The Last Howard Girl (Tudor Chronicles Book 3)

by Lesley Jepson

  From Lancaster they had progressed down the west side of England to Chester and then on to his estate at Kenilworth, and after a longer stay here, he planned to travel to Gloucester before they returned to London towards the end of August. The weather had been kind, and the Queen seemed to have enjoyed all the festivities he had planned for her, the hunts, the banquets, the picnics, although he would be glad to return to London and not be solely responsible for the entertainment of the entire court.

  He threw the core of his apple onto the compost heap in the corner of the kitchen garden and turned to walk round the edge of the stables to take in the view across the lake. Suddenly he saw a figure clad in emerald silk walking ahead of him into a small copse of trees and he quickened his pace.

  ‘Good morning, lovely Lily. You are about early today?’ His voice rose in a question as she turned and smiled at him.

  ‘Good morning Robin. I had hoped you would walk this way.’ She continued to walk further into the trees and he followed, catching her hand in his as they trod the faint path through the woodland. In Lettice’s other hand was a crushed piece of parchment. Robert nodded to it.

  ‘A letter has found you here, my love?’

  ‘A letter from Walter, sent up from London with the diplomatic bundle to Cecil,’ she sighed, not meeting his gaze but keeping her eyes on her feet as she picked her way over twigs and stones.

  ‘An apology, Lily? He has much to apologise for.’

  ‘Of sorts, I suppose. He tells me he regrets the discord between us before he left,’ Robert snorted in derision, ‘and he hopes we can resume our former amicable relationship upon his return.’ Lettice dragged a deep shuddering breath in, and Robert stopped walking, pulling her to him.

  ‘When does he return, my love?’ She shrugged and shook her head.

  ‘He doesn’t say. When he has been recalled by the council, I imagine.’

  ‘He will not hurt you again, Lily. I swear I will not allow him to, even if I have to call him out.’ Lettice leaned her forehead on Robert’s doublet and sighed.

  ‘I cannot think you will have an excuse to challenge him to a duel, Robin. And if you do so without cause, it could end badly for you.’

  ‘You think I cannot best him?’

  ‘No, I think you would find it easy to best him, Robin. But I do think you would struggle for an excuse in the first place. No-one else knows what he did, and a man may use his wife as he sees fit; she belongs to him and he may do as he chooses in the marital bed. No-one will understand, and they will think you guilty of murder.’

  He snorted in derision. ‘It wouldn’t be the first time, Lily.’ He took her hands in his and brought them to his lips. ‘Look at me, my love.’ She raised her eyes slowly, trying to blink her tears away.

  ‘I swear to you, Lily, I swear. He will not hurt you again.’ She swallowed hard and nodded.

  ‘I believe you, Robin, and I trust you. Besides,’ she smiled tremulously at him, ‘he writes that he has taken a chill on his chest. He might be too ill to do anything but take to his bed by the time he comes home, and have his mother nurse him.’ She reached up and encircled his neck with her arms. ‘Kiss me properly, Robin, before we have to return to our very public lives. It seems months since I was last in your arms.’

  ‘Indeed it is, my love. And I have missed you sorely. When we return to London, I look forward to having more time to spend with you.’ He bent his head and kissed her deeply, with a longing that surprised him.

  ‘We must go back, Lily. The rest of the court will be awakening soon, and I wouldn’t have your whereabouts questioned.’ Her mouth made a little moue of disappointment, but she turned and walked back down the path through the trees, clinging to his hand all the while. Then, when they reached the tree line their hands fell apart and Lettice walked towards the house while Robert went in the other direction to loop back around the stable yard and re-enter by the kitchen door.

  ***

  ‘Robbie,’ Elizabeth greeted him with genuine pleasure in her voice as he entered her presence chamber where she was eating honeyed bread and reading papers. She was dressed simply in an amber silk gown with small emeralds fastening the front of her bodice. Her hair was down and caught on the back of her head in an emerald - starred net to match the studs on her gown. She had not yet dusted her cheeks with the inevitable powder and her skin glowed with health, her dark eyes bright as she looked at him.

  ‘Good morning, my beautiful love,’ he bent and kissed her cheek and she breathed him in appreciatively.

  ‘You smell of fresh air, Robbie, and trees and …. apples?’ He laughed and sank into a chair by her side.

  ‘I went for a walk, Bess. The early morning air was wonderful, and I stole an apple from the kitchen.’ He nodded towards the papers in her hand and spread out across the table, ‘and Cecil is also about, I’d hazard?’

  Elizabeth wrinkled her nose at him and took another bite of bread, ‘Yes, Robbie. New despatches from Ireland,’ she sighed. ‘We shall have to bring the troops home, my love. While there are still some left alive to come home.’

  ‘More skirmishes, Bess? I thought the opposition had gone into hiding, disappeared like mist in the morning?’

  ‘Disease, Robbie. We have lost more soldiers through disease than we have lost to the sword. Cecil says if France or Spain mount a genuine attack, we may struggle to find enough men to repel them if we leave our troops in Ireland much longer.’ She shook her head sadly and waved the paper in her hand. ‘And now Walter Deveraux is sick near unto death.’

  ‘But his wife …..’ Robert began and then stopped as Elizabeth’s brows rose.

  ‘Yes, Robbie? His wife what?’ He leaned across and took a bite from the bread she still held and Elizabeth laughed and shook her head at him.

  ‘The Countess was reading a letter in the garden, Bess. I passed her on my way to the stables and she said she thought he was coming home. It was in his own hand, and she didn’t mention…’

  Elizabeth put the rest of her bread in her mouth and chewed slowly, then shook her head again. ‘That letter came to Cecil yesterday, in the packet from London so it was probably written six or seven days ago. This letter, from his Colonel,’ she lifted the paper in her hand, ‘has come straight from Liverpool docks, so it was written the day before yesterday.’

  Robert nodded and poured them a mug of ale to hide his expression from her.

  ‘This is why we must bring them home, Robbie. They have no commander while Walter is ill, and should he die, then …..’ Robert kissed her cheek again as he placed the mug in front of her, ‘thank you, my love,’ she smiled, then she sighed.

  ‘Robbie, I would ask you something,’ Elizabeth began hesitantly as she swallowed her drink. He looked at her over the rim of his own mug and raised his brows.

  ‘Anything, my love. You know that.’

  ‘Would you be dreadfully disappointed if we went back to London from here? It has been wonderful, going round the country, and then to come to your lovely residence and take a little respite has been marvellous. But we have been here two weeks, and I am very aware that we need to get back to real life, Robbie. After our visit here, and after we have had the wonderful banquet I know you will have planned, could we forego Gloucester and go home?’ Robert laughed and shook his head.

  ‘Bess, we can do anything you wish. I live to serve you, and if you want to go back at the end of the week, so be it.’ He took her hand and pressed a kiss into the palm, then kissed her wrist gently, feeling her pulse quicken as he did so. He got to his feet swiftly.

  ‘I will send a message immediately to Gloucester to tell them we have been called back to London urgently, Bess. Then I will make sure that the preparations for the
banquet are moving along, and I will instruct the servants to start the process of packing for home.’ He smiled and bowed at her before he left the room, laughing at the excitement he could see on her face at the prospect of returning to London.

  Chapter 46

  ealistically, we can’t bury him here, Aunt Meg. They are frightened of the disease. Of course, Walter’s mother is bereft, and the fact we couldn’t bring his body home has distressed her further.’ Lettice sat holding her baby son as she watched her daughters play in Meg’s nursery.

  ‘How do you feel, sweetheart?’ Meg’s questioning voice was gentle, but Lettice’s eyes brimmed with tears.

  ‘Promise you won’t think me wicked, Aunt?’ Lettice turned a miserable face into the shawl cradling her sleeping babe, ‘I feel relief.’ She looked at Meg, face so full of sorrow and guilt mixed together that Meg had to stand and cross the room to gather her into her arms.

  ‘Oh, sweetheart, never imagine I think you wicked,’ Meg whispered softly into Lettice’s hair as she rocked her.

  ‘Aunt Meg, I think how Walter was when I first met and married him, and I am so sad. He was kind, and sweet and as nice as he knew how to be. I didn’t appreciate him then, and later, after he had been to war and had come back, he tried to be kind, but his sweetness was gone. I started to dislike him, his opinions, his manners, his touch. Of course, by then I had seen Robin and …..’ Lettice’s words trailed off and she began to cry again in earnest.

  ‘Ssssh, sweetheart. Try not to let your girls see how upset you are. They look to you to know how to behave; they don’t really remember Walter so why upset them unduly?’

  Lettice nodded silently and tried to wipe her tears away on her baby’s shawl. Meg brought her a drink and she sipped it to calm herself. Meg nodded at the baby.

  ‘Shall the Dowager Countess want to raise baby Robert, sweetheart?’ Lettice looked at her aghast.

  ‘She won’t get the chance, Aunt. He is Walter’s heir, and until he marries, I am still the Countess of Essex. He will be raised by me, with your help, of course.’

  Meg blinked at the vehemence of Lettice’s words, then smiled and nodded, ‘I am so pleased, sweetheart. I love having the little ones here, now Jane and Dickon are out of the nursery and in the schoolroom with the others.’

  ‘I will bring him up to know his inheritance, Aunt. And he shall see the Dowager Countess of course, but she has her daughters. Let them provide babies for her to coo over, and leave me to bring up my children in peace.’

  ‘Will you return to court, Lettice? Soon, I mean.’

  ‘As soon as I can, Aunt. I shall be in mourning, of course, but I shall be there. And this time, my father won’t be able to banish me for any implied impropriety of behaviour,’ Meg’s eyebrows rose again as Lettice hissed at her, ‘so if I want to see Robin, I shall.’

  ‘You will have to beware of the Queen though, sweetheart. She will still have first claim on his time. And on him?’

  Lettice regarded Meg with an anguished look on her face, and she lowered her voice so her daughters and the nursemaids couldn’t hear.

  ‘I haven’t been in Robin’s bed since the morning I left in disgrace with my father’s disapproval ringing in my ears, Aunt Meg. I have spoken to him briefly, a few snatched moments of conversation out walking or in the dance during the interminable Progress. Now I am a widow, as long as we are discreet, and the Queen doesn’t find out, we can please ourselves.’ She gave a cat-like smile. ‘I have missed him so desperately, Aunt. I ache for him.’ Lettice blushed and hid her face again in the sleeping form of her son, and Meg shook her head helplessly.

  ‘Be careful, sweetheart. A Queen’s wrath, like a King’s, can be truly terrible when roused. I would not have you at her mercy. I well remember her father….,’ and Meg shuddered.

  ***

  Cat stood behind Elizabeth’s chair and brushed her hair gently and slowly. Elizabeth’s eyes closed in enjoyment.

  ‘Are you glad to be home, Princess?’ Elizabeth’s eyes opened and she looked at Cat through the glass.

  ‘Very glad, Cat. Relieved, because I don’t have to be her all the time.’ Elizabeth nodded at the wigs on their stands on the dresser. Cat smiled and nodded.

  ‘But they work, Princess. Your hair is getting much stronger now you don’t twist and twirl it like that. It looks so lovely when you wear it simply, caught in a net.’ Cat felt the weight of it in her hand as she brushed. She knew it would never be as it was before Elizabeth’s illness; the colour was less vibrant, and the texture was more fragile, but it was improving. Cat took a piece of silk and ran it down the length of hair, to smooth it before folding it into a jewelled net and pinning it in place with diamond-tipped pins.

  ‘And I can have a respite before the celebrations Robbie will arrange for my birthday,’ sighed Elizabeth, ‘and then there will be Yule.’

  ‘Busy indeed then, my lovely,’ smiled Cat.

  ‘How is Lettice, Cat? Does she feel able to return to court while she yet mourns poor Walter?’ Cat heard concern in Elizabeth’s voice, and she nodded through the glass.

  ‘Yes, Princess. She has been at Sutton House with Meg and the children since we came home from the Progress, but once her mourning gowns are ready and she is suitably clad, she will return.’ Elizabeth shook her head in puzzlement at Cat.

  ‘Suitably clad, Cat? I make no such demands from my ladies.’

  ‘No, Princess, but her father does,’ Cat rolled her eyes, ‘and although she is now a widow and financially independent, he insists she comports herself with decorum on her return, in order not to disgrace him.’ Cat sighed and shook her head, ‘It is easier to allow him this, Princess. He will be satisfied that the proprieties are being observed, and Lettice doesn’t mind wearing darker colours,’ she snorted a laugh, ‘they complement her colouring after all.’

  Elizabeth smiled knowingly at Cat, and looked down at her own sapphire blue gown trimmed with darker blue and stitched with tiny diamonds and seed pearls. She smiled and shrugged.

  ‘Dark colours do suit our colouring, Cat, so I cannot blame her for that. We look forward to welcoming her back. All the celebrations will hopefully distract her from her sorrow.’

  ‘Yes, Princess. Her father and I do hope so.’

  ***

  Lettice squirmed in excitement as Robert slid his hand over her naked breasts and followed the path of his hand with his lips.

  ‘Oh, Robin,’ she breathed, ‘I seem to have longed for you for an absolute age.’

  ‘As I have you, lovely Lily. I did not expect to find you secreted in my bed this morning. It is a beautiful surprise.’

  ‘I only returned to court this morning, Robin. My chests were taken to my apartment and I hastened here, before anyone knew I was back, so I could spend time alone with you.’

  He caressed her skin and kissed her gently.

  ‘And I made sure I was not seen, Robin. I well understand we must still be circumspect in our relationship.’

  ‘Thank you, lovely Lily. I would not have anyone think our association inappropriate, with you newly widowed and me still ….. at the Queen’s side.’

  ‘I shall have more freedom as a widow than I had as a wife, Robin. My father shall not banish me again.’ Robert moved over her again and kissed her lovingly.

  ‘Then we shall celebrate your freedom, my love. As often as we can.’

  Chapter 47

  lizabeth’s birthday was celebrated in September with four days of festivities as the beautiful summer turned into a golden autumn.

  Later in that month, Robert received a message from Surrey that Lissey Sheffield had been safely delivered of a baby boy, and true to her pr
omise, she had named him Robert Dudley. Not by word or deed did Elizabeth acknowledge that she had heard the news, and Robert realised that it was indeed as Kit had told him, that if the Queen didn’t see Lissey at court, then she could pretend Lissey didn’t exist.

  As part of a visit to a horse breeder, Robert broke his journey at Esher and spent some time with his son. He was astonished at how much the boy looked like he did, with his dark eyes and hair, and hardly anything of his mother’s cool blonde beauty. Lissey was ecstatic with her new babe, happy in her life away from court and content that Robert could play only a peripheral part in their lives. Robert himself knew that he couldn’t see an alternative, but nevertheless felt sadness that his son would grow up without his constant presence in his life.

  His relationship with Lettice continued in its passionate intensity, that they kept carefully private. Lettice was his sister’s best friend, and he had a great deal in common with his brother-in-law Henry, so in public, when Elizabeth was busy with Cecil or yet another ambassador bent on securing her hand in marriage for his master, Robert gravitated into their company. Lettice gave nothing away when she saw him; she was pleasant, amusing company when he joined her and his sister, and was mildly flirtatious in the dance when they happened to be partnered, but she didn’t seek him out, or whisper where they could be overheard or observed. She maintained her dignity and complete decorum when they were together in public.

  In private she was passionately uninhibited, matching him in intensity whenever they managed to steal an hour away from their duties, or when the Queen didn’t require him at night. Lettice would slip away from her apartment into his, helped in every way by Thomas, who had developed an overwhelming protectiveness towards her. She graciously thanked him for every small service, quietly and sincerely, placing her hand on his arm gently before murmuring her gratitude, and Robert swore he could see Thomas imperceptibly tremble at her touch, an event he teased Lettice about mercilessly. But despite his teasing, Robert was heartened by the knowledge that Thomas would protect her with all the loyalty and devotion he showed to Robert.