Page 65 of By the Sword
Chapter 19
At first light, Kate and Nell, still in their nightgowns, stood by the window of Kate’s chamber watching the men assemble on the forecourt. Kate had seen this sight before…soldiers preparing for battle, silent except for the chink of harness and the nickering of horses.
Jonathan had decided to leave Amber and taken one of the older horses from the stable. As he swung into the saddle, he looked up at the window where the women watched and raised a hand. He flicked his fingers to the brim of his hat before turning away. Giles, in characteristic style, swept them a low, courtly bow from his saddle, with a flourish of his feathered hat and then they were gone.
The two women stood in silence, watching until the last of the troopers had rounded the bend and disappeared from view and the sun had risen on another hot day. They did not need to speak. Their thoughts were the same as those of so many women who had watched their men ride away to battle.
When, if ever, would they see them again?
Kate turned away from the window as dull, empty loneliness settled on her. She sat down on the edge of the bed, trying to summon the energy to dress and face the day.
Nell sat down beside her and took her hand. ‘Kate, why didn’t you tell me about you and Jonathan?’ she asked.
Kate started as if Nell had hit her. She thought they had maintained an excellent pretence of mere acquaintance. The heat rose in her cheeks and she swallowed.
‘How did you know?’
Nell smiled. ‘Well, my virtuous widow Ashley, it is plain that two people have slept in this bed and besides, Giles told me. Even if he hadn’t I would have guessed. Kate, I have never, and I repeat never, seen my brother look at a woman the way he does at you.’
Relief washed over Kate. Like a young girl with her first love, she now had someone with whom she could share the confidence. Only she wasn’t a young girl and her lover was riding away to possible death.
‘In truth, Nell,’ she admitted, ‘I think I loved him from our first meeting.’
Nell smiled. ‘You are well suited.’ The smile vanished and she frowned. ‘But are you wise to take him to your bed? Were I to be with child, there would be no questions, but you…we rely on you and your virtue. A Thornton bastard would not sit well with the likes of Colonel Price.’
Kate bit her lip. The same fear had crossed her mind. Common sense told her that she had been a fool to allow Jonathan into her bed, but she found when she was with him, common sense evaporated.
She yearned to feel his hard body against her and to experience the intimacy only two people in love can ever reallyknow–something she had never thought to find again. Her hand moved to her belly. What if she was with child?
She hungered for a child– Jonathan’s child–but Nell was right, no one would believe an immaculate conception had occurred.
She straightened her shoulders.
‘I intend to shut up Seven Ways and return to Yorkshire by Christmas. If, and God willing it will not come to anything, then no one here needs ever know.’
Now she had Nell’s confidence she could ask the question that still nagged at her and that she had not broached with Jonathan since that first night.
‘Nell, what do you know of a woman called Mary?’
‘Mary?’
‘She had some connection with Jonathan, a long time ago.’
‘Oh, that Mary.’ Nell frowned. ‘That was years ago, before the war, when he was at Oxford. He came home one day and told Father he intended to marry this girl. She was, I think, the daughter of one of the dons. I remember now. Her father was a Puritan. Zounds, Father was furious. He forbade the union. There was the most terrible row, but then most discussions with Jonathan and Father always ended in a terrible row.’
‘Was that it?’
‘As far as I know,’ Nell said. ‘It was all over long before the war. He’s not still pining for her, is he?’
‘She’s dead,’ Kate said.
Nell shrugged. ‘Well then, she is hardly a rival for his affections now.’
‘No,’ Kate agreed, although some instinct told her that while Mary might not be a rival for his affections, she still lingered as a ghost in his memory.
The King’s headquarters had been at Oxford; perhaps the friendship had been reignited during the war years? Whateverpart Mary had played in his life, it went beyond a mere youthful infatuation.
‘Jonathan does not give his heart easily, Kate. It may well be that this Mary and you are the only women he has ever loved. There are some men, like Giles, who love women and there are some, like Jonathan, who are loved by women. That is just the way of the world and for what it’s worth, I think it’s wonderful. Will you marry him? If you do, we’ll be sisters.’
