The Tudor Bride by Joanna Hickson

Author:Joanna Hickson [Hickson, Joanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Historical
ISBN: 9780007447008
Google: tVYOAAAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0007446993
Publisher: Harper
Published: 2014-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

24

Geoffrey was a diplomat in everything he did. I did not have to tell him that I was reticent about making our new intimacy public; he remained affable and courteous, as always, but managed to avoid appearing any more friendly towards me in front of the others than he had before, for which I was grateful. On the other hand, Catherine and Owen wandered back over the bridge looking awkward and self-conscious. I smiled inwardly, thinking that only young lovers in the first throes of discovered passion could imagine that the glow of their new-found ardour was not obvious to all. Theirs burned like a forest fire. I concluded that Geoffrey and I had no need to hide our own newfound feelings for each other because Owen and Catherine would not have noticed if Cupid’s darts had been protruding from our foreheads, they were too enraptured by each other.

‘I would not be surprised now if Catherine suggested that we stay here overnight,’ I remarked to Geoffrey as we followed them back through the garden, trying not to laugh out loud as they made heroic efforts not to let their hands come into contact and failed miserably on several occasions. Nervous though I was of this rapidly developing romance, I had to admit that viewed dispassionately and without prejudice they made a well-matched couple for he had an archer’s swift, light step and she walked with the confidence of a queen. They were both slim-hipped and lissom and held themselves erect with heads high on long, supple necks. Even in their drab, ill-fitting disguises they paraded like high-bred race-horses.

‘I thought you said she was not wanton,’ murmured Geoffrey, careful to ensure they did not hear.

‘Nor is she,’ I hissed back. ‘But this place has a way of making one light-minded. You said you had felt it yourself.’

He cocked an eyebrow at me. ‘I felt a lightness of heart rather than mind, but that was down to you, not the location.’

I found myself blushing, but pretended it was indignation. ‘Well Catherine is sensitive to atmosphere even if you are not, and I believe Hadham will have exerted enough influence to make her want more of what she has found here.’

‘And I believe it is the handsome Owen who is the main attraction and Hadham only a means to an end. But we shall see.’

He proved the more prescient, for Catherine made no mention of staying at the manor. Instead she asked the seneschal if he thought there was time for her to visit the church before leaving to ride back to Hertford. ‘We do not want to be caught by the dusk but I would like to pray for a while in that beautiful church.’

The seneschal bowed. ‘By all means, my lady.’ He had obviously decided that whoever she was, she was no common female, regardless of her care-worn garb. ‘It wants three hours until sunset. The church is always open but the priest is often in the fields at this time of day.

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