By Arrangement by Madeline Hunter

Author:Madeline Hunter [Hunter, Madeline]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-307-48261-7
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2000-10-17T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

DAVID WAS DROWSILY aware of the curtains being pushed back. He turned his face away from the flooding light.

“Hell,” a man's voice said, pulling him awake.

He opened one eye a slit. Unless he was still dreaming, his wife was gone and the King of England stood beside his bed.

“Damnation, David.”

Not dreaming.

“My lord?” He rose up on his elbows.

The King stared down with a frown. “Will you be wanting to repudiate her? Philippa assured me the girl was whole, I swear. I told her we should have her examined, but she and Idonia …”

David looked to where the King gazed. The coverlet and sheets were bunched over to reveal a bloodless marriage bed.

Hell. The last thing he had expected was someone looking for evidence of Christiana's virginity. What was Edward doing here, anyway?

“Do not let it concern you, my lord. There will be no repudiation.”

Edward's frown relaxed. “Damn chivalrous of you, David.”

“I am a merchant and we are apart from chivalry. That is reserved for your knights. I assure you that my wife came to me a virgin, though. If I had thought that someone would seek the evidence this morning, I would have bled a chicken.”

Edward looked at him blankly.

The man was still half besotted. David noted the red robe. The King had been here all night. Where and with whom? David decided that he didn't want to know.

“Do you need to see the original sheets? I have them,” he offered with a laugh, but as soon as he said it he realized that Edward's mind had moved on.

“I want to speak with you. It will save you a ride to Westminster.”

David glanced around the bed. Christiana's and his clothes were still strewn around the posts and floor. “Perhaps in the solar?”

Edward nodded and drifted off.

David grabbed a robe off a peg in the wardrobe, threw it on, and followed. Edward stood by the solar windows with a speculative, hooded expression on his face. David joined him and glanced down at the courtyard. A redhaired serving woman from a nearby house lounged against the well, surrounded by the litter of the night's revelry.

Edward sighed. “I suppose I have to give her something, eh? Hell, I can't even remember.” He patted his robe for evidence of a purse or coins.

“She is not a whore,” David said. “Wait one moment.”

He went back to the wardrobe and returned with a purple silk veil embroidered with gold thread.

Edward examined it. “Awfully nice, David. Don't you have something plainer? I don't even know if I enjoyed myself. This would be good for Philippa, though. Peace offering …”

David went to the wardrobe once again and fetched a blue veil with no embroidery.

“What, do you keep a whole box of them to give to your women?” the King teased as he stuffed them in his robe. “Best hide them from your wife. See my wardrobe treasurer about them.”

David pictured himself arriving at Westminster without a debenture or tally to claim payment for two veils purchased by the King for his slut and his neglected wife.

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