Secrets of the Tudor Court Boxed Set (102 page)

“Many couples lack common interests,” I murmured.

Will’s voice, normally so deep and melodious, lapsed into a monotone. “We lived together as man and wife, but even in bed we found no joy in each other. There was no spark between us. Anne is pretty enough, in a whey-faced, bone-thin fashion, but she is delicate. She did not care for what she called my rough ways.” He gave a self-deprecating laugh. “No one else has ever complained. I must assume the fault lies with her.”

And yet, I thought, she took a lover. I might be physically attracted to Will Parr, but I had not entirely lost my common sense. “Men never take the blame in such matters.”

Where another man would have taken offense, my comment made Will laugh. “Do you reproach me for my lack of sympathy? I assure you, Bess, I did my best. I was tender with her. After all, a man needs an heir.”

He shifted on the rock until we were pressed together at hip and thigh. I eased away. I was certain he was a talented lover, but I was not fool enough to allow him to demonstrate his skills. Should he get a child on me, the babe would not be his heir, but only his bastard.

Resuming his story, Will stared into the surrounding woods. “She
did not conceive, and by the time I was called away to court, I was glad to go. We’ve lived apart ever since, and when the old earl died, to add insult to injury, the king bestowed the Essex title upon Lord Cromwell.”

“And you remained at court and took my aunt as your mistress. Dorothy thought you intended to marry her.”

“I
want
to remarry.” Will caught both my hands in his. A wave of heat flowed up my arms. “I want to marry
you
, Bess. It is not impossible. I have taken steps to repudiate my wife. Parliament granted me a legal separation on the grounds of her adultery. The children Anne has borne have been barred from succeeding to her inheritance.”

“
Her
inheritance?” For a moment, I thought I’d misunderstood. It made sense that children who were not Will’s be prevented from inheriting
his
estates. But a wife, even an unfaithful one, was supposed to be protected from penury by the grant of her dower rights. I could not help but remember the way Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder had treated Aunt Elizabeth. “Do you mean to leave her impoverished?”

Will did not seem to understand my objection. “Anne ran off with another man. The prior of St. James in Tandridge, in Surrey. She had
children
by him.”

“Have you left your wife destitute?” I asked again.

“She has enough to live on. She will not starve.”

“An earl’s daughter? She must have been accustomed to luxury.”

“You cannot think I did wrong to disown her bastards!”

The anguish in Will’s voice made my heart stutter in my breast. My feelings for him were so intense, so overwhelming, so complex that I found myself unable to condemn him. “I wonder if she is happy with her choice,” I said instead, “for she cannot remarry any more than you can.”

“A royal decree will free me to wed again. My sister has promised her help. And the Essex earldom, in abeyance since Cromwell’s execution, will also be mine. The investiture ceremony is set for the twenty-third day of this month.”

“You will have the title,” I agreed, “but the right to acquire a countess
is by no means certain. Without the assurance of marriage, how can I permit you to court me?”

“Will you banish me from your company?”

“I cannot,” I admitted. “I . . . care for you, too, Will.” And we were both at court. Meetings were inevitable. “But—”

He stopped further protest with a kiss. His lips were soft but firm and oh so talented. Lost in sensation, I kissed him back. If he had been a less honorable man, he could have taken me there on that rocky surface. I’d not have resisted. Instead, he let me go.

“We had best rejoin the others.” His husky voice and the light caress of his gloved knuckles along my cheek made me shiver with desire.

I managed to nod and I stood on legs that did not want to hold my weight.

“We will speak of this again,” he promised as he lifted me into my saddle.

11

I
n mid-December, with Yuletide fast approaching, the king and queen moved to Hampton Court. There the queen’s apartments were located on the east side of the inner court. The queen’s privy kitchen and her wardrobe were on the ground floor, linked by a small spiral stairway to the chambers above. Heat from the kitchen helped warm the upper rooms. Unfortunately, cooking odors also made their way in. The sweet-smelling herbs Queen Kathryn ordered strewn on the floors did not quite mask the smells of roasting meat and, on occasion, burnt sauces.

Alys, Mary, and I sat and wrought in the presence chamber. I had nearly finished embroidering the collar of a linen shirt with silver thread, my New Year’s gift for the king. For the queen I had used my modest winnings at cards to purchase a pair of white stockings embossed in gold. “I wonder what Queen Kathryn intends to give His Grace,” I said.

“I’ve no idea,” Alys said. “Do you know what Lord Parr plans as a gift for the queen’s grace?”

“A crossbow case and a dozen crossbow strings,” I replied without
thinking. The queen was an excellent shot with a crossbow. Will had mentioned it the previous day. I looked up to find both Mary and Alys grinning at me. “What?”

“It is no secret that he pursues you, Bess.”

“Catching me is another matter entirely! He has a wife, Alys. He cannot offer me an honorable marriage.”

I told myself so daily. We had seen each other often since the hunt, but always in company, and I’d taken pains since our arrival at Hampton Court to spend as much time with Harry Dudley as I did with Will. Harry had been happy to oblige me. We’d danced together, been partners at cards, and gone for long walks in the gardens . . . during which I’d spent far too much time comparing Harry to Will, to Harry’s detriment.

Alys lowered her voice. “Why not enjoy him for your pleasure, then? Is there any man more charming or better to look at in all of the court?”

“A dozen at least,” I lied. “Your cousins the Dudleys, and Ned Brydges, not to mention Davy Seymour. And if you prefer older gentlemen, there are many to choose from, too.” I rattled off a half dozen names at random.

Alys laughed and launched into a wickedly accurate, slightly ribald analysis of each of those gentlemen’s attractions. Mary and I laughed so hard that Lady Hertford temporarily banished us from the presence chamber for making too much noise.

That same evening, as Lord Lisle was leaving his wife’s lodgings, he paused to send a piercing stare my way. I had little to do with the viscount, although he often visited Lady Lisle in the evening. Harry took after his father for looks, although Lord Lisle had a more prominent nose and wore a forked beard that called attention to his heavy underlip. I shifted uncomfortably under his scrutiny and was glad when he continued on his way without speaking to me.

A short time later, Lady Lisle bade me sit beside her by the fire. “My lord tells me that Lord Parr has spoken to him about you, Bess. He hopes to make you his wife.”

I sighed. “He says he is in love with me.”

“Has he spoken to your father?”

“I doubt it.”

“No, I do not suppose he has. I feel sorry for the man, Bess, but he’s not for you.”

I bristled at her tone but I nodded. “I know. He is already married.”

“And you have more suitable prospects near at hand. My own son, for example.”

“I . . . I enjoy Harry’s company. And Jack’s, too.”

“But Harry is his father’s heir.” Lady Lisle pursed her lips. I was certain she was about to say that he could look higher than a baron’s daughter for a wife. She surprised me. “I would be pleased to have you as my daughter, should matters fall out that way. I hope you already count me as a second mother.”

“I do, my lady. And if I am not too bold, I would like to count you as my friend as well.”

My parents, I knew, would be delighted if I made a match with either of the Dudley sons, but how could I agree to marry either one when I had such strong feelings for Will Parr?

“I have four more boys at home,” Lady Lisle continued, “Ambrose, Robert, Guildford, and our second Henry. They are all younger than you are, but that is of little importance when it comes to making alliances.”

“I do not believe I would care to be married to a child.”

“And I am certain you are in no hurry to wed. There are many unmarried girls your age and older here at court.”

The transition was so smooth it slid past me without causing a ripple of disquiet. Only later did I realize that she’d warned me against rushing into
any
alliance.

12

T
he king kept his word. He made Will Parr Earl of Essex. He also put him in charge of the gentlemen pensioners, the fifty gently born men assigned to guard His Grace’s person at court. Will’s new duties kept him busy throughout January and into February. I spent far more time with Harry Dudley, but it was Will who was most often in my thoughts.

Life at court continued to offer a wide variety of activities. Women did not play at tennis or bowls, but we were welcome as spectators. And everyone turned out to witness spectacles. On a Sunday in mid-February, Queen Kathryn entertained her first important foreign guest, Don Juan Estaban Manriquez de Lara, third Duke of Najera. I joined the other courtiers crowded into the queen’s watching chamber, eager to see what amusements Her Grace would provide.

Soft music played in the background, provided by the Bassano brothers. When I glanced his way, Jasper Bassano winked at me. I hid a smile. If I were to choose a suitor purely by his appearance, I decided, I’d have to add Jasper to my list of candidates. His exotic looks had an undeniable allure.

The Spanish duke was escorted by two English earls. One was Will, looking very fine in black velvet embroidered in silver and sparkling with jewels. The other was Henry Howard, the poetry-writing Earl of Surrey. I had heard that he had regained the king’s favor, but this was the first time I had seen him at court.

I studied him with interest, remembering that Will had told me they had been educated together in the late Duke of Richmond’s household. I remembered something else, too—that Surrey had led my cousin, Tom Wyatt, into a drunken rampage that had led to a lengthy imprisonment for poor Tom.

Surrey had a pleasing appearance. His hair and beard were auburn, his eyes hazel. His face, a perfect oval, was dominated by full, sensuous lips, but there was an arrogance about him, a certain air of self-importance, that I could not like. I wondered that others were not put off by that superior manner, but perhaps they had grown accustomed to his attitude. Or else they accepted without question his innate superiority. Surrey’s father was the Duke of Norfolk, one of the most powerful noblemen in the land. No doubt he had been raised from the cradle to think that the Howards were second only to the Tudors.

The queen advanced, smile radiant, to greet her noble guests. She wore heavily brocaded crimson. Two crosses and a brooch, all studded with diamonds, caught the light. Her robe was cloth-of-gold and had a train more than two yards long. She was flanked by the two highest-ranking ladies in the land, her stepdaughter, Princess Mary, and King Henry’s niece, Lady Margaret Douglas, the daughter of his older sister.

I had glimpsed both royal ladies before but had paid little attention to either. Now I noticed only that both bore a strong resemblance to the king in his younger days—the king of the portrait at Cowling Castle. Their Graces were much smaller physically, but the Tudor features, from reddish hair to piercing stare, bred true. Like the queen, they glittered with jewels.

Looking dazzled, the Duke of Najera kissed Queen Kathryn’s hand.

After the initial greetings were over, the queen led the company into
her presence chamber. She seated herself in a brocade-covered chair beneath a canopy of brocade and bade the duke sit, too, that they might enjoy an evening of music and dancing. Although Queen Kathryn did not speak Spanish and the duke’s command of English was poor, they managed to converse in French and Latin, with the occasional assistance of the Earl of Surrey, who was, it appeared, fluent in Spanish.

I shifted my attention to the Earl of Essex—to Will. His gaze swept over the gathered courtiers, stopping when he found me. At his first opportunity, he slipped away from queen, duke, and earl and made his way to my side.

“It has been too long,” he said. “I have missed you, Bess.”

“You knew where to find me,” I reminded him, painfully aware that every word we spoke could be overheard.

“The king has kept me too busy to do anything but follow his commands. And for the last five days, I have been almost constantly in the Duke of Najera’s company. Surrey and I met him upon his arrival and have been providing diversions for him ever since.”

“What entertainments did you produce?” I asked, once again recalling that Surrey had a penchant for breaking merchants’ windows and rioting through the streets.

“We visited the menagerie in the Tower of London.”

“I did not know there was such a place.”

“It is scarce worth the time to see four lions and two leopards. The poor beasts are confined behind wooden railings, but they do not look very fierce. We also took the duke to Paris Garden for the bear baiting.”

I wondered if they had made any other stops in Southwark, an area notorious for its whorehouses.

“Then today,” Will continued, “we dined with Najera and brought him to court. He had a brief interview with the king before we came here.”

Applause interrupted us. The queen had called upon Jasper Bassano to dance. As always, he was a marvel of agility, executing the steps in what the Spaniards called the
gallarda
so lightly that he seemed to have wings on his feet.

I sighed in appreciation. “What a beautiful man.”

“He is a
musician
.”

“Jealous?” I sent him a teasing look. “I think you are beautiful, too.”

Before he could respond, Queen Kathryn called to him to lead her out for the first pavane.