The Lady Catherine

I gestured for her to continue.

“My grandfather has always doted on me, and when I figured out what my father was doing, I went to him, hoping he could protect me. But he explained that he could not, and why he could not. He did, however say that there was no reason that I couldn’t protect myself. He told me that there was a man strong enough and brave enough to ignore my father’s threats, a good man who, if I found Lord Percy unsuitable, might be convinced to ask for my hand. And so I had him set up this meeting.”

I nodded. That explained much. Her grandfather hadn’t interfered in her father’s household, not really. He had just done what any relative was expected to do, namely provide for their family opportunities for advancement. Certainly that didn’t conflict with his duty to not interfere, if the relative in question had asked him, and not the other way around.

“And yet you know little about me, aside from what you’ve heard from your father, which you’ve already admitted cannot be good. What makes you think I would be a better match for you than Lord Percy?”

She glared at me. Good. She wasn’t demure, or easy to bulldoze. She rose to questions, didn’t quail from them.

“I know the difference between what men say of their opponents in anger, and their assessment of them. My father may hate many things you stand for, but he has never mistrusted your word. And my grandfather, the greatest man I know respects you. He would not respect you if you were like Lord Percy!”

“Peace, Lady Catherine! I just had to be certain. I would accept your request for your grandfather’s sake, even if I didn’t find you intriguing. But I wished to know that you didn’t believe I was some fairy tale lording. I wanted to make sure you based your decision on reason, and not on what you thought the world aught to be. You would be disappointed in me, otherwise I think. I have led men to their deaths, although never from the rear. I have lain with whores, although I’ve never laid a hand on them. I have done bad things for the greater good of our Empire.”

She gulped as she processed that. But she didn’t shy away from it. Most noblemen assumed that the women knew nothing of our activities beyond what we told them. I had been blessed with a candid mother, so I knew differently. She would know, or suspect that this was what all single noblemen (and a good number of married ones) did.

“And tell me, my lord, do you intend to continue to lay with whores, even when you are married?”

Her curiosity seemed detached. But there was an edge to it.

“No. I take my vows seriously.”

She nodded.

“I know you think me naïve. And it is true, I am young and I am sheltered. But I have seen my mother beat the prostitutes that my father buys. I have seen men throw away the lives of peasants with contempt while I serve them fine wine. Grandfather… grandfather hasn’t let me shy away from the hard truths of our Empire.”

It was my turn to nod. It was as I thought. Or worse. There was a difference between candid conversation, and beating a whore in front of a child.

“He gave you his speech, on noblese oblige, didn’t he?”

She responded in the affirmative.

“Then you are indeed the kind of women who I would be honoured to marry.”

She blushed rather prettily at this.

“You will ask my father for my hand then?”

“I will.”

“Thank you, my lord.”

“Please, call me by my first name.”

“… Thank you, Charles.”

Lord Robert hadn’t exactly taken well my proposal to his daughter, but he had to have seen it coming. I made a point of attending several dances, and monopolizing her attention at each one. He only bothered sending one threat, and it was half-hearted. He knew that I wouldn’t shy from challenging him to a duel, and he also knew that he would either lose face by declining, or risk losing much more by participating. He did not practice with the sword like I did.

He could have refused, of course, but that would have probably drawn the ire of his father. Even in his seventies, the Duke of Coldstone was not a man to cross. And he had made it known quite widely that he approved of the match.

The Council was of course, abuzz by the news, but with the Duke of Coldstone’s approval, I didn’t have to worry that my allies would think I was abandoning them. Indeed, they seemed to view it as a great victory for the Duke of Coldstone and myself. Our Progressive Coalition did not like Lord Percy, and this was widely viewed as a blow against him, a blow he was impotent to respond to.

I did have my spies watch his house more closely. He was the sort of man who might make a blunder when enraged, and if he did, I wanted to be able to capitalize on it.

—————

The wedding was less than a month away when I took Lady Catherine on a coach ride through the city. I was cut a fine figure in my dark suit, ornamented with just enough silver piping to suggest a uniform. My sword completed the ensemble nicely. While many noblemen dressed in a riot of colours like prosperous merchants, I chose a martial look, and it tended to make me distinctive in a crowd. Still, I paled in comparison to the Lady Catherine.

Her dress was a beautify contraption, accentuating the curves of her hips and the fullness of her bust, while allowing her to sit comfortably and modestly in a carriage. Her hair was studded with tiny emeralds held in place by a fine, silver net. The site of her nearly took away my breath. I had told her the purpose of this ride was to be seen together, and she hadn’t disappointed. My shirt, just visible beneath my jacket was the same shade as her dress. We couldn’t more obviously be a couple.

I bowed extravagantly to her, and helped her into my carriage. It has a new model, with wheels that were “suspended” from the body in such a way as to minimize the jostling on cobbled streets. It was fully enclosed, but had several windows. Many people would see us, but we could converse in perfect privacy, which was excellent, because I didn’t want anyone else to listen in on our conversation. I rapped on the front panel, and the carriage crept into motion. I almost felt sorry for the horses, hauling myself, my batman, two men at arms and my lady love, as well as the not-inconsiderable carriage.

“Catherine, you are simply stunning.”

She still blushed when I complimented her. I loved that about her. We had talked quite a lot since our engagement last year, and I still found her fascinating.

“You are too kind to me Charles. It is the clothes that make the women.”

I smiled at her.

“And the man too, believe me. But you would, I think, look equally stunning out of your clothes.”

I delivered this completely deadpan, but she caught on right away, and playfully smacked my leg.

“Do you know,” I told her, “that there are many ladies who would just let that pass, or not even realize what it meant? Thank you, my lord, they’d say. I had despaired of finding decent conversation.”

She was smiling at me now too. “You mustn’t blame them too much. If they weren’t so convinced that you men had no desire for them to show intelligence, they would perhaps be more interesting.”

Catherine always surprised me with her incisiveness. She had a scholars mind. Her beauty excited me; it was true. But I was just as eager to get her to myself in a library and pick her brain as I was to get her out of her dress.

“You are probably right dearest.”

“I often am.”

There was a companionable silence as we looked out the windows at the city. She may still blush when I compliment her, but she had definitely become more confident over the course of our engagement. I had seen it with bright young officers, when they learned that I valued their thoughts. Here was someone who had not had the recognition she deserved, getting it at last.

I hoped she was confident enough to answer my next question, because the wedding was close enough that I felt I had to discuss the mechanics of it. Frankness and honesty was the best way with Lady Catherine.

“My lady, I hope you will forgive my rudeness, but I feel there are some questions I must ask you before our marriage.”

She looked nervous, but motioned me to continue. We’d built up a whole language in motions, over the course of our courtship. This one said: continue on, and hurry up, because you being so damn cryptic is making me nervous.

“My lady, do you ever touch yourself, while thinking sensuous thoughts?”

She looked taken aback for a second, before she composed herself.

“It is forbidden,” she remarked dryly.

My gesture, roughly translated said: that terrible logic may work on some other nobles, but I deserve better. It was one of her favourite gestures to use on me, council meetings having given me some bad habits in that regard.

She grinned at me. “It is forbidden, but I do it anyway then. It feels rather nice, and the explanations as to why we shouldn’t have never struck me as particularly good explanations, so I’ve continued to. Why do you ask, my lord?”

“Because I fully intend to please you on our wedding night, and if you know what you want, it will be much easier. If you didn’t, I was going to beg you to try it.”

She blushed at my first statement, but laughed at my second.

“You can still beg me to if you wish. It just won’t take much begging. Perhaps I will think of you tonight, as my hand wanders down my body.”

Her smile was mischievous, and my breathing sped up.

“Well perhaps I will think of you think of me as my hand finds my shaft.”

She just grinned.

—————

The servants left the room where they had helped my wife (my wife, I loved the sound of it in my head and on my tongue) out of her elaborate wedding dress, giggling as they walked down the hall. The ceremony had been beautiful, but this was what we had both looked forward to the most.

I knocked on the door, and then slowly entered. I was still wearing my dress shirt and pants, although I had taken my jacket off and stored it so that it wouldn’t get wrinkled. My wife was seated in one of the chairs, wearing only a shift. It was shear enough that I could see her nipples through it, and there was an inviting darkness where her legs met.