ELOISA AND I were waiting over an hour for the procession to move off and I began to despair of seeing Saulo.
I’d spent a sleepless night going over every detail of our conversation, listing the interesting things he’d said of which I wanted to know more. I relived my sensations when I first saw him approach across the reception room. I gloried in visualizing him before me. Lying in my bed, under the fur robes Eloisa insisted on piling upon me to keep me warm, I imagined the whole evening again. Now my throat constricted with worry. Did he feel for me what I felt for him? He was so very good looking. He could have his pick of women, and they’d admire him for his mind too, and for the stories he told of the places he’d travelled. His knowledge of the sea and the stars was immense. Unlike the dry learning I’d acquired from books, Saulo had true experience of what the world was like, and what was happening in it.
As we lined up with the others in the cavalcade, unhappiness crept over me. Saulo wasn’t coming. He must have met many women more entertaining and sophisticated than a simple village girl. He thought nothing of our meeting. It was a flirtation, that was all. I’d misread the signs. I was an idiot, a fool.
And then he was beside me and looking at me, and the truth was in his eyes. My mood swung upwards. Instantly I was sure he’d been thinking of me since we’d been apart. He nodded in greeting, and suddenly I felt quite superior, for I saw that he was awkward and nervous and I could be in command of this situation.
I boldly leaned over and bade him loosen the rein to let his horse have some freedom of movement. I told him it was a mistake to try to bend an intelligent creature to one’s will by force. I cautioned him to be gentle, saying he was more likely to get his way by kind persuasion. He tilted his head, and with his eyes smiling into mine asked if that was how he should deal with a woman!
A thrill of pleasure shot through me. I felt my face go hot. He affected contrition, saying that he hoped he hadn’t offended me, that he was in so much awe of my presence that his tongue tripped him up. He made a ceremony of this humble apology, but I could see that he was watching me to judge whether he was still in my good graces and hoping for more than that.
There was a rise in tension between us but also a growing familiar ease. We both knew what was happening and were prepared to revel in it.