by R. R. Vane
“I see you wasted no time in getting yourself acquainted with the people in my village,” she muttered savagely.
“Certainly. I am their lord, aren’t I?” Tristram countered. “Besides, I have at last learnt to speak their English quite well.”
He had. Ever since his arrival, Judith had noted Tristram no longer had any hardship in understanding or speaking the English of the North. It was now plain he’d learnt it. And she recalled the first time she’d spoken to him in her English, on one of those nights when they’d talked and laughed together and shared dreams of happiness. She closed her eyes, burying her head in the pillow and simply wanting to weep.
Chapter 10
Two years ago, 1172, Redmore
Tristram looked upon the walls of Redmore and wanted to shout with joy. It had been so long since he’d seen his bride. The turmoil caused by the killing of Thomas Becket and then the illness which had swept London had made it hard for them to reunite. And then there’d been the grief of both his mother and her father’s passing. Tristram now counted no less than eighteen months since Judith and he had set eyes on each other. A long time – far too long. In the past months Henry had given him many duties, and then there had been other pressing things which had forced him to join his own demesne.
While his lady mother had been alive, she’d overseen their home and lands, but now with Lady Aelis gone, he’d had to go to Devensey and appoint a chatelain who would look upon things. Nevertheless the whole business had taken far longer than he’d assumed as there’d been many loose ends and many things neglected while he’d been at Court. In truth, had his wife’s mother not been ailing, he would have called upon Judith’s help to see to their demesne. She may be young and unschooled in such things, but she was clever and seemed a fast learner. He felt confident she would learn to see to their lands and home just as capably as his sisters ruled their own demesnes. However, he’d been loath to ask for Judith’s help. Every letter he’d had from her had impressed upon him that her mother was feeling poorly. The pain over his own mother’s passing was still fresh and he hadn’t wanted to rob Judith of even an hour spent in the company of Lady Fenice. Besides, Judith was now the heir of Redmore, and the castle and lands would fall mainly upon her shoulders. He’d understood that at this time he couldn’t be as selfish as to call her away from where she was needed more.
He’d been apart far too long from his new bride, but now he was here at long last, and he couldn’t wait to set eyes upon her. He’d missed her. And, he admitted to himself with a suppressed sigh, he’d also missed a woman’s touch and caresses. Certainly, he’d kept faith with his lady, because he’d never been the man to break an oath, but heated images of lovemaking had plagued his dreams and even his waking hours.
His face lit with a smile when he finally caught sight of Judith, waiting for him in the outer bailey accompanied by her people. And his first thought was that he should run to her and take her in his arms and carry her up the stairs to her bedchamber. Yet he restrained himself. So many people were waiting by her side, having gathered to witness his arrival. Instead of running to his wife and kissing her ardently, he made himself give her a gracious bow. She replied with a curtsy.
“My lord,” she said, and her voice sounded restrained, rather than full of joy.
She proceeded to let him meet Sir Roderick and his wife, Dame Berthe who aided in the overseeing of Redmore, as well as those other people who saw to the welfare of her demesne. Tristram strived to focus upon the introductions, although his thoughts were only upon the bride he hadn’t seen in so long.
At last, he caught a moment of respite and clasped her hand in his. And he simply found he could no longer care for those around them.
“Come away! Let us talk, wife – the two of us,” he blurted out artlessly.
Certainly, talk was not the first thing upon his mind, and it seemed plain the other people around them had perceived this, and were already looking upon them with faint smiles. Judith blushed scarlet, and he felt truly embarrassed to have made her ill at ease. His lady mother would be tossing in her grave to think her son was behaving so discourteously.
“For privacy, it’s best you seek the solace of my lady’s chamber, my lord. You must have much to talk about,” Dame Berthe interceded smoothly.
Unlike the others’ countenances, the lady’s expression betrayed nothing.
“My lady Judith,” Dame Berthe added. “Perchance you, as the lady of this house, should be the one to lead your lord to the chamber?”
Still blushing fiercely, Judith nodded, yet she stepped towards the stairs and Tristram found himself eagerly following her, unable to still care for what the others might think of his behaviour. Together they climbed the stairs which led to Judith’s bedchamber, and for a while they climbed in silence. They soon reached a spot where no one else could see them any longer, and where the space around them narrowed. So Judith had to lead the way and Tristram followed, because the staircase was now too cramped to fit two people walking side by side. And Tristram’s eyes didn’t tarry to fall on the swish of Judith’s ample hips as she was making her way up. He bit hard into his lip, recalling how he’d dreamt of Judith’s curves and of finally caressing her body at leisure. He must have been tarrying because Judith suddenly turned her head over her shoulder to see why he’d paused. And at that moment Tristram could bear it no longer. He stepped up to her and simply pinned her against one of the walls in the narrow space. He kissed her hungrily, pressing his heated body against hers.
“So long,” he muttered against her lips, loving the velvet of the kiss.
There was a hot urgency to it he revelled in, and he only belatedly recalled the kisses they’d shared so far in their marriage had been scarce, and that he’d mostly contented himself to brush his lips against Judith’s hands and cheeks, quite chastely. He had barely even kissed her lips. And now he was kissing her wantonly, with tongue and teeth. He also became aware that one of his hands had already reached to hoist her skirts, while his body was pinning her against the wall.
He hastily disentangled himself from her, feeling deeply ashamed of his behaviour.
“I humbly beg forgiveness, my lady,” he found himself muttering, capturing her hand and brushing a light kiss upon it.
Judith was now blushing even more deeply than before, and she was touching her lips, with a stunned expression on her face. Tristram cursed himself in his mind. She was still a maiden. And they’d not seen each other in so long. Instead of treating her gently and of seeking to talk to her, he’d behaved like an unfeeling lout.
“Perchance… if you will lead the way,” he muttered, feeling mortified.
Judith nodded after what seemed to him like a long while. They reached Judith’s bedchamber in silence, and Tristram felt grateful he was finally able to sit himself in a chair and catch his laboured breath. His heart was thumping fiercely. And he felt thankful his long tunic must hide most of his painful arousal.
“So,” he said artlessly, clearing his throat. “At last we meet, my lady.”
Judith said nothing, still staring at him with a deep blush in her cheeks. Tristram suppressed a heartfelt sigh of regret. He had behaved wretchedly. And in the next days he should strive to be courteous and mindful of his wife. He willed himself to temper his maddening arousal, reasoning it would be wrong to rush things. In a day or so, when Judith had taken the time to reacquaint herself with him, things were bound to take their due course. He well recalled that, whenever he’d touched her in those first days of the marriage, Judith had appeared shy, but she’d not appeared to fear his touch. In truth, on the stairs, it had seemed to him she was returning his kiss with abandon. But at this time his mind was so fevered with lust of her that he simply couldn’t tell if her acquiescence had been all a figment of his heated mind. So he reasoned it was best to temper his ardour. He was too famished for her touch. A famished man might end up ill-treating a woman who was unschooled in lovemaking.
He willed
himself to disregard his lust, and, as he started to talk to his wife, telling her how his journey had been, and hearing her talk in that lovely voice of which he’d often dreamt, he soon began to feel more at ease. He’d missed Judith so! And he immersed himself into the sheer joy of being with her after such a long separation. They talked at length, and she told him of Redmore, and of the things she’d done in his absence. They talked at leisure until evening fell, and at last they descended to have supper. Tristram was yet to meet the lady Fenice, who had been unwell before, but who now sent word she felt up to meeting her new son-in-law.
Chapter 11
Present time, 1174
Tristram looked upon the lady Fenice, after he’d given her a bow. The lady did look pale and somewhat older than he recalled her. She was still an uncommonly beautiful woman, graceful and poised, who met him with a serene expression upon her countenance and a regal tilt of her head.
“My lord Tristram,” she said, in a sweet, mellow voice which sounded very much like Judith’s.
Tristram strived to look stern, because this woman, just like Judith, had stood against King Henry and he was bound to deliver news from his monarch. Yet Henry had decided to be gracious with most of those who’d stood against him. And Lady Fenice was ailing and her family was still a powerful one. Henry was well aware he needed to show himself magnanimous, since the whole Christendom’s eyes were still upon him after the killing of Thomas Becket.
“My lady,” Tristram said. “King Henry has decided to be gracious. You’re pardoned for rebelling against him. Henry means to be honourable to his vanquished foes.”
Lady Fenice nodded, and Tristram saw a look of sheer, warm gratitude in her blue eyes. He suddenly felt very guilty for his own part in this war. He’d been ordered to capture her castle. And he knew too well Judith’s mother had only been supporting Eleanor’s cause. Judith might have spurned and betrayed her husband. But Judith’s mother was not guilty of any wrong against him. She’d just taken an opposite side to his, and Tristram could not hold that against her.
“I thank you for being so gracious!” Lady Fenice said with tears glistening in her eyes. “And for allowing us to still reside here!”
“Things have been harsh on both sides in this war. Rest assured, I will never bring myself to chase you from your home as long as you wish to remain here. It would be most dishonourable of me,” Tristram spoke in a soothing voice, with an incline of his head.
He’d have abided by Lady Fenice’s decision and aided her to re-join her French home or allowed her to seek a convent, but it seemed that, like Judith, Lady Fenice wished to remain at Redmore. He bit his lip in anger when he thought upon Judith. Judith certainly still believed the worst of him, failing to see he had done what he’d done in order to protect her from a more dire fate. As always, she was blind to him and to his attempts to aid her. He supposed it was just as well. Since he’d chastised her in front of everyone, she had true cause to hate him. It was plain she couldn’t see he’d chastised her but mildly, though he had been required to deliver a harsh punishment upon her. And it was, for the time being, perchance best she thought herself wronged. As long as his cousin was here, it must look that Tristram was a harsh husband to her. Yet it didn’t help that Judith still appeared defiant rather than chastened.
“Speak to your daughter for me,” he found himself telling Lady Fenice. “Make her see that as long as my cousin is here, she must strive to look repentant for the way she behaved. I vowed for all the court to hear that I would chastise my wife for what she did if I decided not to cast her away, and I am not a man who’s ever broken a vow. So chastise her I must! Until the Church and the King are satisfied I have her contrition and obedience. It’s best she soon show contrition! So that my cousin would send word of it and we can all be free of his watchful eyes.”
He already knew Lady Fenice was an astute woman. And, unlike Judith, Lady Fenice was a woman who saw reason. He hoped this time Judith’s mother would make her daughter see reason. As for speaking to Judith himself – he no longer felt his wife deserved this courtesy from him after the wretched way she’d behaved. She’d broken her vow to him and had unjustly spurned him years ago when he’d strived to earn her love. He had no words to share with Judith. Not any longer.
“I will, though I fear very much Judith won’t heed me. She is her father’s daughter and quite wilful, you see,” Lady Fenice said with a chagrined expression on her face.
Tristram nodded with a grim expression of his own.
“It would be for her own good to let go of her wilfulness. Make her see there is no other way! Better that I chastise her. And once my cousin sees she is repentant, there’ll be no need for more chastisements. I am not vengeful. I’m only doing what needs to be done for us all to have our peace.”
Yet as he spoke the words, he went in his head over the chastisements he’d delivered in the bedchamber, and his blood heated just at the thought of them. To him, they had become love play and not punishment, a dangerous game he found sinfully wicked and pleasurable. And he was well aware that, unlike the belting he’d delivered for all to see, the pain he’d bestowed upon his lady in the privacy of their bedchamber had been always mingled with pleasure.
He stifled a sigh, resolving not to think too much upon the punishments. They were punishments, nevertheless. And Judith would do well to submit to them and appear to have learnt her lesson in obedience. It was for her own good to do so.
Lady Fenice seemed to easily understand he was playing his own part in this dire state of things, striving to spare Judith from true pain and humiliation. It would be dishonourable of him not to attempt to shield his wife from harm, although she didn’t deserve his aid. Tristram found he could never behave otherwise.
“I shall tell my daughter it’s best she submit to you, as a good wife should,” Lady Fenice said in her melodious voice.
Tristram let out a rueful laugh. The Judith he’d first known had looked sweet and shy and ready to do his bidding, but during his marriage he’d learnt Judith wasn’t all sweetness. Perhaps the sweetness had been entirely feigned, just like her shyness.
He raked a weary hand through his hair.
“You and I both know she won’t truly submit. She is most wilful. Yet tell her to use the guile she most certainly has. As long as it looks to the others I have schooled her to obedience, we shall all weather this!”
Chapter 12
Two years ago, 1172
Judith felt elated that Tristram had finally arrived today after such a long separation. Casting a furtive glance in her husband’s direction, she tried to still her thumping heart. She recalled the taste of his ardent kiss on her lips and the way his hard body had been pressed against hers on the stairs. It had been bliss to have him so close and to be kissed by him, and because of his touch, her quim had felt wet and ready. She had eagerly waited for him to claim her once they’d reached their bedchamber, and had been disappointed he hadn’t done so. Hadn’t he been able to see she was very eager for his caresses? Or was it that he was weary after his journey? Judith decided not to make much of this, because talking to Tristram and being with him was sheer bliss anyway. Yet she thought of the heat between them. Perchance Tristram had retreated because he hadn’t been able to fully perceive how famished she was for his touch. He had always been courteous and considerate of her. So Judith started to think of the best way to show him she could hardly wait for him to bed her.
However, when she visited her mother in her chambers to tell her good night, Lady Fenice must have well seen Judith’s head was on things other than their talk.
“It’s plain to me you are mightily joyful your husband has finally decided to pay a visit upon you,” Lady Fenice spoke.
Judith nodded, but the way in which her mother said finally was not lost upon her. It seemed as if Lady Fenice believed Tristram could have come sooner. Yet Judith instantly dismissed her mother’s words, recalling with a smile the eager way her husband had kissed her on the
stairs. He had been quite eager for her – just as eager as she’d been for him, and this night she shouldn’t tarry to tell him of her own eagerness.
“All’s well I hope! And I suppose I should give you advice for the bedding which is to take place tonight,” Lady Fenice added.
Judith had been reluctant at first to tell her mother of what had gone on in the bedchamber between Tristram and her during the first night of their marriage. She’d felt shy of it, but she had seen that Lady Fenice had been concerned for her welfare, so she’d hurried to assure her Tristram was not at all one of those men given to brutish urges towards their wives. He’d been considerate and kind and willing to wait for her to get accustomed to him before they bedded.
“Certainly, Mother, if you wish,” Judith now said rather awkwardly.
She felt loath to speak of the maddening heat in her belly and nether parts, and of the way she could think only of Tristram and of how he may thrust inside her tonight. Certainly, she would never share such thoughts with her mother.
“You’re eager for his touch already, daughter, I see,” Lady Fenice said, as astute as ever when it came to her daughter.
Judith nodded with a deep blush in her cheeks. Could her mother so easily tell how fiercely she burnt for Tristram?
“Have a care not to appear too eager. Men take such eagerness to mean women are loose. And men think less upon such women,” Lady Fenice said lightly, brushing a kiss on her forehead.
Judith frowned. Why would Tristram ever think her loose? And wasn’t it right for a wife to crave her husband’s touch?
“Men like such loose behaviour from their commoner lemans, but they expect restraint from their noble-born wives,” Lady Fenice added pointedly.