The Last Howard Girl (Tudor Chronicles Book 3)

by Lesley Jepson

  ‘Then let her go after the Yule celebration. That will show mercy, but still let everyone know you are not to be trifled with.’

  ‘I knew you’d help me decide what to do, Robbie. My best advisor, as always.’

  They reached the shore of the lake and stopped. Robert turned and took Elizabeth in his arms, kissing her thoroughly. ‘I will always try to be your best advisor, Bess. But we should go back. The weather is going to change and I would not have you unwell for Yule. I have many celebrations planned for then.’

  They turned round and made their way back to the horses, waiting patiently and being undisturbed by the sword practice going on beside them.

  Chapter 32

  eally, sweetheart, it was no trouble at all. I have made the other garment for you, and I have embroidered the hem. I left the collar and cuffs for you to do; you should have enough time before Christmas to do those, don’t you think?’ Meg spread out the dress for Lettice to see.

  ‘Oh, Aunt Meg I don’t know how to thank you.’ Lettice reached up from the chair and gave her a hug. ‘I shall have enough time in our apartment to finish the embroidery now.’

  Meg sat opposite Lettice and her brow creased. ‘Don’t you take your embroidery to the Queen’s solar? Surely there are enough hours while you’re there to finish this off?’

  Lettice sipped her ale and looked at Meg warily. ‘I sew shirts for the poor in the Queen’s solar, Aunt Meg. I can’t concentrate on anything more complicated there, and if my hands start to shake, it doesn’t matter.’

  ‘Why should your hands shake, sweetheart?’ asked Meg gently, bending across and touching Lettice’s knee, concern in her tone.

  ‘He’s always there, Aunt. Lord Robert. He smiles at me and I just …. melt. He speaks to me, just pleasantries to pass the time of day, and I can barely hear what he says. There is a rushing sound in my ears, and I start to feel hot, as if I’m getting a fever. Then, when he’s passed by, to speak to another knot of ladies, or play a hand of cards with some of the gentlemen, I can speak again, and hear, and move.’ Lettice shook her head. ‘It’s ridiculous, Aunt Meg. I’m ridiculous. He belongs to the Queen, I belong to Walter,’ she snorted her disgust, ‘and yet …..’

  ‘Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry. I thought you might have overcome this by now. I had hoped you were reconciled in your mind with being Walter’s wife.’ Meg shook her head sadly. ‘Have you mentioned this to your mother, Lettice?’

  ‘Dear God, no! I couldn’t possibly. She would be angry because Lord Robert belongs to the Queen, and she would tell my father, who would be angry because I was dishonouring my marriage. Even though it is all only in my head,’ tears came into her eyes and she looked sharply at Meg, ‘although sometimes when he speaks to me when we are almost alone, I think it is in his head too.’

  ‘Alone, sweetheart? Truly alone, or ….?’

  ‘Not really alone, Aunt. Sometimes when we partner in a dance, before we change with the music, he speaks briefly to me, or when I am sitting away from most of the ladies, he might greet me with a few words before he moves on. But when he does, Aunt, I feel as if I am the only woman in the world. The only one he sees, at least.’

  ‘He has that way about him, Lettice. He is one of those men who have a way about them that make you feel important. Don’t confuse that with romance, sweetheart, or you will be disappointed.’

  ‘I know what disappointment feels like, Aunt Meg. I am married to it, after all. I have yet to experience romance.’ Lettice sighed and then smiled at Meg. ‘I shall try and “overcome”, as you advise me. Now let us go up to the nursery, so I can see my beauties before I return to court. We are preparing for Yule and I don’t know when I will be able to get away again.’

  ***

  The Yuletide celebrations were truly magnificent, and the court feasted and made merry for twelve days and nights. Robert had organised as many indoor pursuits as possible, as the weather was cold and wet. Archery tournaments were held in the long gallery and bowls in the large salon. Jousting wasn’t possible, but swordsmanship contests were held in the cloisters and picnics took place in the beautiful Hampton Court orangery. The ladies were able to sit and watch the swordplay under cover, and then vote for the winner.

  ‘You have worked hard to bring us such entertainment, Rob.’ Kit smiled at her brother as he moved from group to group, asking who they thought deserved to win the trophy. Robert smiled and gestured towards the sweating squires, sat with their backs to the cloister walls and taking a drink as the clash of more blades echoed round the stone arches.

  ‘They work hard at it, Kit. They all deserve a reward really.’

  ‘I’m sure they all enjoy it, my Lord. You are training some worthy soldiers for the Queen’s cause.’ Walter Deveraux’s self-important tones came from beside Kit as he discussed soldiery with her husband.

  ‘They are a little young yet, my Lord. They need some height and muscle before they go to be soldiers.’ Robert looked smilingly across at the boys, some of them only eleven and not yet strong enough to wield a full-size blade.

  ‘England will be glad of them, particularly if we cannot solve the Irish question when I next return to that benighted country. Indeed, my mother has suggested that I……..’ Walter surveyed the group of ladies and gentlemen listening to his grandiose claims.

  Walter’s voice faded into the background as Robert saw Lettice’s head bow down and a blush creep up her cheek as her husband continued to regale those in earshot with his plans for when he returned to Ireland. He walked round and stood behind her, bending so only she could hear.

  ‘Your husband has fine schemes, my Lady. When does he plan to leave?’

  ‘As soon as he can, my Lord. As soon as I am with child. He has promised his mother that he won’t leave until there is possibility of an heir,’ Lettice whispered, eyes lowered.

  ‘He has promised his mother, my Lady?’ Robert’s whisper was astounded.

  ‘He is most fond of his mother, my Lord. If he could bypass me and present his mother with an heir without any involvement on my part, he would be more than happy.’

  As the clash of steel from the cloisters got louder, the cheers and calls from those watching increased. Robert spoke softly.

  ‘He is a soldier, Lily. He should not be so reliant on his mother’s opinion.’ Lettice looked up sharply at Robert’s use of that name he had promised her.

  ‘He relies on permission, my Lord,’ her voice lowered further in embarrassment, ‘permission from her, permission from me.’ She dragged an agonised breath at the question she saw in Robert’s eyes. ‘”May I kiss you, wife? May I touch you, wife?”’. Lettice swallowed hard. ‘I need to make him a map to show him what to do.’

  ‘I had no idea you were so unhappy, Lily. I am truly sorry for it.’

  Lettice smiled and blinked tears away as she met Robert’s eyes with her own. ‘He will be happy when I am with child, my Lord. Then he will go to Ireland and be a soldier. Then I can be happy.’

  ‘And perhaps find someone who has no need of maps?’ Lettice gasped and Robert stood straight, looking over the crowd of people.

  ‘Who do you think worthy of the prize, your Majesty?’ he called. ‘Lady Deveraux here favours her brother, of course,’ he nodded his head downwards at Lettice, still sat with his sister and their friends.

  Elizabeth smiled across and nodded graciously, ‘I agree with Lady Deveraux, my Lord. She is a good judge of prowess.’

  Before Robert moved to the Queen’s side to help with the prize-giving, he lifted Lettice’s hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles in farewell, whispering as he did so. ‘It would be an honour to have you judge my own prowess, Lily. And I have no use for maps.’

 
Chapter 33

  dging silently along the gallery, Lettice kept her hands by her sides to still the hiss of the brocade robe brushing against the silken nightgown she wore. She was relieved that there were no guards along this part of the palace and the pages were fast asleep in the embrasures. Walter had sent her a message that he was spending the night at the barracks to go over the plans he had for Ireland with his captains, and Cat, in an innocuous conversation, had told her that the Queen had sought refuge in bed with a sick headache and a sleeping draught. Lettice was grateful that even her mother was not by the Queen’s side tonight; she might not get such an opportunity again and Lettice had determined that she would make her own life happy, rather than rely on other people.

  At last she reached the door of the antechamber to Lord Robert’s apartments and she stood still, trying to calm her breathing. His bodyguard didn’t seem to be anywhere nearby, and Lettice thought he might have the task of guarding the other entrance to the apartment, through the tower door where the corridor connected to the Queen’s set of rooms. If only she could get through this door unobserved, she imagined the rest of the apartment would be unattended. That was what she hoped. She carefully twisted the latch and was pleased when the door gave way under the slightest of pressure and swung silently open. She slipped inside and gently slid the bolt home as she stopped for a moment and allowed her eyes to become accustomed to the darkness.

  Lettice knew that the apartments Robert occupied were formerly the consort’s residence, and as such she imagined the antechamber connected to a presence chamber, and through that to the bedchamber. In the darkness, she could see a glow from candles in the next room, and she allowed the light from these to guide her steps towards that door, where she stopped and peered inside.

  Robert was sitting by the fireplace, haloed by the glow from the fire and with his feet up on a footstool as he turned the pages of a book. Lettice could see how his dark hair gleamed in the light from the candle sconces, and how the smoulder of the fire reflected in his eyes as he scanned the pages of the tome in his hands. She stifled a gasp as he leaned forward to grasp his goblet of wine and his silk shirt gapped away from his torso, showing the dusting of dark hair across his chest muscles, and she watched his throat in fascination as he took a long swallow from his cup. Lettice stood still in the doorway and tried to breathe quietly and regularly to calm the clamour of her heartbeat echoing in her ears.

  ‘My beautiful Lady Lily.’ Lettice squeaked in surprise at his voice and held onto the handle of the door as her legs threatened to give way in her astonishment.

  ‘How did you know I was here, my Lord?’ Her voice was a breathless whisper and she heard his low chuckle.

  ‘I know when the air is disturbed in my rooms, lovely Lily. I felt the draught from the outer door, and the candles told me when the door was closed.’ He smiled at the wideness of her eyes as she continued to clutch the door for support.

  ‘The candles also told me when you had reached that door. The one you find so necessary at the moment.’ He closed the book and set it down carefully on the table, placing the dagger he had concealed on top. Then he unfolded himself from the chair and got to his feet in one smooth motion. Lettice swallowed and had to make herself take another breath. She watched as he crossed the room in a few strides and stood over her, putting his finger under her chin and forcing her to look up.

  ‘You play a dangerous game coming here, Lily.’

  ‘It is no game, my Lord. I knew you would be here, and alone. I came to …. to …..’ Lettice stopped.

  ‘You came to see if I could manage without a map.’

  Lettice nodded, her eyes searching the depths of his to see if she could fathom whether he thought this was an amusement for her. She decided she didn’t care. If she only had this one opportunity, then she would grasp it with both hands, and take whatever he was prepared to give. She was tired of disappointment.

  Robert bent his head and touched his lips to hers, and with his hand he gently unclenched her fist that was holding onto the door, closing it quietly and pushing the bolt across. He pressed his mouth more firmly on hers, and her arms went round his neck as she deepened the kiss, sliding her tongue along the seam of his lips so she could taste him. She felt his knees bend, and then his arms tighten round her as he swept her up and carried her into his bedchamber, kissing her all the while. Her head began to spin at the pleasure this gave her.

  He laid her carefully on the coverlet and braced his arms at either side of her shoulders, gazing into her eyes intently. With only one wall sconce alight, the flickering candles cast both shadows and light across the planes of his face and body, and they highlighted the shimmer in his eyes.

  ‘I do not ask permission, Lily. I only ask if you are sure?’ Lettice saw his lips quirk in amusement as he asked the question. She realised he was giving her the opportunity to change her mind, to reconsider. She slid her hands up his jaw, tiny fingers whispering through his short beard and then tangling in his hair. Reaching up with her head, she nipped his lower lip in her teeth gently.

  ‘I am more than sure, Robin.’ His eyes widened at the diminutive she had used, and he smiled again.

  ‘Robin?’ he chuckled.

  Lettice grasped his shirt in her hand and pulled him back towards her, kissing his jaw and his eyelids before finding his mouth with her own.

  ‘It is what I call you in my mind. Your family call you Rob, and I know the Q….…..’ He cut off her words with another passionate kiss, then kissed his way down her neck to the collar of her robe.

  ‘I shall be Robin to you, lovely Lily, if that’s how you think of me.’

  ‘I have thought of you for a long, long time, Robin. Sometimes I think only of you.’

  Lettice gasped as he swept her robe aside and undid the strings of her nightdress, pulling the edges apart and kissing his way down her breast to tug her nipple into his mouth. She groaned and squirmed in delight, pulling the back of his shirt from the waist of his breeches so she could touch his skin with her own hands. Suddenly she felt him pull away and she felt bereft until she realised he was removing his shirt and unlacing the sides of his breeches. She slid her arms from her robe and nightdress and then he was upon her again, sliding the fabric down her sides and kissing his way down her body to her belly, where he paused and looked up at her, smiling.

  ‘Do you have objection to this, Lily?’ he asked with a hint of laughter in his voice. Lettice looked at him levelly, meeting his dark eyes with her own in the shifting light.

  ‘As long as you don’t mistake me for a soldier, Robin, I have no objection ….. to anything.’ She swallowed as she said the words and waited for his response.

  ‘Oh, God,’ he closed his eyes briefly and took a breath, ‘Lily, my lovely Lily. How could anyone mistake you for a soldier?’

  Robert shifted his position to kiss her again, murmuring into her hair how beautiful she was, how precious. Lettice kissed him back passionately, then again he made his way down her body, kissing and stroking while his hands slid up her leg, round her knee and up her thigh until she felt him gently touch her core. She gasped and he kissed her navel and moved her thigh to give him better access to continue to dip and stroke. Lettice started to feel hot and dizzy and everything seemed to focus on the feelings she was experiencing in the pit of her stomach.

  Her breath began to come in sharp gasps and she felt Robert move across her and replace his fingers with his lips and tongue. Lettice gulped a little air into her lungs as she again squirmed in delight and then Robert traced a line of kisses back up her body as he entered her smoothly. He began kissing her neck and round her jaw until he found her mouth, where her tongue was waiting for his as they rocked and thrust together to a shuddering, shattering climax.

  As Ro
bert again braced himself on his arms and rested his forehead against her own, Lettice exhaled a shuddering breath and kissed his mouth swiftly.

  ‘Oh, Robin. I never imagined it could be like that,’ she gasped in a tiny whisper. Robert kissed her forehead and rolled to her side, stroking her perspiring flesh with his hand and making her shiver in delight.

  ‘Nor I, lovely Lily. It was …just … YOU were truly astonishing.’ He traced lazy circles on her skin, and she stroked his side and his back and buttocks with her own soft hand. She ducked her head slightly, and smiled to herself.

  ‘At what do you smile, lovely Lily?’ asked Robert as he put his hand under her jaw and made her look at him.

  ‘At how wonderful you are, Robin. You are a careful, considerate lover. You show passion and tenderness at the same time, and I think you are the one who is truly astonishing.’ She beamed another smile at him and he kissed her again, stroking her neck and then down her shoulder to her breast, which still held the fullness of her most recent pregnancy. He groaned and bent his head to take her nipple into his mouth, and she sighed ecstatically and, grasping his shoulders, pulled him over her so she could part her thighs and guide him into herself again.

  ***

  Robert woke as dawn streaked the sky with shades of pearly white and pale pink. He propped himself on one elbow to look at Lettice still asleep at his side, dark lashes crescents on her cheeks and pink lips pursed in gentle breaths. Her copper hair was a mass of ringlets round her face and streaming across the pillow, and her heavenly breasts exposed as the linen sheet covered her hips but no higher. Softly he slid out of the high bed and pulled on a robe, then crossed silently to the tower door, hidden behind a hanging in the corner of the room.

  ‘Thomas,’ he whispered as he gently opened the door.