"Sore, but I imagine 'tis expected, my lord," she answered him.

"I sensed you gaining pleasure," he said.

"Aye, I was beginning to, but then it faded when you released your seed."

"I apologize," he responded, "but taking you for the first time was very exciting for me, my love. I want you to sleep now, and tomorrow we shall enjoy ourselves again not once, but several times, I promise you. One of the advantages of being here alone with you is that there is no one to disturb us or our bed sport. Get some rest now, Francesca."

Several times? Francesca had honestly thought now that he had filled her with his seed, they would wait to see if he had gotten her with child. She hadn't realized a husband would want to sport with his wife so often. She thought that was why a man kept a mistress. Why hadn't her mother said something? Or Terza? What else didn't she know that perhaps she should? Still, coupling again with him was not really an unpleasant thought. She had very much enjoyed the little bits of pleasure that she had experienced tonight. She would certainly enjoy more if she might gain it.

But considering her little dalliance with Carlo, did she deserve pleasure from her husband? She had to tell him of the huntsman. Her husband might be jealous and he should be, but he knew her for an honest woman, for he had had her virginity this night. She had not really betrayed him, and there was no need for him to know how deep her feelings for the huntsman had been. She was Rafaello Cesare's wife and d.u.c.h.essa. They both knew she would never betray him or herself.

He awoke her with kisses, his manhood already hard with his l.u.s.tful longings. Francesca took her husband into her arms eagerly, spreading herself for him, and wincing only slightly when he eagerly thrust himself deep into her with a sigh of delight. The soreness evaporated as he used her. He encouraged her and helped her to her own enjoyment before he took his own this time.

"In time we will learn to take our pleasure together at the same time," he told her.

"Will it make it even better?" she asked him.

"Aye," he said with a smile.

"Then I would learn how," Francesca told him, smiling up into his face. "Teach me, my lord!"

"It is a learned skill, my love, but we shall work together to master it," he promised her, smiling back.

They spent half the day in bed, enjoying each other. He taught her how to caress him and which touches could bring him pleasure. She gave him the freedom of her body, and thereby learned quickly what pleased her. They finally took the time to feed themselves, eating the second chicken that had been packed for them, along with some bread and cheese. They drank wine and became half-drunk before sleeping. When they awoke it was to make love again and sleep again. It was a rhythm they practiced until well after midnight, when they finally slept soundly.

He awoke to find her up and dressed. "I did not say you could leave our bed," he complained to her sleepily.

"We must return today, my lord," Francesca told him. "We have had two nights to ourselves. Your father will surely send someone after us if we do not go back on our own." She smiled at him. "Besides, we are just about out of food, and we have drunk all the wine. "Get up! When we get back to the castle I shall give you a bath and take one myself. The stink of pa.s.sion surrounds us both."

He grinned. "I cannot help it if you are so delicious, Francesca, my wife, that I cannot resist you."

She laughed. "Get up! And when you are dressed I would speak with you."

"About what?" he asked, making no move to exit the bed. "Come and give me a morning kiss, my love."

"No! I can see what you are about, my lord. You will not lure me back into that bed. You may come to me tonight."

"Come to you? Oh no, my love. We will share the marital bed each night. I do not believe in a happily married couple having separate bedchambers. We are happy. Aren't we, Francesca?"

"Aye, I believe we are," she agreed softly. "Come and get up now, Rafaello."

He wanted to stay where he was. He wanted to lure her back into bed and strip her shirt and pants from her so he might make love to her again, but she was correct. If they remained at the ducal hunting lodge his father would send someone for them. He was, after all, now the duke of Terreno Boscoso. He had a government to manage. Rafaello arose reluctantly, washed lightly in the basin of cold water she brought him, and dressed quickly. Then, going to the table, he sat down to eat the bread and cheese that she had placed there for him.

"I will speak with you while you eat," she said. "While I was at Alonza's inn last winter I became fond of one of the huntsmen, a young man named Carlo. I believe he fell in love with me, Rafaello. On our wedding night while you remained drinking in the hall, he somehow gained entry to the castle and came to our bedchamber. I sent him away, of course, though he begged me to go with him."

"Did you love him?" he asked her, wondering what she would say.

"I think I may have if briefly, but never did I betray our name, my lord. You know I was a virgin when you had me first the other night. I will not see him again."

"How can you be certain?" he asked her, fascinated that she had confessed to him. He wondered if he should take this opportunity now to tell her that he had actually played the role of Carlo. That he had done it so he might learn to know her better.

"I am certain because I told him not to come back. If he truly loves me he will accede to my wishes, my lord. I have told you the truth of this matter because I would have no secrets between us now that we are truly husband and wife," Francesca said.

He nodded as if in concord with her. No. He would not tell her of the ruse he had played upon her, even if his intentions were good. Perhaps one day, but not today. Francesca was not apt to see it as he did now that she had confessed her girlish indiscretion to him. Indeed she would feel quite foolish. No. Better to let this lie for the interim. "I trust you," he told her quietly.

"I shall not discuss this matter ever again," she said.

"No," he agreed. "We will not speak on it, nor will there be a need to, Francesca."

"Thank you, my lord," she answered him.

He finished his small meal, and then they departed the lodge. The two caretakers would come from their own discreet cottage and put everything back to rights. Their horses were well fed and well rested. They had a good half-day's ride ahead of them.

Once again Rafaello found the narrow path that would lead them from the forest and back to the castle.

They arrived in midafternoon, and went immediately to Lord t.i.tus so he would know they had returned home. The former duke greeted them warmly. One look at his son and Francesca told him they had resolved the difficulties between them. "My children, I see your brief stay at our lodge has done you both well. I am happy to see it. While you were gone, however, I received a rather disturbing letter from the Comte du Barry. You need not be concerned, Francesca, my dear. This is something Rafaello and I must discuss and resolve."

"If it is ducal business, my dear father," Francesca surprised both her husband and father-in-law by saying, "then I believe as d.u.c.h.essa of this little territory I should know what is happening. Especially as I shall eventually mother the heir to Terreno Boscoso."

Rafaello's first instinct was to send her from the chamber, as he knew his father would if he were still the duke. Wives, he had been taught, were to be protected from any unpleasantness. A quick look at Francesca, however, changed his mind. She was his d.u.c.h.essa. If she were kept in blissful ignorance she would be unfit to rule if he grew ill or found himself away for some reason. How could she protect the children they would have if she didn't know what was going on in their small world? "Francesca will remain, Father," he told his parent. "There could come a day when I need her to speak for me. She cannot protect Terreno Boscoso or its people or our children if she is kept in ignorance. She cannot just be my wife, or the mother of our children. She is my d.u.c.h.essa, and as such her position must be reasonably equal to my duke."

"It is a modern concept, my son," Lord t.i.tus replied.

"There have been women who have ruled, my lord father," Francesca told him. "I sat hidden in my brothers' schoolroom and learned much of history. A wise woman must partner her lord husband, especially when there is territory involved."

Her father-in-law chuckled. "What were you supposed to be doing when you listened to your brothers' lessons?" he asked her.

"Oh," Francesca said, "a variety of things women are expected to know. How to sing sweetly, play an instrument, candy violets and rose petals. But I never heard it said that a woman was chosen to wife any man because of her abilities to sing or candy flower petals. Minstrels sing, and a lady's serving woman can make sweets. It was far more interesting to listen to adult conversations and a tutor lecturing on history. And after my sister, Bianca, ran away with her Turkish prince, I thought it even more important to know more of the world and less of the meaning of flowers."

Lord t.i.tus laughed heartily. "If you give this family sons who are as spirited and as curious as you are, my daughter, I will be quite content."

"I will do my best to please both you and my husband," Francesca said with a mischievous smile. Then she grew serious. "But tell us what the Comte du Barry had to say to you. Certainly he was upset that you sent his daughter home, but he surely understood, as my family did, that she would be returned if not chosen."

"Therein lies the problem," Lord t.i.tus said. "It should have taken the French entourage no more than two weeks to return to the du Barry estate. But she did not return home for almost six months, and then with only her maidservant. She was great with child, and has only recently given birth to a son. She claims the infant is your son, Rafaello, and the rightful heir to this duchy."

"She lies!" the young duke said.

"The b.i.t.c.h!" the d.u.c.h.essa said.

"Of course she lies," Lord t.i.tus said. "But, having spoken the lie, we must now disprove the falsehood. The comte is outraged. His daughter claims you seduced her, and for six months hid her away from everyone as your mistress until you were ready to marry Francesca. Then you sent her back to her father with nothing but a big belly."

"But I didn't," Rafaello said. "The girl's arrogance and ill nature had me discount her as a possible wife almost immediately. And while she was fair, I never found her enticing enough to seduce. Especially as I was so intrigued with Francesca from the start. How in the name of heaven are we to discredit the wench's claim?"

"By telling the Comte du Barry what you have just told your father, and me," Francesca said. "He won't want to believe you, for it is his daughter, but he knows the kind of girl she is. How could he not? And if you refuse to acknowledge the child what can he possibly do? The blessed Mother only knows where Aceline managed to get her b.a.s.t.a.r.d, but he is not yours, my lord, nor will he take the place meant for my firstborn son," Francesca declared fiercely. Then her old arrogance surfaced, causing her husband to smile. "How dare she even think her beauty could surpa.s.s mine and win your heart?"

"With no marriage or promise of one," Lord t.i.tus told them, "Aceline du Barry has no hope of foisting her b.a.s.t.a.r.d upon us. But we cannot keep writing letters back and forth. The Comte du Barry must be invited to Terreno Boscoso so we may settle this face-to-face. And I wish to know where all the rich gifts we sent with Aceline have disappeared to. Perhaps Aceline will have a clever answer for us."

"You are surely not considering asking her to come with her father?" Rafaello said. "This will become an open scandal, especially given Francesca's disappearance into the forest last autumn."

"We knew where Francesca was," Lord t.i.tus said. "We knew she was safe with Alonza. And when she returned she was not carrying another man's child. Besides, it was not common knowledge when we postponed the wedding. It was a.s.sumed we did it because your bride wanted her family to come from Florence, and we acceded to her wishes."

"Yet if anyone in the castle is asked, none saw her the entire winter long," Rafaello pointed out. "How do you explain that without telling them my bride ran away?"

"Why, my son, Francesca being the devout young woman she was, she spent her winter in isolation with her priest and the two nuns who were her companions. She prayed for the success of her marriage to you and for the healthy children we all desire," Lord t.i.tus said, the lie coming easily to his lips.

"What of Terza's distress? Everyone in the castle knew of it," Rafaello said.

"And everyone in the castle will remain silent if I say Francesca was here, choosing solitude from all, even Terza," Lord t.i.tus replied.

"I will speak with Terza and explain the situation," Francesca said. "She is clever, and will know what to do if questioned. The priest and nuns have returned to Florence with my parents. I am a.s.suming, of course, that they are gone?"

Her father-in-law chuckled again. "Yes," he told her. "I saw them off myself the morning after you two left. They were all but your mother anxious to go, for the journey is a long one. As your father pointed out, however, they needed the di Medici men-at-arms that had escorted them here early this spring, and the captain of those soldiers was quite insistent he needed to return to his master in Florence. Your mother was not pleased, but when reminded of the two daughters still in need of husbands she decided perhaps it was time for her to go."

"It will be a few more years before Lucianna is ready to wed. While Bianca is not spoken of, the fact that her marriage exists cannot be denied. Now Madre's second daughter is a d.u.c.h.essa. She will seek carefully for Lucianna and Serena. It is hoped that neither of them gives her the difficulties Bianca and I did."

"I do not find you difficult," Rafaello said with a grin.

"We are but newly joined, my lord," she answered him with a wicked little smile. Then she grew serious again, and turned to Lord t.i.tus. "You truly mean to ask the Comte du Barry to Terreno Boscoso?"

"I see no other choice," the older man answered. "We need to face this lie, and disprove it before Aceline du Barry causes more difficulties."

Francesca nodded. "I understand," she said.

"I will write the letter myself," Rafaello said. "Now that I am the duke it should come from me. I will deny the wench's charge, but I will insist the comte come to Terreno Boscoso so we may settle this face-to-face. It would seem there is no other way."

Chapter 11.

Rafaello Cesare, duke of Terreno Boscoso, wrote to the Comte du Barry. He denied Aceline's charges but invited the comte to come to his castle so they might discuss the matter face-to-face as gentlemen of honor would do. A month later Raoul, Comte du Barry, arrived, his daughter and her offspring in tow. The Frenchman didn't want to believe his daughter was a liar, but one look at Rafaello Cesare and he knew his grandson had not been sired by the young duke.

Lord t.i.tus came to look at the infant. It was big-boned and large. It was unlike any Cesare in the former duke's memory. The child had a full head of dark brown hair and dark eyes. Even swaddled in silk and lace it was obvious this baby had not been sired by any lordling. It was a peasant's child.

"Here is your son," Aceline simpered to Rafaello, holding the infant out to him.

"He is not mine, madam," Rafaello said coldly. "Why would you even attempt to pa.s.s off this boy as mine? He is nothing like me, or for that matter nothing like you. Your lover was a big man, and your child takes after him." He turned to the Comte du Barry. "Do you still believe I sired this child, my lord?"

"I do not," the comte admitted, flushing, embarra.s.sed. He turned angrily to his daughter. "s.l.u.t! What have you done that you would shame your family?"

"When your daughter was not chosen as my son's bride," Lord t.i.tus said gently, "I returned her home to you, my lord, last September, with a train full of valuable gifts."

"She came home to me in April with naught but her servant to keep her company," the comte responded. He said again to the young mother, "What have you done?"

"So," Rafaello said, "the question remains, Where was Aceline during those seven months, and what happened to the gifts we sent with her? Where is the maidservant, Oriel? If she was with her mistress she will know the truth. Did she not return with her?"

"I sent the wench away," Aceline said. "She no longer pleased me."

"It is obvious that the maidservant knows the truth of this matter." Francesca, who had been silent until now, spoke up. "Perhaps she sent her away, or perhaps she had her killed to insure her silence. I would put nothing past the b.i.t.c.h."

"You are just jealous of me," Aceline said irrationally. "You were always jealous of me. I don't know how you got him to choose you, but he would have chosen me had you not bewitched him or told him lies about me."

Francesca looked at her former rival. "He chose me because I was more beautiful than you. He chose me because my manners are flawless and my character better."

"You were the scandal of Venice!" Aceline replied angrily. The infant in her arms began to wail. "Someone take this brat!" she almost shouted, handing the squalling child to a nearby female servant, who looked both terrified and horrified.

"He sounds as if he's hungry," Francesca said. "Take your son and nurse him, Aceline." She signaled to the servant to give the baby back to his mother.

"Nurse upon me?" Aceline looked horrified. "He would ruin my b.r.e.a.s.t.s. I have a wet nurse with me. Have your woman take him to her."

"Clarinda," Francesca said. "Take the poor mite and find the wet nurse."

"He is not a poor mite. He is the heir to this duchy," Aceline said. "My son, not yours." She smiled, and when she did Francesca realized that Aceline du Barry had gone mad. She had not been so in that summer she and Louisa along with the French girl had been brought to Terreno Boscoso so Rafaello might choose one of them as his bride. But she was mad now. What had happened to her that had brought this condition on? Francesca caught her husband's sleeve and whispered her concerns to him.

"See how she plots and schemes!" Aceline cried. "She means to harm my son!" She spun about. "Where has your servant taken my baby? Where have they gone?"

"Your daughter is not of sound mind, my lord," Rafaello said to the comte. "We must learn the truth of what happened to her after she left Terreno Boscoso. Her maid, Oriel, is the answer to this puzzle. We must find her, and pray she is not dead."

The Comte du Barry nodded. His mistress had told him when his daughter returned to him that Aceline was not of sound mind. He hadn't believed her. He had even beaten her for saying so. Now seeing his daughter in her current state, he realized it was true. And only the maidservant, if they could find her, would be able to tell them the truth of the matter. "Both she and Oriel returned together. The servant was frightened and spoke little. Then suddenly she disappeared, and Aceline's old nursemaid was looking after her. I asked my daughter where Oriel had gone, and she simply shrugged. I was afraid to press her, for fear of harming her unborn child. Only when it was born did she claim it yours, my lord," the comte said, looking to the young duke.

"I took no liberties with any of the maidens my father brought for my consideration," Rafaello said. "Louisa di Genoa had fallen in love at first sight with my best friend, Valiant, Signore di Sponda di Fiume, who was with me and my party of gentlemen when we rode out to greet her arrival. His reaction to her was the same, although he sought to conceal it from me on the chance I should choose her. We greeted your daughter the same way. Aceline, however, was arrogant and rude from the moment we met. She seemed to believe I could not possibly have any other choice than to choose her. I mean no offense, my lord, but your daughter never appealed to me in any way. But if she had I should certainly not have dishonored her virtue."

"But you were quick to visit your wh.o.r.e wife's chambers at night," Aceline said.

"How dare you!" Francesca said angrily. "My husband did not have my virginity until we were wed. Not having your n.o.ble French blood, I knew I must be particularly careful of my reputation."

"The court of Lorenzo de Medici is known for its debauchery," Aceline snapped.

"I would not know if that were true or not," Francesca said, although she did. "I was not a member of that court, being the unmarried daughter of a respected citizen."

"Your sister was a known wh.o.r.e!" Aceline said viciously.

"If it is my elder sister to whom you refer, she was respectably wed to a famous lawyer of the city. Widowed, she remarried. How dare you spread such nasty lies!"

"Remarried?" Aceline screeched. "To an infidel?"

Madre di Dios, Francesca thought. She had not imagined the scandal would have spread as far as France and the house of an unimportant n.o.ble in an isolated region. She must write this information to her mother, who would shortly be seeking a wealthy and t.i.tled husband for her next sister, Lucianna, who had just turned thirteen. Such news would not please Orianna at all. "My sister, Bianca, lives under the rule of the Ottoman sultan, and under his laws she is happily wed to his son, Prince Amir," Francesca calmly answered Aceline. "Again you speak with no knowledge of the truth, just as you have lied in claiming that my husband fathered your son. Had he visited any of us privily while he considered his decision to marry, you may be certain the servants would have known about it and gossiped so that everyone in Terreno Boscoso would have known. Rafaello's choice of a wife was important to our citizens."

"Ah, how high and mighty you have become, d.u.c.h.essa," Aceline sneered.

"Where did you go, Aceline, after you were sent home?" Francesca asked her.

Aceline looked slyly at her imagined rival. "Every time he f.u.c.ked me he would say to me, I am Rafaello, your secret lover.'"

"We must find the serving woman," the young duke said. "She surely can enlighten us as to what happened to her mistress to drive her mad, and hopefully give us the ident.i.ty of the father of this infant."