What does she have to lose?

Christine looked back and forth between the two, first at Marielle's sparkling eyes and mischievous grin to the Verderer's somber blue eyes that stared at her with an unsettling steadiness. She could not be sure what the goodwife had in mind when she invited Christine to share their bed, but she did know what she wanted from her handsome savior. How could someone as sheltered and innocent as she was, crave the touch of a happily married man so much that she was willing to be with him even with his wife in the same bed?

Christine could not deny that she had been using her young body to tease the honest man. After what she underwent at the hands of the bishop and his men, she wanted to experience a man's touch that was meant to please. Her experience, until Prince Henry's fateful arrival was limited to a few clumsy kisses shared with William. Because of her mother's ill health, she knew even less about how to please a man than most noblewomen her age. Of course, she knew more much more now than before. In the past two and a half days her innocence has been completely shattered. In fact, it is a wonder that her maidenhead was still intact for her to offer to Master Werner. What she did know though, was that every glance from the Verderer made her core bubble like a cauldron of porridge in a way that none of those other men had.

It was a struggle to form the words to convince the Verderer, but with a timid smile she appealed to his decency.

"Master Werner, I'd rather not be alone ... not after ..." Christine hesitated, not comfortable sharing any more than she had to, "...after all that." She was committing herself to a path that was even more precarious than turning to the Bishop of Oldchester for sanctuary, but Christine couldn't resist the temptation.

"I could sleep in the stabl-" The Verderer tried one final time to do the right thing, but his wife was having none of it.

"Stop it Werner, there's plenty of room for all three of us, so stop your fussing." Werner found himself in an impossible position. Outnumbered two-to-one he tried to think of some way to protect the young noblewoman without revealing her identity or why she was hiding who she was. The hardest part of this was that Marielle was right. He hadn't been as taken with a woman since he first met his wife almost twenty years ago. After a long pause he nodded in acquiesce.

Thankfully, the Verderer did not accompany the two women to the bed chamber and Christine was able to slip out of the fine gown without having the disquieting blue eyes of the Verderer watching her every move. Wearing nothing but the soft cotton shift Christine sat on the bed as Marielle too pulled her garments off until she wore a shift that strained to contain her breasts. Compared to this buxom woman, Christine's apple-sized breasts seemed inadequate, and she realized how silly she had been to think that a grown man like Werner might be tempted by her girlish curves.

Almost as if she sensed Christine's doubts, the Verderer's wife stepped behind Christine and turned her to face the silvered mirror on the wall.

"You are so beautiful, Evelyn." Marielle squeezed her tightly into the very bosom that Christine had just been envying, "my Werner is going to love you, honey."

"What will he do?"

"Nothing you don't want him to, Evelyn." There was a fierceness to Marielle's answer that made Christine wonder at this woman's confidence, "but if you give us a chance, I can promise you this will be the best night of your young life."

"So, I'll be ruined." Surprisingly, the idea did not worry her much at all. Compared to Prince Henry and Bishop Anthryl, Werner was a saint, and if she had agreed to wed Sir William, she would have been claimed by a man who, at best, bored her. "Will any man want me after this?" Christine couldn't even believe she was discussing her deflowering with the wife of the man who she couldn't stop thinking about.

"Oh sweetheart, losing her cherry doesn't ruin a woman, it just changes her." She brushed a lock of Christine's hair behind her ear tenderly, "You are going to be so much more once I get done showing you what I know." Any other questions Christine might have come up with wiped from her mind when the Verderer entered the room and began to strip off his quilted tunic. He didn't even glance at where his wife and Christine waited by the bed, but the two of them watched him with undisguised interest.

Wearing only a pair of cut-off leggings, the bare-chested Verderer finally faced the pair and allowed his eyes to feast on Christine's delicate figure. Just the idea that Sir Godfrey's young sister was here in his bedroom wearing nothing but that scanty night shirt was almost too much to comprehend. She was as beautiful as her brother always claimed, and as pure and trusting too. Could he really betray the trust of the now deceased knight? And more importantly, did he have the willpower to resist the sweet temptation before him?