It was the eldest daughter, Isabel, who gave Richard’s heart its first flutterings. About the same age, they sat next to each other at table, and Richard’s pulse increased alarmingly whenever she turned to converse with him. A pretty blonde, Isabel had the palest of pale blue eyes, a pert mouth, and something that the pubescent Richard had recently begun to notice, breasts. Well aware of her charms at thirteen, she could have teased the young duke about his obvious interest. However, not yet experienced in the art of flirtation, she merely attempted to be nice to him, thus charming Richard further and increasing his timidity. He took to stuttering responses when she addressed him, which made the younger daughter, Anne, giggle. Isabel confided to Anne that Richard reminded her of a sad, bleating sheep. Most humiliating of all, Richard would wake up in the night and find his linen nightshirt wet after dreaming of the earl of Warwick’s beautiful daughter.

Discovering Richard scrubbing his own shift one early morning, Rob Percy tried to hide a grin. “Stop spying on me,” Richard commanded, trying to conceal the nightshirt behind the basin.

“Dreamt of Isabel, did you?” Rob asked casually, and laughed when he saw pretended incredulity on his friend’s face. “It happens to us all, Richard. Every single one of us. No need to be ashamed; in fact you should feel proud. ’Tis the beginning of manhood.”

Richard scowled. “Most unmanly and disgusting. I shall stop dreaming at once.”

Rob guffawed and motioned for Richard to continue with his washing as he explained other bodily changes he thought Richard might be noticing. “Soon you will be desiring to touch females more often than you care to admit, and you must learn to curb those urges before they get you into trouble.”

And so Richard listened to a much more pleasant—if less expert—explanation of the passage of boy to man than the usual father-to-son talk. He had not forgotten Edward’s clumsy attempt to explain, but he recalled more vividly his conversation with Will Hastings’ page. What happened when a man and a woman got between the sheets now became much clearer. He grinned at Rob: “Have you tried it yet?”

The ruddiness in Rob’s cheeks, due to more than the Yorkshire weather this time, was not lost on Richard. “You have, you rogue! What was it like, Rob, you have to tell me. Who was it? Was it with…” he dared not breathe Isabel’s name; he would die if it were Isabel.