Page 245 of Historical Hotties
Nicola shrugged. “Mostly,” she said. “These days I help Lady de Dreux with her children, and I do like being around the children.”
“Who is Lady de Dreux?”
“Beatrice,” Nicola said. “The king’s younger daughter. She and her children have been at Westminster for some time and I have been tutoring the older children.”
Caledonia smiled politely. “How clever you must be,” she said. “Are you married, my lady?”
Nicola grinned, but it was an embarrassed gesture. “Not yet,” she said. “I am the youngest of eight children and the youngest daughter, so my parents are in no hurry for me to marry even though there is someone I am sweet on.”
One of the servants took away the cold compress to refresh it, and Caledonia sat up straight as another servant continued to dry her hair. “Ah,” she said. “Then I wish you well, my lady. I hope he is sweet on you, also.”
“He is,” Nicola assured her. “At least, he’d better be. A de Winter is very hard to tame, you know. They are notorious for dodging matrimony.”
“De Winter?”
“Aye,” Nicola said, rising from her kneeling position. “The House of de Winter. They are great supporters of the king, you know. They have an enormous army.”
“Where are they from?”
“East Anglia.”
“I do not know them,” Caledonia admitted. “But I also do not travel in military circles.”
Nicola’s gaze lingered on her. “When you marry my brother, you will,” she said. “But do not worry. I will help you all that I can so you know who people are and who are friends and who are foe. You will not be alone in this, I promise.”
Caledonia found those to be comforting words. She wasn’t used to anyone comforting her, or even being kind to her, so Nicola de Reyne was a new experience altogether. Long ago, when she fostered at Prudhoe Castle, she had friends there, young ladies she trusted, but once she married Robert, those friendships faded away. She didn’t stay in touch with them like she should have, mostly because her attention was on Robert and their turbulent relationship. Sometimes she wondered what became of Lady Carina and Lady Estelle, but in a way, she was glad they couldn’t see what had become of her.
It occurred to her, however, that her direction in life was changing. She was marrying a de Reyne, a man who said he wanted her by his side. He needed her help. That was still an astonishing concept to her. No one had ever needed her. No one had ever wanted her, but Thor evidently did. And Nicola, his sister, was being quite kind to her.
Was it possible her life reallywaschanging?
Or were these people only pretending until the marriage was completed?
Caledonia pondered those very things as Nicola smiled at her and headed over to the bed where all of the dresses she had brought with her were laid out very neatly. Caledonia remained by the hearth as the servants finished drying her hair, but she could see the dresses on the bed. She could see yellow and blue and orange and even a red one as Nicola pawed over them. Nicola held up the yellow one, which was silk and quite lovely, but she evidently didn’t think that one was good enough because she picked up the blue one that was right next to her.
“Blue symbolizes purity,” she said, holding it up for Caledonia to see. “But that is usually worn by women who have never been married before, so mayhap this isn’t the right one for you.”
Caledonia was precluded by responding because Nicola was making the decision that the blue dress simply wasn’t appropriate. It was a very pretty dress, but it was off the table as the yellow dress and the orange brocade were held up for inspection. After a few moments of consideration, those dresses were put aside with the blue dress. That left the red dress, but when that was picked up, Caledonia could see another dress underneath it.
That dress was silver.
“This one,” Nicola said with confidence, picking up the silver dress that, upon closer inspection, was more an icy shade of bluethan actually silver. “This is exquisite and very nearly matches your hair. I think you should wear this one.”
Yet again, Caledonia had no say in the decision-making process. Nicola seemed to know what was pretty and what was appropriate, so Caledonia let her select the wedding dress. Truth be told, she really didn’t care. As Nicola had said, she had already been married once. She had already been through a large wedding mass with hundreds of guests and had already been through an enormous wedding feast that her parents had paid for. Robert had only been mildly attentive to her for the duration, spending a few moments at the start of the feast with her, but he quickly retreated to his group of friends and proceeded to get drunk.
That had led to a disappointing wedding night.
As Nicola laid the silver dress back on to the bed and begin to hunt around in the jewel box she brought with her for the appropriate adornment, Caledonia’s thoughts turned toward her wedding night with Robert. He had been married before and had therefore taken little time with his new bride, who had gone to his bed a virgin. She’d had no idea what to expect because the only thing she’d been told about it had been by Lady d’Umfraville when she fostered at Prudhoe, but also by the silly gossip and speculation of her fellow wards. At that age, girls were curious about the act of intercourse and most of them tended to listen to the servants, who had spectacularly misinformed tales to relay. It had made the marriage night both terrifying and titillating, but in her case, it had been uncomfortable and embarrassing.
It occurred to her that she was about to face that again with Thor.
That very realization put Caledonia in a rather quiet and apprehensive mood as Nicola went about dressing her for her wedding mass. She remained wrapped up in the linen towelseven after her hair was dry, because Nicola and the servants wanted to dress her hair before she donned her clothing. Caledonia sat and brooded in front of the fire as Nicola went to work.
The first thing Nicola did was heat up a hair iron in the hearth. That was used to roll Caledonia’s thick, rather straight hair into curls that were then gathered up and piled on the top of her head, like an enormous bun. Nicola had set aside a section of hair that was braided and wrapped around the base of the bun. The result was absolutely elegant because it looked as if Caledonia was wearing a silver crown. Nicola made it look clean and chic by rubbing a slight amount of fragrant pomade on her hands, made from almond oil, and ran that over the hair that was leading into the bun to tamp down any stray hair. The result was a very groomed appearance with a beautiful smell from the almonds.
After her hair was finished, Nicola focused on Caledonia’s face. Caledonia had never worn cosmetics in her life, but Nicola had brought some with her. Fashionable noblewomen wore rouge and lip stain, and plucked their brows. Caledonia had beautifully shaped brows with a natural arch, so there wasn’t much to do with them, but Nicola did put a bit of tint on her cheeks and on her full lips. Just a hint, enough to give her a bit of a glow.
After that, it was simply a matter of putting on the dress, so Nicola had Caledonia stand up as the servants peeled away the drying towels. A shift went on first, sleeveless and soft, and over that went the silver dress, made from the finest silk and embroidered with silver thread. It had a daringly low neckline, lined with white rabbit fur, and the long, belled sleeves were lined at the ends with the same white fur. Because of the silver embroidery around the neckline and bodice, Nicola put silver earrings on Caledonia’s earlobes that dangled, with a sapphirein the center surrounded by small pearls. After that, she stepped back to admire her handiwork.
