Bride Of Trouville

“Of course you do,” he replied soothingly. “But all boys of that age seek adventure. I would put a small sword in his hand and teach him skills to defend what is his when he comes of age. He needs the discipline of serving a firm master so that he will learn to give orders of his own one day.”

All too true. Anne admitted that. But how? Trouville spoke as if he would teach Rob these things himself. How could she allow the man who might be his worst threat to apply that instruction? She could not.

“I would keep my son by me, my lord. I insist he remain here. At Baincroft.”

For a long moment, he said nothing, advancing elegantly to the music. “I agree. He should remain here. Do not worry more over it, my dear. It was simply a thought.” The music ended and he led her back to the dais.

Both his son and hers had joined the others around the musicians, waiting for the next dance. Rob tugged at Jehan’s braid and took her hand, while Henri edged his way between his father’s knight and young Kate. At least while they danced, she could breathe more easily.

There was nothing for it now but to wait and see what happened. Apparently, Trouville must have asked only questions which Robert had somehow answered appropriately.

Rob’s poor speech might have seemed only a matter of difficulty with a language other than Gaelic. A jest there, for he only had command of a half-dozen words in the old tongue. But Rob did have a gift for appearing to listen intently even if he did not understand a thing. Or even if he was not at all interested. That was another tool he wielded with efficiency, as he did that celestial smile of his.

Exhaustion threatened to overcome her as the night wore on in an endless progression of songs and poems by her uncle’s entertainers. She rested one elbow on the table and propped her chin on her hand. Not a dignified position for a lady, but it kept her from nodding off.

“Did you not sleep last night?” Trouville asked as he captured her other hand and teased her fingertips. “I admit that I lay awake for hours on end. How unfair of you to have had your lovely face engraved on the ceiling.”

Anne’s sudden laugh surprised her as much as it did him. “What foolishness is this? What can you mean?”

He leaned toward her and touched his nose to hers. “You were all I could see, lying there awake. And when at last I slept, you invaded my dreams. Mayhaps it is on my heart you have etched your sweet likeness.” His lips brushed across her own, a whispery touch that sent heat coursing through her like a sudden fever.

She drew back and stared at him. Never before Trouville had anyone other than her son teased her into laughter. And no one had ever paid her court in such a way. What point to all this? she wondered. Whatever did he hope to gain by this play?

The thought formed words and escaped her mouth, “What do you want, my lord?”

He nipped her bottom lip gently and then looked directly into her eyes. “You were to call me Edouard, my sweet. And for now, I want only to see you smile again.”

Her only option was to please him, to keep him content until he went away and left them alone. And so she smiled.

Lord, how he loved the taste of her. He loved the sight of her. And he loved her gentleness. Even the too gentle heart that allowed her son a child’s way when he was nearly ready to become a man.

Edouard vowed he would soon make her see how dangerous was this path she allowed the boy to travel. With no formal training at arms, little language other than the heathen tongue of MacBain’s ancestors, and a marked lack of discipline, the boy would turn out worse than useless as lord of his own keep. Robert badly needed the firm hand of a strong father figure. MacBain must have grown too old to care before his death, or perhaps too caring.

Not that Anne’s son had acquired no attributes in his ten short years. He possessed a sturdy body, even though small for his age. He was a strong and handsome boy. Agile as a tinker’s monkey, too. Robert loved his mother, politely respected his elders, and had grown adept at some duties required of a page.

Wonderful mother that she was, Anne had taught her son all that she possibly could within the realm of her experience. Now Robert’s education must fall to him, Edouard decided.

He marveled at the good fortune that had led him to this place. Who would have guessed he would find a woman so perfect, one who would give him her son to foster and, God willing, more children of his own in the near future?

Even more wondrous than that, he was gaining a beautiful, willing companion who seemed set on his every pleasure. He admired how her fiery spirit, banked beneath her gentleness, blazed high when anything threatened one she loved.

No woman had affected him this profoundly, but most of the time he rather welcomed these new and deeper feelings. His heart warmed at the very sight of her. Other parts of his body grew considerably heated, as well, he thought with a shake of his head.

Contentment of the soul mixed with the heady excitement of lust ought to make theirs an enviable union, indeed. She would provide the first, of course. And that second commodity, he could bestow full measure upon her. It would be almost akin to the love they had jested about last evening. Unique, and quite satisfying.

“I wonder, Anne. Do you also believe we shall suit?” he asked softly, almost unmindful that he had spoken his thoughts aloud.

She lifted her lashes and regarded him serenely. “I cannot think why we should not.”

Edouard thanked the saints he had found Anne. He had not wanted a young and frightened bride to initiate. Nor had he desired taking one of the women at court to wife, well versed as they were in pleasuring a man. He wanted a woman he could trust. And everyone who knew him would be shocked to learn that he would like to have a woman he could love.

As he had said to Anne, only half in jest, he did believe in love, though he had been offered precious little of it in his thirty-two years, certainly never by a woman. His mother had considered him a duty, presented him to his father at birth and promptly forgot his existence. His father, glad enough to have an heir, did not wish a child underfoot. Consequently, Edouard had been relegated to the servants until he reached seven years, and then sent to court as a page.

Fortunately, he had met Lord de Charnay there. Edouard had served him as squire, and eventually received his spurs from the man. During his time with de Charnay, Edouard also gained a glimpse of the happy home life and affection the man enjoyed with his lady wife. He held those memories dearer than any others.

That couple had not loved him, of course, but they had shown him by example that love could flourish between a man and woman. When his father arranged his marriage at seventeen, Edouard had been fully prepared to bestow all the love within him on his new bride. Only she had wished to be a bride of Christ.

Daunting competition, indeed, but Edouard had tried. He had his parents and hers as allies. Poor Isabeau. She had died blaming Edouard for taking her innocence and making her like it. He would always think of her kindly, however. She had given him Henri, ultimate proof that love existed and that he possessed it.

His second wife, another of his father’s choices, doused his hopes at the very beginning. Helvise had already loved another man, one unsuitable in her father’s estimation.

But this wife, his Anne, would not die and leave him with only guilt, regret and a motherless infant as Isabeau had done. Nor would she betray him the way Helvise had. This marriage could fulfill his secret dream if he nurtured it carefully.

It confounded Edouard a little, the way his hopes soared. Never before, with Isabeau, Helvise, or even when he had believed himself in love with the Lady Honor, had he let down his inner guard this way. Always, he had kept in mind the strong possibility of a marital disaster. But now, with Anne, there was this meeting of two minds, this mutual affection, this shared hope for happiness.

How perfect she was. Yes, he could love her well, and she would love him. He would see to that. In time, she would realize that he had couched his deepest wish within that repartee they had shared about a loving marriage.

People were taking their leave now and seeking their own homes, or retiring to the alcoves and buildings in which they slept.

“You should go above and rest now,” he said as he saw her eyelids drop. “Tomorrow will come soon and last long, I trow.”

“No doubt,” she agreed, rising to her feet with his assistance.

He delighted that she now seemed fairly comfortable with his touch. His plan to set her at ease, at least in that respect, seemed to be working. Though she had been wed before and knew what to expect, Edouard knew it could not be an easy thing to admit a veritable stranger into her bed.

“I trust you will sleep well tonight? Should the ceiling taunt you, then you must turn your face to the pillow,” she ventured shyly.

Edouard pressed his lips against her delicate ear to whisper, “Ah, but I will allow you in my dreams, my sweet one. How else shall I endure the wait for the morrow’s eve?”

With that he ushered his lady toward the stairs and wished her good-night. He decided he would return to the hall for a while and have another cup of wine. The bare walls and rough furnishings there challenged his imagination, a sorely needed distraction this night. Yes, he could turn this old fortress into a splendid setting for the jewel that was his Anne.

Living here appealed to him. Living here with her appealed to him. The gilded French court seemed a tawdry and dissolute place by comparison, and he missed it not at all. It was as though he had thrown off his heavy cloak of guile, woven of the pretense necessary to survive in a world of politics and intrigue. Here was a freshness, a new beginning, and simple contentment. Yes, he would stay and right gladly.

Anne collapsed on the chair before the brazier, infinitely relieved that she had found Rob already asleep on his pallet in the anteroom. Much as she wanted to find out what had passed between her son and Trouville’s Henri, she knew it would prove fruitless to try and waken him. Rob slept like the dead.

“My lady?”

“Meg! Where have you been? I asked Father Michael to send you to me this afternoon.”

“Tending young Dora. Her babe came tonight, a fine lad,” Meg said, smiling through her worry. “Are you not feeling well?”

“Aye, well enough, but I need some herbs and right soon. The wedding is tomorrow,” Anne reminded her. “Will they take effect this near the bedding?”

Meg cocked her fair head to one side, her green eyes glinting in the firelight. “Which herbs? You mean to render the Frenchman incapable?”

“Nay,” Anne admitted, feeling her face heat with embarrassment. “I doubt me he would believe it of any natural cause, virile as he appears. He will only be here for the wedding night and then he returns to his home in France. I dare not refuse him.”

Meg laughed and clapped her hands. “Dare not or do not wish to? A braw one, that count of yours. I’ve seen him myself, and he is one to stir the blood! Stirred mine, right enough, and me married with two bairns!”