Her Lord and Protector (formerly titled On Silent Wings) (31 page)

With arched
brows Katherine tugged her hand away, and observed his frown.

“What? You think
I should I speak to her?”

“Gads, no. What
I think is that you should not present our first dance to me thus, my lord. ’Tis
a
request
you should make of your lady to dance, not a command.”

“Ah.” His
expression relaxed into a smile. “There I go again. Allow me to get it right
this time.”

He touched her
bare shoulder, and it tingled with the gentle caress of his fingers. His hand
stroked a sizzling path down her arm and over the exposed skin under the open
slits of her sleeve before settling over her hand. This he lifted and brought
to his lips. The breath caught in her throat, and for a moment it seemed everyone
around them disappeared.

“Would you care
to dance with me, my lady?”

Katherine took a
forgotten breath. “I would be honored, my lord.”

****

Allerton liked
white, Alex concluded as he surveyed the gleaming white walls, tiled floor, and
heavily carved oak furniture of the magnificent parlor. He had forgotten the
brightness of this place compared to his dark home.

Seeing all this
light plucked at some strange ache within him. He had never spoken to Katherine
about her pulling the drapes open in the parlor on the day he took her to the
keep.

He knew she
yearned for the sun to enter their home. Katherine’s hand, as always, left his
arm warm. She smiled up at him, and within Alex welled a surge of love.

Laughter and perfumed
body heat assailed them as they walked toward Elizabeth standing near the
corner, her eyes on the people who danced the Saraband to the musicians’ harpsichord
and violins.

He began to tell
Elizabeth that they would be right back, but then the crowd parted for a second
and he spotted Lord Wiltshire sitting on a chair across the room, a drink in
one hand, his other waving in jerky movements. He seemed to be in hot debate
with a man sitting across from him.

Elizabeth saw
him now, too. Even over the music and hordes of guests, Alex heard her audible
gasp of pleasure.

“Elizabeth, may
I speak to you?” he said, leaning close to her ear. She needed to be very
careful right now with her display of emotions.

“Yes, of
course,” Elizabeth replied, “but in a little while, if you do not mind. I see
Lord Wiltshire—oh! He has just noticed me.” She waved gaily and smiled, and
Alex watched as Wiltshire gave a satisfied return smile, nodded to the other
man, and rose.

Wiltshire
lumbered toward her in his outlandish red and orange breeches and vest. They
met in the middle of the room and were swallowed up by the crowd.

Katherine’s hand
tensed on his arm. “Edward just entered the parlor.”

Behind
Edward—whose eyes darted around, no doubt, to find Elizabeth—Robert, Sarah, and
Agnes looked around with wide smiles. Agnes eyes again met his before she
averted her gaze.

He turned toward
the dancers. “Come,” he said to Katherine. “Let us leave others to their own
devices. A new dance begins.”

They took
positions in the center of the room, ladies on one side, men on the other. The
violins began, controlled and rhythmic, for the three short steps each line
took toward the other. All dancers paused, bent slightly at the knees with toes
turned out, and then straightened and continued on for four more steps until
each man and woman stood directly in front of each other.

It had been
years since he had performed the jigg, and Alex concentrated on the movement of
his stiff hands and feet and noted Katherine’s poise and skill.

“Relax,” she
whispered to him. She, like the other ladies, disappeared around the men’s
backs and reappeared on the other side, arms out in front, hands moving gracefully
as she took the first of three steps backward.

“I used to be
good at this,” he whispered back as he stepped backward, damnably clumsy, and
considered that his own arms resembled two rigid canes.

When the dance
finally ended, they sat on one of the couches. Alex accepted two glasses of
wine from a servant and gave one to Katherine. “To my beautiful wife,” he said,
kissing her cheek. “I want you to keep that pearl necklace on later.”

Katherine
touched the pearls. “You want me to wear it with my nightclothes?”

“’Tis the only
thing I want you to wear.”

Katherine’s
mouth opened slightly. Her cheeks turned pink and her eyes grew dark with a
desire that made him want to carry her off to the nearest bedchamber.

Alex fingered
one of the soft curls at her neck, then looked beyond to see a man staring at
them. He stood with his bejeweled hands perched on his waist, a voluminous
white silk shirt hanging over his bright blue-green breeches. Alex met
Katherine’s eyes. “What did you ever see in the Earl of Rochester?”

Katherine
shrugged. “Father wanted the match. I thought he meant to gain lands and power
from the union. But now I know that he hoped Ellis might tell me secrets.”

“But you said
you loved the earl.”

Katherine
touched his cheek. “I never knew what love was. That is, not until I fell in
love with you.”

“And I said
there could be no love in marriage,” Alex replied softly. “How wrong I was.”

Through the
crowd, Rochester moved across the room. He acknowledged neither Alex nor
Katherine as he passed, but instead preyed on Agnes, who stood near the food
table watching him with a bright smile.

Katherine saw him
then. “Ah, and there he is. I wondered why you suddenly asked about him. Do you
think him angry at you for telling King Charles of his whereabouts with Mrs. Mallet?”

“I do. He spent
two days in the Tower for it. I believe he’d like to put a sword through me.”

Katherine nodded
toward Agnes, who had cocked her head and laughed too loudly at something Ellis
said. “She knows not that she will only be a plaything to him,”.

They both
watched as, a moment later, Ellis and Agnes left the room.

“Perhaps I should
warn her about him,” Katherine said, tapping a finger to her lips.

Alex smiled at
his wife and helped her to her feet as the music swelled for the next dance.
“You are too kind. I believe he is the one to be warned.”

After four more
dances, Katherine, feeling the satin bodice of her gown beginning to stick to
her skin, went to the rooms reserved for the ladies to freshen up.

Afterward, she
noted to her left a balcony, empty of people, that beckoned her with its silence
and early evening air. She would just slip outside for a moment to fan her
face.

The gardens in
the back of the manor were splendid in their size and color. In the fading daylight,
Katherine studied the layout and gleaned ideas for her own flower gardens.

“Here we are,”
said a voice below her. “This is more private. We can sit and talk without having
to shout to be heard.”

The voice
sounded familiar, raucous and boyish at the same time. Katherine moved to the
side of the rail and peered below. There, directly below her, Ellis led Agnes
to a stone bench. No one else was about.

“This is nice,”
Agnes said in a sultry purr as she took a seat. “Although I would like to dance
with you at least once, my lord.”

“We shall.
Soon.” Ellis sat beside her and immediately traced his finger over the top of
one nipple.

“Oh! My lord!”
Agnes jumped to her feet and unfolded her fan with a snap. She waved it over
her face with rapid strokes, but made no move to leave.

“Please, sit,”
Ellis said in the innocent voice that had initially charmed Katherine. “I
couldn’t help myself. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”

Katherine
twisted her lips. How often had she heard that from the men at Court who pursued
the women? She should leave them alone, but curiosity kept her rooted.

“Am I?” Agnes
sat, and Ellis put an arm over her bare shoulders.

“You are. I cannot
believe my good fortune. But I shall always regret that you are betrothed to
another.”

Agnes fell right
into his trap. “Oh, but I am not betrothed to anyone,” she simpered.

“But you might
be,” he said, and Katherine had to strain to hear his voice. “If you are so
inclined.”

“What-what do
you mean? T-to you?”

Ellis’ hand
slipped into Agnes’ bodice and cupped one large breast. Since most of it was exposed
anyway, it didn’t take much effort to pull it free. It hung exposed, a white
melon in the moonlight.

Agnes gasped.
“My-my lord!”

Ellis palmed her
breast, and leaned his face toward hers. “Have you ever had a man’s tongue in
your mouth?”

“I—well—”

Her words became
muffled when Ellis kissed her. Katherine shook her head. For all Agnes’ vile
ways, she was no match for a gentleman of the king’s bedchamber, who had
boasted of sampling each of the king’s mistresses and half the wives at Court.

She took a last
peek at Ellis sliding Agnes’ skirts up over her knees, and then went back
inside.

Lady Sarah Cooke
was just exiting the powder room.

“Lady Cooke,”
Katherine nodded in greeting. “Oh, if you are seeking Agnes, she and Lord Rochester
are sitting right outside below that balcony there. Be very quiet lest you
disturb them. They’re in deep discussion over the human body.”

A moment later,
Lady Cooke’s squawks of outrage rang down the corridor.

Alex, waiting
for Katherine, leaned casually against the wall near the parlor door. His
questioning smile over her quiet laughter, however, froze when a cry, shrill
and thin, sliced across the room through the din of the packed parlor.

“No! Edward!”

Alex shoved
himself straight and swung his head toward the sound. “Bethie?”

Piercing the
sudden, stunned silence, an agonized scream answered.

Blood bloomed
over the delicate silver lace of Elizabeth’s bodice. She lay on the long gaming
table at one end of the Allerton’s now-empty parlor.

Her hand slowly
cooled, but Katherine still gripped it, willing the warmth of her body to fill
Elizabeth with life again. Alex, his own face pale and his mouth in a thin
line, gently stroked Elizabeth’s forehead and hair.

In a nearby
chair, Edward sat bent with his head in his hands, sobbing in uncontrolled
gasps. “I killed her,” he moaned again and again. “My God, I killed her.”

“’Twas an
accident, Edward,” Alex consoled, but his own voice broke.

Edward, his
long-muted anger surging forth, had challenged the baron to a duel. Elizabeth,
attempting to stop Edward as he brandished his father’s rapier, had stumbled
when her hip twisted. She’d fallen between the two men.

Some time later
Robert took his family home. Wiltshire had disappeared after giving Alex his
condolences and claiming that he was certainly not at fault.

Lord Allerton
accompanied Katherine and Alex, who cradled Elizabeth’s body wrapped in his
cloak, back to Drayton Castle.

Alex seemed to
lock himself up within his mind. He wouldn’t speak, but spent the ride staring
down at his cousin with a pinched, anguished face.

When the moon
was high and bright, the carriage creaked to a stop. The front door crashed
open. Stephen and Carly, their laughter shrill in the night air, raced down the
front steps.

“Alex, the
children shouldn’t see this,” Katherine said. “Stay here and I will get them inside.”

“Yes,” Alex
said.

However, Stephen
had flung open the door and poked in his head. “I beat Carly to the carriage!”
His grin faded as he saw Elizabeth’s limp body in Alex’s arms.

“Step back, Stephen,”
Katherine said as she guided the boy from the carriage. Alex emerged with
Elizabeth. Millie and Sam, their faces creased in concern, had come down the
front steps.

“Lord Drayton?”
Carly asked. “Who are you carrying?”

Alex’s voice
hitched. “’Tis Elizabeth. Please go to your bedchambers, you and Stephen. I
will be up to talk to you soon.”

“But what
happened?” Stephen asked. He shrugged from Katherine’s arms and reached out to
touch Elizabeth’s cheek, then drew it back quickly. “She is cold.” By the
tremble in his voice, Stephen had guessed something was terribly wrong. His
tone heightened in pitch. “Is Lady Liz dead?”

Alex stopped and
faced him. “Yes,” he said flatly. “She is dead.”

Carly came
toward them, her eyes wide and dark. “What-what happened?”

“Why?” Tears
glistened in Stephen’s eyes. “Why is she dead?”

“Millie, take
them to their rooms,” Katherine said.

Stephen was
crying openly now. “I want to stay with him. He’s gone sad again. Please, Lord
Drayton, let me stay with you.”

Alex’s face
crumpled. “Come with me, then,” he said to Stephen. “You can help me watch over
her.”