reply, she nodded behind them. 'Visitors, mistress. Perhaps we should gather extra mussels for the table.'
Perturbed by Edgith's words, which held an alarming ring of truth, Ailith turned to see a troop of horsemen advancing along the shore towards them. She could tell that they were Normans from their manner of dress. Eight grown men she counted, and a blond-haired boy. A like number of bay and chestnut horses followed on leading reins.
One of the riders detached himself from the party and kicked his mount to a canter. The man's hauberk glittered like fish scales, the sun glanced off the sharpened tip of his spear. He drew rein before the women, pulling the horse in tight so that it danced on the spot. Ailith looked up into a square, powerful face with long dimples in the cheeks and a wide expanse of chin.
'Which way to Ulverton?' he demanded in appalling English. Another Norman rode up beside him, a younger man porridged with spots.
'Look at the udders on that, Tancred!' he enthused coarsely in French. His eyes lingered on Ailith's breasts before dropping to her exposed legs. He smacked his lips.
The older man snorted. 'God's eyes, is that all you ever think about?' There was indulgent humour in his tone. 'You haven't got time today to go swiving in the dunes. Still, I see what you mean.' He looked Ailith appreciatively up and down.
Ailith glared at the two men. 'Ulverton is that way,' she said in immaculate French and directed with her arm. 'Follow the track for half a mile and you will come to the castle. Lord Rolf, I am sure, will be fascinated to know what you think about his chatelaine.'
The square-faced man blinked rapidly, then bit his lip, stifling his amusement. The younger one blenched. Ailith turned her back on both of them and resumed picking mussels.
'I am sorry, my lady. If we had known your status, we would have been more polite,' said the first Norman.
'Is a fisherwoman not as entitled to as much courtesy as a lady of rank?' she said scathingly without bothering to look round. Beside her, Edgith glared at the two men, her knife held ready in her hand.
Without reply, the men sheepishly withdrew, and when Ailith raised her head, it was to see them riding off the beach in the direction she had indicated.
'Visitors indeed,' she muttered through her teeth to Edgith.
'I encountered your 'chatelaine' down by the shoreline,' Tancred said to Rolf.
Rolf had been examining his new mares and deliberating whether to graze them on their own for a while, or introduce them immediately to Sleipnir. Now he turned and looked at his overseer.
'I thought she was nought but a fisher-wench, but she soon set me and Arnulf to rights.'
Rolf grinned. He had seen Ailith set out for the shore with Edgith and the donkey. She had been wearing an old, patched homespun gown, ancient shoes, and a plain linen kerchief over her braids. 'I can imagine that she would.'
Tancred eyed him soberly. 'Arnulf's a randy pup. He made certain crude remarks concerning her figure. I agreed with him before I realised she could understand us. I did not know that she was yours. There was no insult intended.'
Rolf resumed his inspection of the mares. 'Do not assume that because she is my housekeeper, she warms my bed too,' he said as he assessed a small, perky chestnut. 'I wish that she did, but Ailith has her own thoughts on the matter. She is a respectable widow and intends remaining so.'
Tancred looked nonplussed. 'Then she is not your mistress?' he said with an air of astonished disbelief.
Rolf shook his head regretfully. 'Not at the moment,' he said, and then suddenly grinned. 'But who knows what the future holds?'
The three weeks which Tancred and his party spent at Ulverton were the most uncomfortable of Ailith's life, and she was not sorry to see them leave before the winter storms began to make the crossing of the narrow sea too treacherous an enterprise.
In defence of that first encounter on the shore, she had made sure that in their presence she was always dressed properly and in the high Saxon style, which meant layer upon layer, so that not so much as an outline of breast could be discerned. She had fastened her belt loosely so that there was no emphasis on the trimness of her waist. Nor had she worn a kerchief again, but had replaced it with the full wimple and circlet, a brooch pinning its folds secure for good measure. And she had kept her distance, conspicuous by her absence at the high table. It had been less embarrassing for all concerned.
Now that their visitors had returned to Normandy, Ailith applied herself to the task of packing the travelling chests for the Christmas visit to London. She was greatly looking forward to seeing the city again. Although she had settled at Ulverton, she still harboured longings for the bustling markets of Chepeside with their unrivalled selection of commodities, for the smoky, smutty, greasy smell of the city's heart. She wanted to see Felice again, and most of all, in order to fill the empty hole in her heart, she had a fierce need to hold Benedict in her arms.
Her own chest was packed and contained a plain working gown, her best, wedding outfit, and a dress of plain green wool decorated with embroidery. The linens for her monthly bleeds, leg bindings, woollen socks, spare combs and jewellery pins had also been included. There was nothing else she required.
Rolf would be attending the court to make his report to the King, so he would need his best robes. Tancred had brought gifts across the narrow sea from Rolf's wife, including a beautiful tunic of expensive dark blue wool embroidered with thread of gold. His old court garment was of almost the same colour. Rolf wore a great deal of blue, and it suited him, but Ailith thought that a change might gladden the eye. To that end, before Tancred's arrival, she had purchased two bolts of fabric, one of rich tawny, the other a smoky green that matched Rolf's eyes, and during the last three weeks of withdrawal from open company, she had made Rolf two very fine tunics that were just as worthy of his rank as the blue.
Ailith had dared not explore the emotions behind her determination to make as good as, if not better a task of the tunics than his wife had made of the blue. Nor was she proud of herself for the way she examined the blue robe in strong light, searching for flaws. Those were acts that smacked of jealousy and how could she be jealous of that which she did not desire?
All the same, as she folded Rolf's clothing in his baggage chest, she placed the blue robe in the bottom and laid everything else on top, finishing with the two tunics she herself had stitched, together with a shirt of fine, soft linen.
'I see you are well ahead,' Rolf said from the doorway.
Ailith jumped guiltily and turned round. He was leaning against the door jamb, watching her, his arms folded. She wondered how long he had been there, and if he had seen her lingering touch when she carefully laid the tunics and shirt within the chest.
'It seems only sensible to be ready in good time. Tomorrow dawn with everyone waiting in the bailey is no occasion to be packing baggage.'
'No,' he agreed with a smile, and pushing himself upright, advanced into the room, which was, after all, his own.
'You can come out of hiding now that Tancred's gone. I have never known you to be so industrious in far- away corners,' he teased. 'He was as embarrassed as you were.' He tilted his head to one side. 'Tancred is a good friend and the best overseer a man could have. When the time comes, his son Mauger will inherit his father's place. I could not wish for better people to serve me, even as I could not wish for a better chatelaine. I expect you and Tancred to forget that first day and rub along together if circumstances demand.'
Ailith had watched Rolf and Tancred drinking together, had seen their camaraderie and the way each man reacted upon the other until they degenerated into silly little boys. She had also heard them discussing horses and bloodlines in the yard with a fluid expertise that left her a baffled outsider.
'If it is important to you, I will do my best,' she said.
He eyed her thoughtfully. 'Fetch your cloak,' he said suddenly. 'I want to see how good a rider you are these days.'
Ailith shook her head. Since arriving at Ulverton, she had been coaxed by Rolf into learning how to ride on her own instead of going pillion behind him or a groom, or taking a seat in the baggage wain, but she knew herself an indifferent horsewoman. 'I haven't the time,' she excused lamely.
