her husband shared. The earl was a kind man. She had to give him an heir as soon as she might. But first they would go to France for the glorious summer progress. In the autumn they would visit her mother, and then it would be back to court for the Christmas revels. They would spend the winter in Oxfordshire, but then it would be back to court for the month of May, a year from now. There simply wasn’t time for her to give Crispin an heir until the end of next year. She hoped he would understand.
Philippa Meredith did not have an important family, although she did now possess a title. But she had Queen Katherine’s friendship, a fact she knew drew the envy of other women and girls from families of greater significance. Philippa’s loyalty to the queen was as great as her mother’s had been. She would serve Katherine of Aragon as long as the queen asked it of her. This was something she was not certain her husband fully comprehended yet. She prayed silently that she could make him understand. Women, after all, possessed their own personal honor too.
It was still light when they had finished their meal. Outside their windows they heard music, flutes, and drums and cymbals. Going to the window they saw a Maypole had been set up on the village green, and the dancers were even now assembling. Philippa looked at her husband questioningly, and he nodded. There was a door leading to the outside in the corridor outside their apartments. Hand in hand they strolled out to watch the girls and boys dancing around the Maypole, weaving the colored ribbons about the tall pole as they pranced and capered. It was a perfect ending to the day.
He made love to her again that night, cajoling her with the fact their rooms were at the far end of the inn. He was tender and gentle, as he had previously been. In the morning after breakfast they once again embarked, traveling as far as Henley that afternoon. The Queen’s Arms was as fine an establishment as the King’s Head had been. They were housed in another large and private apartment. The food was excellent. They made love in the night as they had the previous night. And in the morning they left the barge to ride across the countryside to the village of Cholsey. The day was sunny, and all around them the woods and fields were burgeoning with new green growth.
The next day the earl gifted Lord Cambridge’s two bargemen and sent them back down the river. They had so enjoyed the ride the day before that they decided to go on to Oxford by horseback rather than spending another day on the river. Philippa had been to Oxford once before, with the queen when they had traveled to Woodstock. She found the hustle and bustle of the town invigorating, and preferred it to London. The inn that Lord Cambridge had chosen was on the edge of the city on the road they would take tomorrow to Brierewode.
“We can reach it if we leave just at first light,” the earl told Philippa.
“I can be ready,” she promised. “I can see how anxious you are to be there, my lord. And I am curious to see my new home.”
“You will love it,” he promised her.
She smiled, but she thought it is just another country house. It is not court. I shall be quickly bored, but then in just a few weeks we will rejoin the king and queen.
The following morning was gray and cloudy, the first dull day since their wedding on April thirtieth. But it was not raining. They departed Oxford in a dim half-light. They had been met at Henley by a troop of hired men-at-arms who had accompanied them ever since. Behind them Lucy and Peter followed upon their own mounts, riding next to the vehicle carrying the bride’s possessions. The innkeeper at the Saracen’s Head in Oxford had seen them off with a hamper of food for their ride. They stopped only briefly, more to rest the horses than themselves, and quickly ate. Then they were on the road again.
In late afternoon the earl called to Philippa over the noise of the horses’ hooves. “We are almost there, little one. Look up ahead. It is my village of Wittonsby. You can see the church steeple.”
“What is the river we ride along?” she asked him.
“The Windrush,” he answered. “You can see it from the house, and around the next bend you will see Brierewode up there on the hillside.” He was smiling.
As they rounded the curve in the road Philippa gazed up, and there was a beautiful gabled gray stone house with several tall chimneys. It did not look at all grand, and she found she was very relieved. She was not certain she could have managed a sumptuous dwelling. “It’s lovely,” she told him, smiling back.
In the meadows along the river there were cattle grazing. The fields they passed were newly tilled, the rich brown earth smooth and ready for planting. The workers in the fields looked up as they passed by. Recognizing their master a shout went up, and they waved enthusiastically as he rode on. Crispin St. Claire waved back. Philippa could see right away that her husband was well liked by his people.
The village was set along the riverbank, which was lined with ancient willows. The stone cottages were neatly kept, from their thatched roofs to their little front door gardens. There was a fountain in the village square across from the steepled stone church, and it was here they stopped. The earl’s tenants came from their houses and from their fields to greet him. The priest, alerted by one of the children, came forth from the church.
The earl held up his hand for silence, and was obeyed. “I have brought you a new countess,” he said. “Greet Lady Philippa, countess of Witton, who became my wife in Queen Katherine’s own chapel six days ago.”
The priest stepped forward and bowed. He was not a young man, but neither was he an old man. “Welcome home, my lord, and welcome to Wittonsby, my lady. May God bless your union with many children. I am Father Paul.”
A stocky ruddy-faced man stepped forward next. “Welcome home, milord,” he said with a small awkward bow. “I am relieved you were not gone for too long a time. Milady.” He pulled politely at his forelock in greeting. Then he turned to the crowd of villagers, and called out, “Let’s have three cheers for his lordship and his bride! Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!”And the others in the small square joined him.
“This is my bailiff, Bartholomew, little one,” the earl told Philippa. “He’s a good man, is Barto. My countess and I thank you all for your kind greetings,” he said to the crowd. Then with a wave of his hand the earl led his party from the village square, and up the treed hill to the house known as Brierewode.
The earl’s majordomo was awaiting them as they rode up to the house, and there were stable boys to take their horses as they dismounted. “Welcome home, milord, my lady,” the majordomo said, bowing. “Shall I see to the men-at-arms?”
“Aye,” the earl responded. “Feed them, house them, and in the morning have Robert pay them for their service.” He turned to Philippa, and surprised her by picking her up in his strong arms and carrying her across the open threshold of the house, depositing her gently in the hallway. “Old custom,” he said with a grin.
“I know,” she said, laughing. “But I had forgotten.” She looked about her. “Show me everything, Crispin. I cannot rest until I see it all.”
Now he laughed. “Are you not tired with all our traveling, little one?”
“Aye, but this is to be my home, and my curiosity is outweighing my exhaustion,” she told him. “First, the hall!” And she took him by the hand, looking questioningly.
The hall of Brierewode was paneled in a dark wood. Its ceiling soared, and from the carved and gilded beams hung colorful flags which, the earl explained to his wife, were the banners that his ancestors had carried into battle in England, Scotland, and the Holy Land. It was the oldest part of the house.
“We have always fought for God, king, and country, Philippa,” he told her.
There was a very large stone fireplace on one side of the hall. It was ablaze now, warming the room. Across from it were three tall arched glass windows that looked out over the river Windrush, which flowed through the valley below the hill upon which the house
was situated. At the far end of the room was the high board, and behind it two high-backed chairs. There were several bed spaces in the walls of the chamber.
“It is a very old hall,” Philippa said, seeing them.
“The house has been here in one form or another for over three hundred years,” he replied. “We have made certain improvements over the years. The kitchens are now below us, and not in a separate building. There is an open shaft over there by the fire. Inside it is a platform that can be drawn up and down from kitchens to hall by means of a rope and pulley. That way the food arrives hot at table.”
“That is a most modern arrangement,” she said, surprised. Then, “What else is on this floor of the house, my lord?”
“There is a room where the bailiff, Robert, my secretary, and I discuss the business of Brierewode between us. And I have a library of books. Can you read?”
“Of course,” she told him proudly. “And I can write and do accounts, for it was expected that one day I would manage Friarsgate. My mother does not believe in allowing others to have so great a control over her fortune. My sisters and I can do all of these things, and we speak foreign languages as well. I came to court knowing French, and both church and spoken Latin as well as Greek. I have learned a little Italian and German at court. The Venetians are so charming, I have found. My mother’s portrait was painted by a Venetian once. It hangs in the hall at Friarsgate.”
The earl looked momentarily startled. There had been a portrait of a nymph in diaphanous garments with a single bared breast in the hall of the duke of San Lorenzo. He had admired it when he had gone to attempt to repair the damage Lord Howard, the king’s ambassador, had done. He had seen it only once, for he had been received by the duke only once. Thinking back, he realized it bore a startling resemblance to his wife. He would have to learn one day why that was. It was not Philippa, he knew. She had not that sensual look about her yet. It had been the look of a woman well loved, and in love. He must remember to ask Thomas Bolton about it when they next met.
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