Daniel stretched out his arm to me. ‘Come here and I will keep you warm,’ he said.

I was not in the least cold but I did not tell him that as I went into the circle of his arm and let myself stretch out against the mystery of his male body. I felt him gently kissing my cropped hair and then I felt and heard his breath against my ear.

‘Oh, Hannah,’ he whispered. ‘I have dreamed of having you for so long I could cry like a girl for desire.’

I giggled. ‘Daniel,’ I said, trying the unfamiliar name on my lips. I turned my face up towards him and felt the warmth of his mouth on mine, a kiss which melted the very marrow of my bones so that I felt we were dissolving into one another like some alchemical mixture, an elixir of pleasure. Under his cape his hands caressed my back and then fumbled under my jerkin and linen and stroked my breasts, my throat, my belly, and I felt myself stretch out like a petted cat and whisper ‘Daniel’ once more and this time it was an invitation. Gently, his hands explored the contours of my body like a stranger in a new land. Shyly, but with gathering curiosity I let my fingers explore the soft fine hair of his chest, the warmth of his skin beneath his breeches, and then the extraordinary shape of his cock which rose and pulsed at my touch as Daniel groaned with desire.

The night was too long and the skies too dark for shamefulness. Under Daniel’s cloak we slid our breeches down and coupled with an easy confident delight that started breathless and became ecstasy. I had not known that it could feel like that. Watching other women and men court, even trembling beneath Lord Robert’s touch, I had not known that such pleasure was possible. We parted only to doze and within an hour we woke and moved together again. Only when we saw the sky lighten through the ropes to our left did I drift from arching desire and satisfaction into exhausted sleep.

* * *

I woke to a cold morning, and had to scramble into my clothes before the sailors could see what we had been about. At first I could see nothing but the dark outline of the land, and then slowly it became clearer to me. A stolid strong fort guarded the entrance to the harbour. ‘Fort Risban,’ Daniel said, standing behind me so that I could lean back against his warm chest. ‘Do you see the port beyond?’

I raised myself up a little and giggled like a girl as I felt his body respond to my movement. ‘Where?’ I asked, innocently enough.

He shifted me away from him with a little grunt of discomfort. ‘You are a coquette,’ he said bluntly. ‘There. Ahead of you. That is the main port and the canals flow from it all around the city, so it is a moated city as well as a walled one.’