He grabbed her shoulders and lifted her dripping body. “May I offer my apologies? I’m not exactly calm since Demari’s. I was too late in recognizing your kiss as a kiss. You shouldn’t sneak upon me, but give me some warning.”
“You needn’t fear such happening again,” Judith said grimly.
“Only you, my little wife, would be so saucy while being held over a body of water. I could drop you in again.”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
He grinned then lowered her slowly until her toes came near the water again.
“Gavin!” she cried, half-pleading.
He drew her to him, then gasped as her cold body touched his skin.
“You are well repaid,” she laughed. “I hope you freeze.”
“Not with you near.” He swung her into his arms. “Let’s go to our room and remove these wet clothes.”
“Gavin, you can’t think—”
“Thinking, while you are in my arms, is a waste of time. If you don’t want to cause more attention drawn to yourself, be quiet and let me have my way.”
“And if I don’t?”
He rubbed his cheek against her wet one. “You will find those pretty cheeks will turn very red.”
“Then I am a captive?”
“Yes,” he answered firmly and carried her up the stairs.
Queen Elizabeth walked beside her husband. They stopped when they saw Gavin knock Judith into the water. Elizabeth would have gone to help Judith, but Henry stopped her.
“Look at their love play. It pleases me when I see a couple so in love. It isn’t often that a marriage of estates turns to happiness.”
Elizabeth sighed. “I’m glad to see them each loving the other. I wasn’t sure there was love there. Lady Alice seems to think the Lady Judith isn’t a fit match for Lord Gavin.”
“Lady Alice?” King Henry asked. “She is that blonde woman?”
“Yes. Edmund Chatworth’s widow.”
Henry nodded. “I would like to see her married soon. I have watched her. She plays with men, rather like a cat with a mouse. She seems to care for one, then the other. The men are in love with her beauty and will take much from her. I wouldn’t like to see them come to blows. But what has the woman to do with Lord Gavin and that lovely wife of his?”
“I’m not sure,” Elizabeth said. “There is some gossip that Gavin was once in love with Lady Alice.”
Henry nodded toward Gavin as he lifted his wife into his arms. “He is not so now, as everyone can see.”
“Maybe not everyone. Lady Alice baits Lady Judith constantly.”
“We must stop this,” Henry said.
“No,” Elizabeth put a hand on her husband’s arm. “We can give no orders. I fear it will only make Alice more angry, and she is the kind of woman who would find a way to say what she wanted no matter what orders were given her. I think your idea of marriage to be the best. Can’t you find a husband for her?”
Henry watched Gavin carrying his wife toward the manor house, teasing and tickling her, causing Judith’s laughter to ring through the yard. “Yes, I will find Lady Alice a husband, and quickly. I wouldn’t like to see anything come between those two.”
“You are a good man,” Elizabeth said and smiled up at her tall husband.
Henry chuckled. “Only to a few, my dear. You should ask the French who is a good king or not.”
Elizabeth waved her hand. “You are too soft on them, too good to them.”