‘So what would have happened if I’d agreed to an annulment yesterday?’ she persisted. ‘Would your father have been angry?’
‘Livid.’ And that didn’t even begin to describe it... He clenched his jaw, deciding to change the subject before she could ask any more questions. ‘Tell me about Lacelby. I’d like to know more about it since it’s where we’re going to live. I only visited the one time for our wedding and it wasn’t for long.’
‘True.’ Her face lit up at the mention of her home. ‘Well, I suppose it’s a bit old-fashioned now, but the fortifications are strong. My great-grandfather built it during the reign of the first King Henry. There’s no moat, only two lines of ditches, but the keep has two storeys and there’s a watchtower as well.’ She was speaking so quickly that she had to pause for breath. ‘But the best part isn’t the castle at all. It’s the sea. You can see it from the upper floor and hear it at night, too. That was one of the strangest things about moving to my uncle’s manor, not being able to hear the waves. Sometimes I’d dream that I could, then wake up and wonder where I was.’
‘I obviously wasn’t paying attention when I visited. I didn’t realise Lacelby stood so close to the sea.’
She laughed. ‘And getting closer all the time. The land around it is mostly chalk so the sea claims a few feet off the coast every year, but Lacelby is built on harder stone. It’ll probably stand on the edge of a cliff one day, though it might be nice to have a beach on the doorstep.’
‘Mmm.’ He gave an exaggerated shudder. ‘I’ve had enough of the sea for a while. Our last Channel crossing was uncomfortable to say the least.’
‘Was there a storm?’
‘Storms. I’ll be happy if I never set foot on a boat ever again. Beaches, however, I can live with. I saw some fine ones in Aquitaine.’
‘You’ve been to Aquitaine?’ She practically spun off her horse towards him, her face lighting up even more brightly than before. ‘My uncle never told me that.’
‘I was in Normandy most of the time, but the King sent me on a mission to his mother’s duchy last year, too.’
‘How wonderful.’ She sounded wistful. ‘My grandmother—my mother’s mother, that is—was born in Aquitaine. She came to England with the old Queen Eleanor, then she met my grandfather and never went back, but she used to tell me stories about it. She said it has everything. Snow-capped mountains, vast forests and beaches that stretch on for miles.’
‘With sand of pure white and water as blue as the sky above. It’s a beautiful place.’ He nodded in agreement. ‘Perhaps I ought to be taking you there instead of Lacelby.’
‘Some day, perhaps. Right now, I just want to go home.’
‘It means so much to you?’
‘Yes.’ Her voice held a note of longing. ‘It’s hard to explain, but when I left it was like a part of me stayed behind. I grew up, but I always felt that something was missing. I knew I’d never be comfortable until I went back and found it again.’ She shrugged her shoulders. ‘It sounds foolish, I know.’
‘No...’ he shook his head ‘...it doesn’t sound foolish at all. I’ll take you back as soon as I can, only I’m afraid we need to stop at Wintercott on the way. Now that I’m back in England, I ought to visit my father.’
‘Of course. You’ve been away from home almost as long as I have. We can stay at Wintercott for as long as you wish.’
He twisted his head, making a pretence of looking over his shoulder at the baggage cart to hide his expression. Admittedly, he’d been away for a long time, too, but he didn’t feel anything close to the same attachment to his home. Hers was somewhere she loved. His was full of demons. He might have had some affection for it once, but definitely not any longer. If it hadn’t been for Alan, then he would have been happy never to go back, but it was his duty.
He clenched his jaw grimly. Duty and a lifetime of painful memories, that was all Wintercott meant to him now. The less time they spent there, the better.
Chapter Seven
‘If I remember correctly, it took two days to ride from Lacelby to my uncle’s manor in Lincoln.’ His wife’s voice jolted Matthew out of his brooding.
‘That sounds about right, but Wintercott’s a little closer.’ He frowned at the horizon. ‘I’d hoped that we could do it in one day, but with the state of these roads, that’s impossible. I don’t want us to be out after dark.’
She looked nonplussed. ‘So whose house will we stay at tonight?’
‘No one’s. There’s a hostelry in a village a few miles from here. That will suffice.’
‘A hostelry?’ She sounded as if he’d just suggested a brothel. ‘But when I travel with my uncle and aunt we always stay with friends or acquaintances. Surely there’s someone?’
‘There isn’t, not without taking a detour, and a hostelry is a lot less fuss. Unless you want to be gawped at again?’ He gave her a pointed look. ‘It’s certainly nothing to be frightened about.’
‘I’m not frightened. It’s just I don’t see why we can’t... Ah!’ She stopped talking abruptly and clasped a hand to her stomach.
‘Constance?’ Matthew drew his horse closer in alarm. ‘Are you unwell?’
‘No.’ She inhaled sharply and shook her head. ‘I’m all right.’
‘You’re not all right if you’re in pain.’ He looked her up and down, searching for any signs of ailment or injury. ‘Are you wounded?’