That could change many things. A woman who had already known a man’s touch...
‘She isn’t. The king consented and all the arrangements were made, but when she went to board the ships, she...could not.’
‘She refused?’ He could not comprehend such a thing. The court of le roi Anglais was truly a strange place. ‘The king allowed that?’
‘The man had been her choice. So her father allowed her to change her mind.’ A rueful smile touched her lips. ‘The Lady Isabella is accustomed to getting her way in all things. No one tells her no.’
‘Not even the king?’ He knew little of women, but in his experience, they did as they were told. Perhaps les femmes Anglaise were different.
She shook her head. ‘She has a loving father and mother. They have given her everything she needed. Or wanted.’ Her words were wistful.
‘So she has everything she desires.’
Cecily shrugged.
‘And you, Countess? Did your parents give you everything you desired?’
She nodded, her smile quick but sad. ‘Until they died.’
He should not have reminded her of her loss, yet he felt a moment’s regret. He had lost his family years ago. Had he loved them? He could not remember.
‘Yet you have not wed either.’ Suddenly, he wanted to know why.
‘Only because the king has not yet selected my husband. I expect the man to be named by the end of the Christmas season.’
I hold the title, she had said, the first night they met. She, and her title, would be a prize for some nobleman. One far above a humble chevalier. He wondered, with a thought he refused to call jealousy, who the man would be.
‘So now,’ Lady Cecily said, in a tone that he now thought of as her ‘countess voice’, ‘I’ve told you about Lady Isabella. What is your plan?’
He must convince this woman he was doing something. ‘She sounds wilful and capricious.’ And thus, perhaps more dangerous than de Coucy had suspected. ‘Perhaps knowing that will cool his ardour.’
‘You shall not disparage her! Would you have me tell the princess vile tales about Lord de Coucy?’
‘You would find none. He is admired even by his enemies.’
‘The Lady Isabella has no enemies!’ As if there were nothing more to say. ‘She is the daughter of the king.’
‘If you will not let me speak ill of her, how am I to dampen his ardour?’
They had reached the top of the stairs and, ahead, saw Enguerrand enter a room. The princess followed.
Cecily gripped his sleeve. ‘We must do something.’ She looked towards the open door, then bit her lip. Suddenly, she smiled. ‘I know! While you are here, you will entertain the princess.’
‘What?’
‘That way, she will find it difficult to spend too much time with Lord de Coucy.’
Already, the plan had gone awry. ‘The princess may be content to while away her hours with one of the mightiest lords in France. She will not feel the same way about a landless chevalier.’
‘Ah, but that is the way it is practised in the French courts of love! The landless knight inspired by the high-born lady. That is what Isabella told me.’
Landless knight. Did she know how true that was? ‘And you? Will you then distract Lord de Coucy?’
‘Of course not.’ Her voice dripped with disdain. ‘I am to be betrothed soon. I cannot be seen too much in the company of a French hostage.’
The Lady Isabella emerged from the room, looked over her shoulder with a smile and waved to de Coucy unseen, still inside.
Marc raised his eyebrows and looked back at Lady Cecily. ‘You blame de Coucy for this folly,’ he whispered, as the princess approached. From what he knew of women, this one seemed as eager as his friend. Or more. ‘I think Lady Isabella shares the fault.’
‘How can you say such a thing?’ She gestured towards the room and then raised her voice so that the princess would hear. ‘You will share quarters with Lord de Coucy.’
Then, putting on her countess posture, she joined the princess, who smiled in his general direction, though he could not be sure she actually saw him. The Lady Isabella, he was certain, had already chosen her courtly lover for the season.
Now, he faced three weeks of Yuletide celebrations pretending to interfere with Enguerrand’s plans in order to support them. He sighed.
This Noël would be anything but joyeux.
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