Free The Sword and The Swan by Roberta Gellis Page A

opponents, drunk and belligerent, would literally come to blows. They would continue to drink throughout the evening anyway, but the energetic dances would keep them busy and work off the high spirits engendered by the wine.
    Rannulf danced once with his wife, leading her out onto the floor only after he had been prodded thereto by Maud, who had been reduced to telling him in Catherine's hearing that the dancing could not begin without him. Thereafter, nothing could move him to dance again, although he permitted Catherine to be led away by any man who applied for her company. When Hereford came up to ask for Catherine's hand for the third time, therefore, she did not wait for her husband's approval. If he did not care with whom she danced, she would choose the best partner. Rannulf, however, stopped his talk and looked at the dancing couple with a scowl. Until now he had paid no attention to what Catherine did when the music ended. This time he made his way across to her, grasped her wrist possessively, and led her away.
    "It is not wise to spend overmuch time in the company of the earl of Hereford," he snapped when they were out of earshot.
    Before she knew what she was doing, Catherine wrenched her hand free of Rannulf's hold. "What harm could he do me or I permit in a room full of people?"
    "I do not believe he would do you any harm," Rannulf said, laughing. "His wife would skin him alive if it came to her ears, and he fears her as he fears the devil, although he fears no living man. Nonetheless, he is a pardoned rebel and for my wife to favor his company can do neither your honor nor mine any good."
    Catherine was insulted to the point of speechlessness. It was bad enough to be lectured about associating with Hereford after Rannulf had done it himself, but her husband's disgustingly even-tempered reply proved he was not jealous. He did not want her, and he did not believe that any man could want her.
    In this, Catherine was quite mistaken. Rannulf, although certainly not jealous, was far from immune to his wife's charms. He stood beside her watching the dancers with brooding eyes. He was too old for this sort of nonsense, he knew, but perhaps it would be pleasant to join them. It would be very pleasant to feel Catherine's hand on his and occasionally to place his hand on her hip. Still, dancing was an activity in which he scarcely excelled, and he had no desire to make a fool of himself like the old goats he was watching caper about. It came to him suddenly that he did not want to dance; he wanted to touch Catherine. Well, she was his wife. He did not need the excuse of dancing for that!
    "Do you take pleasure in this?" Rannulf's glance indicated not only the merrymaking group but also his disapproval.
    "Very little," Catherine replied. Ordinarily that would have been a lie, but this evening it was perfectly true.
    "I also." Rannulf hesitated, trying to find a polite way to say what he wanted, and then merely extended his hand. "Come, then, let us go."
    Catherine was in no doubt of what he meant but she was startled. "Should we not tell the queen?" she asked, not because she was reluctant to go with him, but because her mind was on the bedding ceremony with which it was customary to conclude marriages.
    In the absence of any real legal system, Catherine knew that the best guarantee that a bargain would be kept was the presence of a large number of eyewitnesses who could affirm that the participants had fulfilled their commitments.
    This led to the practice of marrying outside the doors of the church rather than before the altar—the outdoors being conducive to the presence of the largest number of witnesses. It also led to the practice of publicly bedding the bride and groom. The bride would be disrobed, as many ladies of suitable rank as were present attending her, and set naked upon the bed; the groom, following with his gentlemen attendants, would be similarly served.
    After the jokes and remarks that such a situation