“You are a liar and…. and a deceiver!” Regine raged, wrestling viciously in Richmond’s mighty grasp. “You punished me for the very same action you have just committed with my sister!”
Bedcover clutched to her breast, Arissa watched in horror as Richmond yanked Regine into the weak light. Regine’s face mottled an ugly shade of red, her eyes full of venom, and all of it directed at Richmond.
“I knew you were an overbearing brute, but I had no idea you were a fraud as well!” she raged. “How could you have spanked me for sampling the identical pleasure you and my sister have just tasted? How?”
Richmond was as naked as the day he was born, standing before a ranting twelve-year-old girl. With a long, hostile glare, he forced himself to calmly retrieve his breeches. Regine twitched and quaked in her anger, completely ignorant of his nudity and glowering at him as if he were the Devil himself.
“Why were you spying on us?” his voice was amazingly steady as he secured his hose.
Regine clenched her teeth so hard that she bit her cheek. “I was not spying! At least…. it had never been my original intention. But you proved to me that you are a deceiver and I shall…!”
“And you shall what?” he put his hands on his hips, his voice as ominous as Arissa had ever heard it. He took a step, towering over the enraged young lass. “Do not ever threaten me, Regine. You shall not like the results, I guarantee it.”
Regine may have been furious, but she was not daft. It did not matter that Richmond had taken Arissa’s virginity while she watched from her hiding place in the wardrobe; what mattered was the fact that Richmond had punished her for the very same offense not hours before and she was outraged by his double standard.
Richmond, however, was gravely concerned for quite another reason; should Regine tell the earl all she had seen, the consequences would be severe. To become angry with her would only inflame the situation and he fought to keep his calm; nonetheless, a natural fury bubbled within his chest as he faced off against the foolish young wench.
It took him less than a second to carefully analyze the situation, the results, and the hazards. And it took him less than a second to realize there was little he could do to alter the course of a most distressing circumstance.
Regine had witnessed something she most definitely should not have. In lieu of strangling her simply to keep her from spilling the secret, Richmond was greatly pressed to emphasize the confidentiality of what she had seen without making it known that she literally held their lives in her hand. God help them, their very balance hung in the slippery palm of a shallow, peculiar young girl.
“I was not threatening you,” Regine said after a moment, her rage dampening in the face of his intimidating expression. “But you were unfair to punish me for experiencing adult pleasures when you and Arissa did the very same thing.”
The tension filling the room was thick enough to cut. Smothering, encompassing. Arissa’s breath caught in her throat as Richmond eyed Regine grimly. “What did you mean when you said spying had not been your original intent? What, pray, was your original intent?”
Regine swallowed, the first flicker of uncertainty kindling in her blue eyes. “I….I followed Bart from the gallery, but he did not want to speak with me. So I came up here to wait for Riss to return from her party. I was waiting when I heard your voice in the hall and I did not want to see you because I was mad at you. So I hid in the wardrobe,” she swallowed again, her gaze moving to her sister for the first time. A shade of genuine remorse crossed her features. “I saw you kiss her, and hold her, and I became curious because I did not know you and my sister were…. well, together. I could have come out of the wardrobe after you left, but I did not. I wanted to see what happened when you returned.”
Arissa, sheet still clasped to her breast, suddenly found her tongue. She was not embarrassed in the least that her sister had witnessed her first experience with ecstasy; she was damn well furious for the invasion.
“So you spied on us!” she hissed. “Regine, how could you? After all I have done for you, defended you, made excuses for you, and even lied for you! I know you have spied on Penelope and Daniel, but how could you spy on me? How could you do this to me?”
Regine turned to her sister, fury fading and being replaced by genuine penitence. “I…. I do not know. I have seen the serving wenches couple with the soldiers, but it seemed to be rough and over quickly. And this afternoon when I…. it was not as wonderful as I thought it would be. I suppose I wanted to see…. it was wonderful for you, was not it, Riss? Is that what coupling is supposed to be like, always?”
Richmond stood with his fists on his hips, his gaze moving between Regine and Arissa. His anger began to dwindle as he came to understand that Regine, although her motives had been selfish and sly, was still in the process of trying to understand what went on between a man and a woman. Her experience that afternoon had been abrupt and unpleasant, and the curious, obsessive girl was still looking for her answers. Even at the expense of her sister’s privacy.
But Arissa was unable to see Regine’s curiosity for what is was. She was furious and shaken at being betrayed by her own sister, and furthermore terrified that Regine would tell her father what she had seen. Clutching the linen to her breast, she leapt out of the bed and wound the sheet about her body as she approached her youngest sibling.
“You will listen to me, Regine Margaret,” she hissed. “If you mention one word to father, I shall tell him of every offense you have ever incurred and every crime you have ever committed. His anger at me won’t be half as powerful as his shock and fury towards you. Do you understand me?”
Regine looked hurt, confused. She opened her mouth to reply, but in light of her sister’s fury she simply nodded her head. “Aye,” when Arissa whirled away and moved towards the wardrobe, Regine’s gaze followed. “Are you terribly angry with me?”
Arissa let out an un-ladylike snort. “Terribly, indeed! If I had a dagger, I would use it on you!” she veered away from the wardrobe, returning once again to rage in her sister’s face. “This goes beyond what I ever thought you capable of. I should run to father right this instant and tell him of the serving wench you kissed, of the stable boy you fondled simply to know the feeling of male genitalia, or the soldier you coerced into taking your virginity this afternoon. Sweet St. Jude, Regine, when is this going to stop?”
Regine’s expression was guarded, fearful. She opened her mouth, but her sister cut off her stumbling answer. “Well?” Arissa demanded sharply. “This must stop this instant or I will tell father everything!”
“I do not want him to know anything. You always promised me you would never tell.”
“That was before you spied on Richmond and me!”
Regine was staring at the floor as her sister’s angry face loomed before her. She was wise enough to know that Arissa’s anger was a direct result of the fear that her liaison with Richmond would be discovered. And there was only one way to quell her fear. “I…. I shall bargain with you then. I won’t tell father about you and Richmond if you agree that I do not have to tell him what happened this afternoon with Richmond’s soldier.”
Arissa gazed at her sister’s fair head a moment before turning her apprehensive gaze to Richmond. He had given Regine several months to make her confession; now, she was throwing a most clever twist into the deal. Richmond’s impassive gaze lingered on Arissa a moment before turning his attention to Regine.
“A bargain?” he repeated. “Does it stand to reason that if I do not agree, you will carry out your implied threat?”
In spite of her anger toward him, she was still deathly afraid of the man who did not hesitate to punish her for the slightest infraction. She shook her head, hard. “Nay, no threat. But I will know that my secret is safe, as I will keep your secret safe.”
Richmond’s hard gaze lingered on her a moment before slanting a glance to Arissa; he had no choice in the matter. As they both had powerful secrets to be kept, there was simply
no other alternative but to agree to the terms. Turning away from both ladies, he moved for the remainder of his clothing. “Your proposal is accepted, Regine. You had better pray that your word of honor is as good as mine.”
Regine watched the massive knight lumber across the room. Pensive and somber, she meandered to the mussed bed, perching her sore bottom on the mattress. As Arissa dropped the linen sheet in favor of a heavy brocade robe from the wardrobe, Regine pondered the predicament her curiosity had gotten her in to. However, her thoughts once again turned to the apparent double standard between herself and Arissa, and the harder she thought, the more indignant she became.
“Why is it acceptable for Arissa to couple with you, yet it is not allowable for me to experience the act?” she muttered, more to herself than to the other occupants of the room. She wanted Richmond to hear her; then again, she did not.
He pulled his tunic over his head, running his fingers through his rich brown hair to smooth it as he turned his focus to the young girl. “Because, as you have discovered, Arissa and I love one another. We were demonstrating that love.” When Regine looked as if she did not understand what he was telling her, his manner gentled. She was trying so hard to grow up, to comprehend the complex realm of adults. Picking up his boots, he went to sit beside her on the bed. “Why do you want to mature so quickly, Regine? Why can’t you simply enjoy your childhood and rely on time and experience to mature your mind and body? You are trying so hard to force nature, love. You must learn patience.”
Regine watched him pull on his boots, her cheeks a dull red. Shrugging lamely, she turned away from him; she could not provide answers for his sensible questions. Across the room, Arissa tightened the sash of her luxurious brocade robe and moved toward her sister and Richmond, her manner more subdued than it had been moments before.
She heard every word Richmond had spoken and was forced to agree with his reasoning. As always, his wisdom worked wonders to soothe her fury and ease her anxieties. She did not hesitate to reach out to him as she neared the bed; still looking at Regine, Richmond caught her gesture from the corner of his eye and pulled her onto his lap.
Regine turned to look at her sister, snuggled comfortably on the lap of a man she had grown up knowing as closely as one would a father. A man who had treated her with incredible gentleness, respect and caring.
But now, there was far more than simple friendship between them and observing the tender expressions of Arissa and Richmond, Regine began to realize that mayhap there was supposed to be more between a man and woman than superficial pleasure and excitement.
“Riss has always loved you,” she said softly. “We have all known it.”
They turned to look at her, Arissa’s expression one of surprise. “Who is ‘we’?” Arissa asked.
“Penelope and Emma and I. We have always known. But we never thought Richmond was in love with you, too. He’s so much….” she suddenly flushed a bright red, quickly averting her gaze. Swallowing hard, she stumbled over her words. “He’s a great knight, one of Henry’s chosen, and we did not think he would….”
“What you mean to say is that I am twice her age,” Richmond supplied, the corner of his mouth twitching.
Regine had the fearful look she often wore just before Richmond spanked her. “I never said that…. Penelope did!”
Arissa let out a gasp of outrage, but Richmond snickered. “She’s right, Riss. I am nearly twenty-two years older than you are.”
Arissa still appeared offended, whether or not he was correct. Regine, sensing that Richmond was not at all slighted as an effect of her potential insult, peered at him curiously. “How old are you?”
“Come, Regine, you have been schooled in basic mathematics,” Richmond chided with a touch of humor. “Eighteen plus twenty-two is forty.”
Regine’s mouth opened with surprise. She never imagined he was that old. “You are forty?”
He nodded. “Almost. I am thirty-nine until the eve of the New Year. On the last day of December, I will become forty years old.”
Arissa gazed at him lovingly, smiling as he chuckled at Regine’s shock. “Look at him, Regine. Not a gray streak to blemish his hair, barely a line on his face. Isn’t he wonderful?”
As Regine studied him closely, Richmond merely waved them both off. “You cannot see the age lines because the light is so dim. Under direct sunlight, my face looks like the map of France. Roads and boundaries crisscrossing all through it.”
The girls giggled loudly. He smiled at them both, laughing at his own expense. All of the tension, the fear, that had occupied their world just moments prior seemed to have vanished. As if a new understanding had dawned between the three of them; certainly, Richmond had never been more satisfied nor more content with Arissa in his arms, and Regine’s mannerisms were somehow bordering on those of a normal, respectful lady as opposed to the spoiled wench he had come to know.
It was as if they had progressed to a new level of comprehension. Even though Regine knew the details of an explosive secret, Richmond found himself willing to trust her oath of silence. Not that she had ever proven herself to be trustworthy in the least; yet, somehow, he was willing to take the chance. Furthermore, he had little choice.
He hadn’t realized his thoughts to be drifting away from the conversation until Arissa gently touched his cheek, bringing him back into the world at hand. He turned to her, drinking in her beauty with more appreciation than he had ever known. Regine sat beside them, fumbling with her surcoat and pondering her own quieting thoughts. When Richmond whispered something to Arissa and her sister giggled, Regine’s attention was again drawn to the happy couple.
In spite of everything, she was thrilled to see her sister so content. But along with that reflection, the undeniable reality of Whitby Abbey suddenly entered her thoughts and she found herself intensely curious over her sister’s established future.
“Are you still going to Whitby, Riss?”
Arissa’s smile vanished in spite of Richmond’s encouraging expression. He answered for her. “She’s still going, but she will not stay for long. We will be married as soon as I can arrange it.”
“Married?” Regine repeated, incredulous. “You are going to marry my sister?”
He smiled faintly, kissing Arissa loudly on the cheek in spite of her somber expression. “Not only am I going to marry her, she’s going to bear me a dozen sons and we will live happily ever after.”
Regine thought on that a moment, still stunned by the news. “Does father know?”
Richmond’s light demeanor vanished. “He does not. And neither does anyone else, Regine. This is why you must adhere to your pledge of silence. Were you to allow our intentions to slip, the consequences could be devastating, not only for Arissa but for me as well. Do you understand this?”
Regine nodded solemnly. “I swear it, Richmond, I shall not say a word.”
Even if Richmond was convinced she was sincere, Arissa remained leery. But she kept silent, not wishing to provoke her sister into breaking her promise. Knowing Regine, it would take very little for her to attempt to seek revenge against the implication of distrust.
“If you do not mind, Regine, I should like to retire for the night. And Richmond must be leaving,” she rose from his lap, allowing him to stand. Regine stood, moving obediently for the door. Arissa and Richmond watched the young girl as she crossed the room, noting her submissive manner and lowered head.
But when Regine reached the old iron latch, she suddenly paused; turning, her eyes sought her elder sister with a quiet intensity. “Was it really wonderful, Riss?”
Arissa met her sister’s gaze. Slowly, a smile creased her lips. “Aye, Regine. It was.”
Digesting the reply, Regine quit the room. When the door closed behind her, Arissa turned to Richmond.
“I did not lie. It really was wonderful.”
He took her in his arms, embracing her tightly. “And for me, kitten. Until Regine’s intrusion, it was a taste of heaven.”
Arissa sighed against his chest, hearing his strong heartbeat. “I do not know if I trust her to keep our secret.”
“We have little choice. But do not forget; even as she knows our secret, we know a few of hers and that knowledge alone should keep her lips sealed.”
“I hope so. If my father were to find out what has happened, he might turn you over to Ovid de Rydal with good riddance.”
He snorted softly. “I doubt he would allow Ovid the pleasure of punishing me. William would gladly take the duty himself.”
Outside, a fog was beginning to descend and the shouts of the sentries could be heard upon the battlements. Lambourn was full of visiting houses and soldiers, the sounds of merriment and gaiety spilling out into the massive bailey as drunken guests perused the grounds.
Richmond heard the noises, knowing Gavan would be wondering what had become of him. His second in command had been busy all day shouldering the security of Lambourn and was no doubt weary. As Richmond had promised hours earlier, he would take the night duty. But the thought of spending the night up on the battlements as opposed to Arissa’s warm bed was discouraging.
Discouraging, but necessary. He knew very well that he couldn’t stay and night duty was an excellent deterrent. Kissing the raven-hued hair beneath his chin, he sighed loudly.
“I must be going,” he said. “I have drawn the night watch along with Daniel.”
“Daniel is probably with Penelope,” she said softly, looking to him with pleading eyes. “Do not leave yet. Stay with me a while longer.”
He shook his head, smiling. “Nay, kitten, I would most certainly be missed when I did not show up at my post. Someone would come looking for me.”
She gave him a wistful smile. “Very well. Will I see you at the morning meal?”
“I will be at your door before the sun rises. But for tonight, I must protect you while you sleep.”
They meandered to the door, arm in arm. When Arissa reached for the latch, Richmond drew her into a fierce embrace. She grinned, a delightfully seductive gesture, as his lips descended upon her honeyed mouth.