‘No,’ she answered with cool firmness, looking away. ‘I’m … I’m sorry William, if my father were to see that I’ve been out riding with…’
‘Wi’ a stable boy,’ William sighed with resigned sadness, completing her sentence for her. ‘I understand, m’lady.’
She bowed her head, and William’s eyes traced the delicate contours of her silhouette against the great yellow moon that had begun to rise in the distance.
‘I have most enjoyed your company this afternoon, William,’ she said after a few moments of silence.
‘As have I, Aurora. It saddens me tae part with you. Would tha’ I could look upon your face one more time after today.’
‘It would likewise please me to look upon your face once more,’ she murmured.
William’s heart began to hammer in huge, thudding thumps as he heard these words.
‘It … it would?’ he managed to splutter. ‘I’d … I’d do anything you ask ay me, absolutely anything, tae see you again.’
Her eyes lit up in the falling dusk.
‘Meet me again by the stream where we first met, next Sunday.’
Great surges of hot blood gushed through William’s body, and his heart felt as if it would smash through the flimsy ribcage that was at that moment only just managing to constrain its furious beating.
‘When, m’lady?’
‘Noon. Wait for me when the sun is highest in the sky.’
‘I will dae that … Aurora.’
The name was as pure, vaporised magic as it escaped from his lips.
‘Farewell William. Until we meet again…’
‘Until we meet again,’ he whispered as he watched her turn and speed off towards the estate.
William wheeled his horse about and trotted off in the opposite direction. He knew that he would be in immense trouble when he finally made it back to his employer’s estate, but this did not concern him in the slightest, for infusing his blood with addictive vigour with every beat of his young heart was the exhilaration of new love.
***
‘You’re still sure it was worth it, are you?’ Michael asked, grinning, as he brushed the gleaming flanks of the black mare before him. ‘After shovelling manure fir the last three days fir comin’ back so late?’
William chuckled, vigorously brushing the chestnut stallion in the adjacent stall, adolescent pride adding a zesty glow to his youthful features as he worked.
‘Worth every minute ay it Mikey, worth every minute!’
Michael chortled and shook his head. The corners of his wide mouth, surrounded all around by a dense growth of auburn stubble, which covered the entirety of his powerful, square jaw, curved up into an amused smile. He paused his work and strolled over to lean on the stall divider. Attired in a simple white shirt, grubby and grime-stained from manual labour, and plain brown trousers and brown shoes, the way he was dressed made it impossible for him to mistaken for anything but a farmhand, but his build said otherwise. His shirtsleeves were rolled up, exposing thick, muscular forearms, and the broad, powerfully muscled shoulders that strained the breadth of his shirt, along with his barrel chest, made him look far more like an experienced blacksmith than a stable hand. At six foot four inches, Michael towered over most men and cut an imposing figure wherever he went. His large, oblong-shaped head was crowned with an unkempt mass of curly red hair, and his pale face, with its multitude of freckles, was an arrangement of rounded, unobtrusive features; there were no sharp angles to be seen, not in nose, cheek or brow. His small, cheerful eyes were glowing emeralds, their hue enhanced by the contrast to the hue of his hair, and above them were perched thin ginger eyebrows, which at rest seemed frozen into an almost quizzical expression.
‘You always ha’ loved the ladies, Will, I’ll say tha’ much,’ he said, the tone of his voice gruff and deep. ‘A right Romeo you are, boyo, aye. But dunnae get yoursel’ tae caught up in this latest one,’ he cautioned. ‘You said yoursel’ tha’ she’s some sort ay noblewoman. I’m surprised she even deigned tae speak moar words tae you than, “dae this, dae tha’, stable hand, an’ lick my boots while you’re at it”, aye.’
‘She’s no’ like tha’ Mikey,’ William countered, ‘no’ at all. She’s no’ like the ladies in this here estate. She’s—’
‘Different,’ Michael interjected with a sigh and a not-so-subtle roll of his eyes. ‘You always say tha’ Will, about all ay these women you set your sights on. An’ then you always end up gettin’ yoursel’ in trouble somehow. Come on boyo, enough ay this now. Forget about her.’
‘I cannae,’ William insisted, and there was both defiance and resignation in his tone. ‘There’s somethin’ about her, Mikey, somethin’ tha’ … I dunnae, just believe me when I tell you tha’ she’s … different. Special. Wonderful!’
Michael released a long, slow sigh and shook his head.
‘If you willnae listen tae your best friend, you willnae listen tae no-one, no’ even the Queen hersel’, God bless ‘er.’
William grinned at his friend, and paused brushing the horse to reach over the stall divider and punch him playfully on his shoulder.
‘Dunnae think tha’ I dunnae appreciate your advice, Mikey. Blimey, you are my best friend, an’ you an’ I, we’ve been through a lot taegether, from the days ay fakin’ flues wi’ tha’ monster Goody-Goode. An’ I’ll admit, aye, I’ll admit tha’ you’ve been right about those lasses most ay the time—’
‘All ay the time, thank you very much,’ Michael corrected.
‘All right, all right, fine, all ay the time before,’ William said, ‘but this time I think you’re wrong. Aurora … she’s … I dunnae Mikey, but I know one way or another, tha’ lass is different, she’s taken a kind ay hold ay me tha’ I’ve ne’er before experienced, like. I know her future an’ mine will be entwined, like two vines meetin’ in the canopy ay the forest.’
‘If you say so Will, if you say so,’ Michael murmured, his tone mostly compassionate, but tainted nonetheless with traces of scepticism.
‘Well anyway,’ William continued, ‘whate’er
