They were scrupulously discreet, but they did not completely fool Genevieve. The countess did not know about the hay store, but she could sense the passion between her daughter and the visitor. However, she spoke indirectly, as was always her preference. “England is an uncomfortable place,” she said one day, as if making small talk.

“When were you there?” Ragna asked. It was a sly question, for she already knew the answer.

“I’ve never been,” Genevieve admitted. “But I’ve heard that it’s cold and it rains all the time.”

“Then I’m glad I don’t have to go there.”

Ragna’s mother could not be shut down that easily. “Englishmen are untrustworthy,” she went on.

“Are they?” Wilwulf was intelligent and surprisingly romantic. When they met in the hay store he was gently tender. He was not domineering, but he was irresistibly sexy. He had dreamed one night of being tied up with a rope made of Ragna’s red hair, he told her, and he had woken up with an erection. She found that thought powerfully arousing. Was he trustworthy? She thought he was, but evidently her mother disagreed. “Why do you say that?” Ragna asked.

“Englishmen keep their promises when it suits their convenience, and not otherwise.”

“And you believe that Norman men never do that?”

Genevieve sighed. “You’re clever, Ragna, but not as clever as you think you are.”

That’s true of a lot of people, Ragna thought, from Father Louis all the way down to my seamstress, Agnes; why shouldn’t it be true of me? “Perhaps you’re right,” she said.

Genevieve pushed her advantage. “Your father has spoiled you by teaching you about government. But a woman can never be a ruler.”

“That’s not so,” Ragna said, speaking more heatedly than she had intended. “A woman can be a queen, a countess, an abbess, or a prioress.”

“Always under the authority of a man.”

“Theoretically, yes, but a lot depends on the character of the individual woman.”

“So you’re going to be a queen, are you?”

“I don’t know what I’m going to be, but I’d like to rule side by side with my husband, talking to him as he talks to me about what we need to do to make our domain happy and prosperous.”

Genevieve shook her head sadly. “Dreams,” she said. “We all had them.” She said no more.

Meanwhile, Wilwulf’s negotiations with Count Hubert progressed. Hubert liked the idea of smoothing the passage of Norman exports through the port of Combe, since he profited by levies on all ships entering and leaving Cherbourg. The discussions were detailed: Wilwulf was reluctant to reduce customs duties and Hubert would have preferred none at all, but both agreed that consistency was important.

Hubert questioned Wilwulf about getting the approval of King Ethelred of England for the agreement they were negotiating. Wilwulf admitted that he had not sought prior permission, and said rather airily that he would certainly ask the king to ratify the deal, but he felt sure that would be a mere formality. Hubert confessed privately to Ragna that he was not really satisfied with this, but he thought he had little to lose.