‘I shall always be her friend, Kit. Always remember what we were to one another when we were young.’ He turned to his sister and shrugged as he spoke. ‘And I shall always be at her side, on her side, regardless of how she treats me. But love?’ He shook his head.
‘She took my offering of love, Kit, real, genuine, romantic love, and burnt it to ash on the altar of England. She has my unending friendship as Elizabeth, my unswerving loyalty as my Queen, but my love I now give to my wife.’
Kit sighed and raised her eyebrow at him, ‘That’s what she will never forgive, Rob. That you fell in love after she refused you. And she cannot forgive herself that she still loves you, despite it all.’
The music ended and they heard the Queen laugh even louder at the witty remarks of Raleigh. Elizabeth clapped her hands at the musicians, and they began to play a faster tune as the Queen’s ladies lined up behind her. Kit slid her eyes up to her brother. ‘Shall you lead me out to dance then, Rob? And risk that the change of partners will see you across from the Queen once again?’
Robert took Kit’s hand from its resting place on his sleeve and brushed his lips over her knuckles. Smiling into her eyes he said ‘Would you do me the honour of being my partner in this dance, Lady Hastings?’
She swept him a graceful curtsey and smiled up at him, ‘I am always honoured, Lord Robert.’ She looked away, gazing round the room at all the richly clad nobles fluttering like butterflies round the Queen, and then burst into a fit of giggles, ‘Father would be proud of how high we have risen, Rob. Even if sometimes we risk missing a step in the dance that is our lives.’
He bent his head to whisper in her ear before she joined the ladies’ side of the line, ‘What would this life be without risk, Kit? It would be no life at all.’
Chapter 5
ettice felt the light striking against her eyelids and realised without opening them that the hour was quite late. She stretched as best she could with her swollen belly and stopped abruptly as she realised someone was beside her in the huge bed. Turning her head slightly, she met the dancing dark eyes of Robert, who stretched his arm out and stroked her cheek with his finger.
‘Good morning, Lily,’ he smiled. Lettice blinked in surprise and then her face lit up with a smile.
‘Robin. Why are you still here?’ Her eyes widened with the question.
‘Because you are my wife, and I should always be at your side, my love.’
Lettice giggled and turned to face him properly, snuggling into his shoulder as he encircled her with his arm. She pushed her belly into his side and laid her leg over his in her attempts to be comfortable.
‘At this time in the morning, Robin. Why are you here at this time in the morning, and not at court?’ She felt him smile into her hair as he kissed the top of her head gently.
‘The Queen left the celebration with a sick headache last night, my love, and Kit told me she had asked for a sleeping draught and not to be disturbed. So I thought I would stay with you this morning and share your day.’
‘You will find my day tedious, Robin. Speaking with the cook and housekeeper, speaking with Thomas, sewing, reading, gardening,’ she sighed, ‘waiting for you.’ She shrugged.
‘Then we will be tedious together, my love. You can show me what you have made for the baby and planted in the garden, I can speak with Thomas and discuss the running of the household. I leave far too much on your delicate shoulders.’
‘You have your own duties for the Queen, Robin. I do understand, you know. And you will be arranging the Royal Progress soon, I imagine.’ Lettice determinedly kept her voice light, although she was dreading the weeks they would be apart while Robert accompanied the court on the Progress and she stayed behind.
‘The Progress won’t begin until after your confinement, Lily. I will be here when the babe is born, although I shall have to leave soon after. But I cannot leave until I know you are both well.’
‘All will be well this time, Robin. I am certain of it. Just as I am certain I will give you a son.’ Robert tightened his arm round her shoulders and dropped another kiss onto her hair.
‘A daughter in the image of her mother would be just as welcome, my love.’
Lettice kissed his collarbone as she smiled. They had waited so long to have a child together, and had endured numerous disappointments over the years. This child might be her only chance to give her husband an heir to the Dudley name, a longed-for heir, as his brother was childless.
‘And I have had an idea for the Progress, and I wanted to discuss it with you before I made any firm arrangements.’
Lettice snuggled deeper into Robert’s embrace and wriggled her toes, delighted to have her husband to herself. He chuckled softly as the baby kicked him in his side and he rubbed his hand gently over Lettice’s distended belly.
‘After you are safely delivered, my love, and able to travel, would you like to go to Kenilworth and the Progress can rest there for a while? You can be a part of it, without it seeming you have returned to court without permission. You will be in your own country home, hostess to the court. I thought you might enjoy it, and it will be at the end of the Progress, so you will be well recovered.’
‘Would the Queen be angry, Robin? That I was there?’
‘I doubt it, Lily. You will be in your home, and she already knows the Progress will call at Kenilworth. She enjoys the hunting there, so she can always avoid you if she so chooses.’ Lettice heard the tightness growing in Robert’s voice as he spoke of the Queen and her attitude to his marriage. She sighed inwardly and forced a brightness she hardly felt into her voice.
‘It would be lovely, Robin. Even if I couldn’t attend the official functions, I could see all my old friends, and their gowns and jewels, and hear their gossip. I’m sure some of them could slip away to see me in my apartments there.’
‘Lily, you will be in your own home. You can go where you choose, when you choose. You will not be confined to your apartments. If the Queen decides to acknowledge you, that would be wonderful, but if she does not then you will still be the hostess, my wife.’ He bent his head to kiss her lips and she returned his kiss with enthusiasm.
‘Then after our baby is born, I will travel to Kenilworth, my love, and await you there.’
Robert trailed his lips down her neck and growled in his throat. ‘When it is time for you to leave, I shall send an escort.’
Lettice smiled, ‘I shall have Thomas, Robin. He will look after me, and you will need your guard on the Progress.’
‘I shall have the Royal guard surrounding me, my love. More than a hundred swords at my command, so you shall have the Dudley men at arms for your escort, Lily, as well as the squires. You will be quite safe at Kenilworth and Thomas can use his time to train the boys in hand to hand combat until the court arrives.’
‘He will enjoy that, Robin. He misses being with you, I think. His duties here take up some of his time, but not all, I fear. Sometimes I watch him and think how much he must miss his old life with you.’
‘He adores you, my love. All he wants to do is make sure you and our child are safe. And my duties at court now are such that he would have even less to do there than here.’
‘I am pleased that he is with me. He makes me feel safe, Robin, when I am without you by my side.’
‘I am sure he will be glad of the distraction, Lily. Organising your journey and the squires. He enjoys the stewardship of our house, but I know he must miss combat.’
Lettice laughed gently and whispered into Robert’s broad chest, ‘Your pet assassin.’
Robert felt a shiver of fear snake up his spine, then shook off the feeling. He knew Thomas would never have spoken of his previous life to anyone, much l
ess Lettice whom he adored. ‘I beg your pardon?’
Lettice turned her head and smiled up into Robert’s eyes, giggling at the memory.
‘It is what my mother called him. She always referred to him as either your henchman or your pet assassin. Mother said the Queen never liked him.’
‘And he knew it, Lily. That is why your innocent acceptance of him has touched his heart.’
‘I am glad, Robin. His loyalty to you means everything to me. And he may not be a nobleman, but he has nobility of the soul. He is a true gentleman, and he has my gratitude.’
Robert was silent for a while, kissing the knuckles of Lettice’s hand and holding it against his chest. He listened to Lettice’s regular breathing and realised she had dozed off, and he heard the sounds of the household going about their morning duties. It was a rare treat for him to rest in his own bed during the morning, as he usually had to be back at court before the Queen rose and demanded his presence.
His life was tiring, he knew, but he couldn’t regret his marriage despite the Queen’s continuing disapproval. Lettice and the joy she brought made his life at court seem shallow and false. The Queen’s jealousy only made him more protective of the lovely woman in his arms who had stolen his heart. He felt Lettice move against him, coming slowly out of her sleep.
‘Good morning again, my love.’ Lettice wrinkled her nose at him and pushed herself up into a sitting position.
‘We cannot stay in bed all day, Robin. I shall have to ring for the maid to help me dress.’
‘I can help you, my love. It would be a pleasure to dress you.’
‘Instead of undressing me, you mean,’ she laughed and Robert sat up, arranging the sheet round his hips as Lettice watched the play of his muscles across his chest and in his arms. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and pulled down the sheer cotton lawn of her embroidered nightgown before leaning over and pulling the bell cord.
The maid entered and bobbed a curtsey. ‘Cissy, could you bring us some ale and bread and cheese for our breakfast please? We will eat in here, and then I will get dressed.’ Cissy, cap ribbons trembling violently, silently bobbed another curtsey and then left quickly, trying to avert her eyes from the sight of Robert’s chest, much to the amusement of Lettice.
‘You might want to pull on your robe before she brings the food back, Robin, or it might end up on the floor.’
Robert snorted a laugh. ‘I honestly don’t know why the girl acts that way around me, Lily.’ He shook his head in mystification.
‘Because you look like that, my love. And we are not used to you being here, looking like that.’ Lettice laughed again at the expression on his face, mouth quirking in disbelief and eyebrow raised.
‘I meant to mention, Lily. Sir John Sherrington has asked for a place in your household for his daughter Ursula.’
Lettice dropped his robe onto the bed and pulled her own burgundy velvet over her shoulders, fastening the silken frogging as far as she was able down the front.
‘And who is he?’
Robert shrugged into his garment and tied the belt, ‘A member of parliament, Lily. One who wants his daughter to serve in a great household but stay away from court.’
Picking up her hairbrush, Lettice sat at her dressing table and regarded Robert through the mirror as she pulled the brush through her riot of copper curls.
‘Well, she’ll certainly be away from there, Robin.’
He walked towards her and took the brush from her hand, stroking it down the length of her hair gently. This too was something he seldom had time to do, and Lettice closed her eyes and relaxed into the gentle rhythm of the brush, listening to Robert as he spoke softly behind her.
‘I thought she could come with you to Kenilworth. I know you will have Jane Sadler to help you, but I’m sure Ursula would be helpful too. Her father is a good man, quiet, pleasant. I can’t think his daughter would be less than he.’
‘How old is she?’
Robert stopped his brushing and smoothed a piece of silk down the length of hair cascading down Lettice’s back before gathering it in his hand and burying his nose in the sweet smelling mass. Lettice smiled inwardly, knowing how much pleasure Robert took in her hair, but also knowing the maid would be back soon with their food.
‘Oh, probably nineteen or so? Her mother has been unwell, so she has been at home taking care of her. Now her father wants her to see something of the world before he looks for a husband for her.’
‘Marriageable then, but unworldly.’ Lettice gently took her hair from Robert’s hands and started to coil it up, placing pins to hold it in place with practiced ease until it was all up and out of the way. She finished it off with a green hair ornament at the front, emeralds surrounded by seed pearls mounted on a delicate ivory comb. She smiled at her husband through the mirror as he took his seat at the small table in the window embrasure.
‘I think that is why her father doesn’t want her at court. He wants her to make a respectable marriage, and not be at the mercy of the scandalmongers.’
A knock came at the door and Cissy entered, eyes discreetly lowered but a blush creeping up her cheek as she placed the tray on the table in front of Robert.
Lettice bit back a laugh as she rose from her stool and slowly made her way to the table.
‘We live as nuns, Robin. She will not find scandal with us.’
***
Lettice revelled in the opportunity to spend a whole day with her husband. They broke their fast in a leisurely fashion in their bedroom, buttering warm rolls for each other and feeding one another slices of fruit. Then Robert assisted Lettice in dressing. As her stomach grew, she had fewer and fewer gowns to choose from.
‘You will have to visit the dressmaker soon, my love, and order some more gowns.’ Robert’s breath ghosted over the bare skin of her neck and she shivered in delight.
‘Nonsense, Robin. I hardly go anywhere now, so what would be the point? My old gowns will suffice.’
‘The point is you are my wife, the Countess of Leicester. I would not have you clad in rags.’ Robert’s voice had taken a serious tone as he continued to lace the gown carefully up the back so he didn’t pull the lacing too tight.
Lettice burst into laughter, ‘Rags, Robin? This gown is hardly ragged. The embroidery is in gold thread and the sleeves have emerald studs at the top.’ She turned and took hold of his hands, kissing the backs and holding them to her bosom. Robert bent his head and touched her forehead with his.
‘I want to spoil you, Lily. Buy you beautiful things and let you know how much you are cherished.’
‘Robin, you do not have to buy me things to make me feel your love. I feel it all around me, all the time, whether you are here or not.’ She drew back from him and gave him a mischievous smile, ‘Besides, when the babe is born, I shall need many new gowns if I am to be hostess at Kenilworth. Save your coin until I am slender again.’ She let out a giggle, ‘I shall need much coin, Robin, so be warned.’
Robert pretended to groan and roll his eyes in dismay at the thought of such expense, then stood quite still as he allowed her to fasten the cabochon ruby clasps on the front of his doublet. In the silence as Lettice concentrated, they heard the clash of metal on metal drifting up from the stable yard.
‘Robin, what is that?’ Lettice raised her brows and tilted her head as she listened.
‘Sword practice, I’d hazard, my love. Tom Sadler came with me from court, so I expect he and Thomas are showing the lads how it should be done, eh?’ He swept up his dagger from the chair and fastened it round his waist as Lettice slipped her feet into her flattest slippers.
‘Shall we go and watch, Lily?’ said Robert, holding his h
and out to his wife and allowing her to pass through the door in front of him. He held her arm as she negotiated the staircase, then they walked towards the sound of shouts and swords, louder now as they got nearer the door.
The light was bright after the gloom of the stairwell and it took a while for their eyes to become accustomed to the glare. Above the laughter and muttering of the squires could be heard the snorts and snuffles of the horses in their stalls, a faint but not unpleasant waft of manure carried on the light breeze. Sparrows were squabbling over their dust baths in the corner of the yard, watched carefully by a grey-muzzled black Labrador who lay by the still-room door enjoying a doze in the warm sunshine.
All the squires in Robert’s household had formed a rough circle, which included Thomas, idly leaning on a sword and watching the contest play out in the centre of the makeshift arena. Inside the circle was Tom Sadler sparring with Lettice’s son Robert, the Earl of Essex. Essex was tall and slender as a reed, grunting with the effort of wielding the heavy sword. Tom was equally tall, but had the broad shoulders and powerful legs of one who practiced regularly.
‘Step carefully, my Lord,’ advised Tom as he circled round, ‘make sure you plant your feet flat, so the length of the blade doesn’t overbalance you.’
Essex kept moving on his toes, thinking this would help him get inside Tom’s guard.
‘The sword is too heavy for you to use the balls of your feet, my Lord. You need a shorter, lighter blade for that,’ Tom’s advice fell on deaf ears as Essex moved like a dancing master, his heels never touching the ground thus making his stance unsteady and his aim uncertain.
‘Parry my blade to the side, my Lord. Knock it away if you can, then come back to my inside, where I am unguarded,’ Tom continued to thrust his blade towards Essex, although Tom was putting little strength in the strikes. Essex however, was using as much of his strength as he could against the older man. Tom took a firmer grip on the hilt of his sword and at the next powerful thrust, he parried using the power in his shoulder to knock the blade from Essex’s hand, a move that Thomas had taught him many years ago, when Tom had been but a squire himself.
On the Altar of England (Tudor Chronicles Book 4) Page 4