mistress.
'What?' Elf looked puzzled.
'Lady, I am not so old that I do not know what has been going on these few months. You are still a virgin, but you decided today to remedy that sad state tonight. The knife will cut your pain when he enters into you the first time. It is a well-known fact.'
Elf flushed. 'Is it?'
'Well, lady, you would not be knowing such things being in the convent since you were scarce little more than a babe, but it is so. You are not afraid, are you? There is no need to be afraid.'
'I am not afraid,' Elf said calmly, but she would be if she didn't get her old nursemaid to leave the bedchamber. This was certainly not a subject she was comfortable discussing with Ida.
'Good,' the old woman said. 'Then, I shall leave you. Willa and I will sleep in the hall tonight, and every night from now on, lady. You will want your privacy, and that door scarce allows it.' She shuffled from the bedchamber, leaving Elf quite astounded.
Did everyone at Ashlin know the state of her marriage, Elf wondered as she unbraided her hair and brushed it out? Was nothing a secret? But she did realize that in any small community, there were no real secrets. There had certainly been none at St. Frideswide's. Slowly she brushed her long red-gold hair, rebraiding it into a single plait, then climbing into bed. Where was Ranulf? Ah, she realized, Ranulf might not know that everyone at Ashlin was aware of their marital matters, and so he had probably remained in the hall with Fulk and his men, as was his custom each evening. Elf smiled and stretched her limbs beneath the coverlet. The room was dim, not overly cold this night. Her eyes grew heavy, and soon she fell asleep.
Looking down on her, Ranulf thought Elf was surely the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Her thick dark lashes grazed her pale cheeks. Her sensuous little mouth was the most tempting mouth he had known. He had bathed and entered their chamber as quietly as he could. Now he raised the coverlet to slip into bed. Should he awaken her… or should he allow nature to take its course when she finally awoke? Unable to help himself, he leaned over and lightly kissed her mouth.
Elf opened her gray-blue eyes and looked into his hazel ones. 'You need not have stayed so long in the hall, my lord. It seems the entire manor knows of our private matters,' she told him. 'Did you not see that Ida and Willa have gone to sleep in the hall? Ida says the door does not give us the privacy we need.'
He laughed softly. 'So, we are the talk of Ashlin, petite. How did all this come about?' Pulling up his pillows so he might sit, he drew her onto his lap.
Her heart had jumped when he moved her into his arms, but Elf managed not to show any nerves. 'Ida told me she put a knife beneath the bed to cut the pain of my defloration,' Elf told him.
'Why do women who should know better believe that old wives' tale?' He chuckled. 'Mary’s honor, petite, you are not fearful, are you? I will not allow you to be afraid of making love!'
'Why does everyone ask me if I am afraid?' Her heart-shaped face was the picture of annoyance, and he almost laughed aloud. 'If a husband and wife’s coming together in carnal fashion is pleasant, then why should I be afraid? Oh, I know, the first time will be strange, and yes, I know it will hurt when you pierce my maidenhead, but frankly I am more curious as to where everything goes than I am concerned about a brief pain. No, Ranulf, I am not afraid!'
'You are adorable,' he said with a sigh. 'Now I know why no woman has ever attracted me enough to induce me into offering marriage. It was obviously God’s plan that you be my wife, Eleanore.'
To his surprise and delight, she gave him a quick kiss upon his lips. 'Are you wooing me, my lord Ranulf? If you are, I like it very much.' She snuggled against his chest.
'Dear Lord, help me not to hurry her,' he prayed silently. Then his hand reached out to stroke her head. 'Your hair is the most beautiful color. It is not a fiery red-gold, but rather a soft red-gold. Have you ever cut it, Eleanore?' His fingers pulled the ribbon holding her plait, and undid it. Then they began to unbraid her long hair. 'I want to see you naked with only your lovely tresses for adornment, petite.' He took up a thick handful of the hair, and pressed it to his lips. 'Ummm, you smell of lavender.'
'But they do,' he assured her. 'Did not God send you into this world unclothed, Eleanore? We are taught to be ashamed of our bodies, but why should we? God gave us those bodies.'
'Oh.' Her voice had gotten very small.
Ranulf tipped her face up to his. 'You are beautiful, petite, and I want to see you as God fashioned you. I am pleased you are so chaste, but there is little need for modesty with your husband.'
Her cheeks were warm with her blushes at his frankness, but she did not look away from him. 'There is so much I do not know, Ranulf. I must rely upon you to guide me.'
His arm cradled her. Now the fingers of the hand of his other arm began to unlace the ribbons that closed the front of her chemise. Elf’s eyes grew wide as her bosom was slowly revealed. She wasn't certain at all that she was even breathing, but she seemed to be. The long fingers pushed aside the fabric slowly, slowly, until the chemise slid from her shoulders, pooling just below her waist to rest upon her hips.
Ranulf let his eye roam deliberately and carefully over her perfect form. Round little breasts, no bigger than small apples, and a waist he could span with his two big hands.
Never taking her eyes from him, Elf unfastened the laces on his chemise, pulling it open and pushing it down to rest below his waist. Breaking the glance between them, she just as exactingly examined him. She remembered the first time she had seen him in the bath, but this was different. Her two small hands smoothed themselves over the broad expanse of his chest, then his shoulders. Running down his muscled arms, her fingers touched and stopped on a short, but thick scar upon his upper arm.
'The bite of a lance during a jousting tournament,' he told her, catching her hand up to kiss the palm.
'Did you win?' she asked, taking her hand back.
'Aye,' he said softly.
'And this one?' The pad of her forefinger rested at the crest of a longer, narrower scar upon his shoulder. 'How did you come by this wound, my lord?'
'In a battle between the king’s and the empress’s forces, petite.'
'You need more practice,' she told him. 'Both wounds are on the same side. You leave yourself open there. If you do not change your habits, you could lose your life through such carelessness one day.'
'And how, Eleanore, has my little nun divined such an opinion?' he asked, quite amazed by her astuteness.
'It is not obvious, my lord?' was her quick reply.
'Your eye is sharp, lady,' he said softly. His loins were beginning to burn with his longing for her.
'You have an improper look in your eyes, Ranulf. I think you should kiss me.' Elf realized he was beginning to lust after her. Just looking at her was stirring his desires. His arm wrapped about her again, and his mouth came fiercely down on hers.
