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invitation. He gestured that Robin should enter the pew with the girls and then turned to take the one across the aisle. There was a stir at the chapel door and he looked back.
    What he saw took his breath away for a minute. Lady Guinevere in a gown of amber velvet studded with blackest jet came up the aisle towards him. At her waist she wore a gold chain from which hung an enameled and gold pomander and a tiny watch studded with sable diamonds. She wore a diamond pendant on her breast and diamondsstudded the high arc of her headdress that was set back so that her smoothly parted hair was visible on her forehead. Her pale hair in the candlelight seemed to shimmer beneath the bright glitter of the diamonds.
    “Lord Hugh, forgive me for keeping you waiting. There were some matters to discuss with the musicians for this evening. Pen has certain favorite dances. I wanted to be sure they were included in their repertoire.” Her voice was soft and musical, her smile
damnable.
It was full of warm promise, bewitching!
    He remembered the Bishop of Winchester's declaration that the woman must have used sorcery to bring so many men to their knees. Ordinarily Hugh had no time for such nonsense, but at this moment he came close to believing.
    Guinevere glanced over at the children. Robin jumped to his feet in the narrow box and bowed. She smiled at him. “I give you good even, Robin. Pippa, come and sit beside me, otherwise you’ll chatter throughout the service.” Smoothly she extricated her younger child, ignoring her protestations, and propelled her firmly into the far corner of the opposite pew, following her in.
    “Lord Hugh … there is more than enough room for three.”
    He took his seat, still searching for composure. The scent of her surrounded him. A scent of verbena and lemon and rose water. He disliked the heavy perfumes women used at court to mask the riper odors of their heavily clad bodies. But this was a delicate fragrance that sent his senses reeling. He found himself glad that he had bothered to wash away his own travel dirt and put on fresh linen. And the reflection infuriated him. He was not here to be entranced by Guinevere Mallory.
    The priest began the evening service, a form that everyone present knew by heart. Guinevere made the ritual responses while her mind was elsewhere. The effect of her appearance on Lord Hugh had been all that she hadintended. However swiftly he had tried to disguise it, she had seen the pure masculine response in his eyes as she’d come up the aisle. And she could feel that same response in the taut upright figure on the pew beside her. He was utterly and totally immersed in her presence.
    A little smile of satisfaction touched her lips as she bowed her head for the benediction.
    The bells pealed jubilantly in the Lady Pen's honor as the family and guests left the chapel. Members of the household congratulated Pen and gave her flowers and little trinkets they had made for her. She smiled and skipped a little with pleasure and Pippa kept up a running commentary for Robin's benefit on every gift her sister received and on the identity of the giver.
    “That's such a pretty pomander, did you see it? It was given to her by the stillroom keeper. I expect she's put all sorts of sweet-smelling herbs in there…. Can I smell it, Pen? D’you think it’ll ward off the plague, Boy?”
    “There is no plague in these parts,” Robin said. “And my name is Robin.”
    “Oh, I’ll try to remember,” Pippa said blithely. “I forget because we don’t see many boys here … not
your
kind of boy. Servants and grooms and people, but not
real
ones. So I just seem to think of you as Boy.”
    “How does anyone put up with you?” Robin said in an undertone. “D’you never stop talking?” He was wishing he had something to give Pen, searching his memory for the contents of the trunk he shared with his father, wondering if he had anything that would serve as a gift.
    Then he realized that Pippa