CHAPTER 6

ISHALLhear Lady Wyndham”s confession privately before I administer the sacrament of marriage,” the Archbishop of Canterbury said calmly. ”You, Bishop Gardiner, will shrive Lord de Winter.”

”Can we not just get on with it,” the king grumbled. The Chapel Royal was chilly at midnight, and his leg ached damnably.

”Your grace cannot think that I would allow these two young people to enter into matrimony without observing all the proprieties,” Thomas Cranmer said, just the barest touch of censure in his voice. ”Particularly under the circumstances that have brought us here tonight. I have, after all, waived the banns.”

”Oh, very well!” the king consented irritably, ”but do not dally.” He glowered at Nyssa. ”Remember, madame, you have far more important sins to tell this priest than the envy of another”s gown, or an unkind word to one of your fellow maids. And be quick about it!”

Bliss clung nervously to her husband”s arm. Ohh, why had she not listened to her brother-in-law and to her mother! If she had not insisted upon chaperoning Nyssa to court, none of this would be happening. Her family would never let her forget it, particularly her husband. From now on, whenever she decided upon a course of action that he disapproved of, he would surely bring up this incident. She peeped up at Owen to see what he might be thinking, but his handsome face was serene and without emotion. Damn him for a smug bastard!

The Earl of Marwood could feel his wife”s great disquiet as she fidgeted by his side. He restrained a smile. It served her right! Bliss always wanted to have her own way in everything. Well, at least she would behave herself for a few weeks before she totally forgot her part in this affair. He himself would not have been half as calm as he now was had he not been inquiring discreetly about the Earl of March over the past few weeks. The earl”s interest in Nyssa had not escaped him.

Varian de Winter had not quite struck him as a cad. Owen FitzHugh”s interest had gained him the knowledge that although there had been one rather unpleasant scandal regarding the gentleman, there had been no other. He was in favor with his grandfather, the powerful Duke of Norfolk; he paid his gambling debts; and his few love affairs were limited to the kind of women who indulged in such affairs. It was said among the gentlemen that Varian de Winter would marry but for the fact that the ladies of the court would not allow his youthful indiscretion to be forgotten.

Owen FitzHugh knew that there was something far more sinister to this ”discovery” of his niece in the gentleman”s bed tonight, and the hasty wedding about to be performed. How had Nyssa been cajoled into that bed? The girl was not the flighty sort of flibbertigibbet who could be seduced. And how had the king known to seek her in Varian de Winter”s bedchamber? He did not think Nyssa was a part of the plot.

The archbishop escorted the bride-to-be into a small private room off the chapel. She knelt respectfully before him. Taking her cold little hands in his warm ones, he said, ”Now, my child, you are protected here by the law of the confessional. I shall repeat nothing of what you tell me, but on peril of your immortal soul, Nyssa Wyndham, I want the truth from you. How came you to the Earl of March”s bed this night, and why?” His gray eyes bore into her eyes.

”My lord archbishop,” Nyssa answered him, her gaze not flinching, ”I swear to you that I know not how I came to be in the Earl of March”s bed. I went to sleep in my own bed in the Maidens” Chamber. When I awoke, I was in the earl”s bed and he was leaning over me. I swear to you that this is the truth. I swear it on my deceased father”s honor!”

”Will you swear it on your eternal soul, my child?” Thomas Cranmer asked her softly. When she nodded vigorously, he said, ”Tell me again exactly what you remember of this evening.”

”There were only four of us tonight in the Maidens” Chamber,” Nyssa told him. ”Cat, Bessie, and Kate were with me. We gossiped and played at cards. Then Lady Rochford came in bearing a tray. It was a treat, she told us. A secret we must not reveal lest we get her in trouble. We agreed, and she served us tiny glasses of a most delicious cherry cordial. Lady Rochford would not give us more than a single serving for she claimed it was potent and had made her tipsy. Bessie wanted more, but she would not relent. When Lady Rochford wasn”t looking, I let Bessie have the rest of mine, for I thought it was too sweet. Then we all disrobed and retired for the night. ”Tis all I remember.”

”Nothing more, my child?” he gently encouraged her.

”Well,” Nyssa said, ”I can vaguely recall a feeling of floating, and when I opened my eyes, I saw velvet bed hangings above and around me. Our beds do not have velvet hangings in the Maidens” Chamber. Then I saw a man”s face staring down into mine. I asked him if I was dreaming. He said I was not, and then he said, ”Forgive me, Nyssa,” and he kissed me. It was at that moment that the king burst in with the others,” she finished. ”There is nothing more, my lord archbishop, but I swear to you that I am no wanton to seek a strange man”s bed! You must believe me!”

”I do, my child,” he said, and indeed he did. Lady Jane Rochford. The Earl of March. There was a common denominator here, and it was Tom Howard. What mischief was the duke bent upon, and why had it involved ruining the reputation of an innocent maiden? This is a strange conundrum, the archbishop thought to himself. I will need time to puzzle it all out, but eventually I will learn the truth. ”Kneel, Nyssa Wyndham, and I will absolve you of your sins,” Thomas Cranmer said. Poor child, he said to himself as he blessed her. What have you become involved in?

The archbishop escorted the bride back out into the Chapel Royal, where, assisted by Bishop Gardiner, he quickly married her to Varian de Winter. Her uncle, the Earl of Marwood, acting in her father”s stead, gave her away. Her aunt wept copiously. The Duke of Norfolk seemed too pleased with this situation, while the king continued to look furious.

When the two clerics had finished their task, the king said in surly tones, ”You will no longer be considered a maid of honor, madame. Your marriage makes that impossible, as you must surely know.”

”Of course, Your Grace,” Nyssa said softly, ”but I would ask your leave to remain in the queen”s service for the present. She does need me now.”

The girl is no fool, Henry Tudor thought, but then neither had her mother been a fool. Nyssa certainly knew the future Anne of Cleves faced, but she wanted to remain by her mistress”s side until the end. He approved of her loyalty. His voice softened a trifle as he said, ”Very well, madame. When you inform the queen of your marriage tomorrow, you may tell her I will allow you to remain in her service for the present.”

”You are most generous, Your Grace,” Nyssa said, curtseying.

”Aye,” the king responded. ”I am generous to you. I should not be, madame. Your shameless behavior this night does not merit my kindness. Still, for the sake of your sweet mother, I am prepared to be forgiving. Be as good a wife to your husband as your mother is to her husband. That will please me, Nyssa.” He gave her his hand, and she kissed it, curtseying again as she did so. The king smiled briefly, then turned to the Earl of March. ”Remember, I will expect proof in the morning that this marriage has been consummated, my lord,” he said grimly. ”If I have the slightest doubt, Dr. Butts will be called upon to examine your wife.” Then he turned abruptly and left the chapel, followed by the two clerics.

”I do not know what to say to you,” Bliss told her niece.

”Good night, Aunt,” Nyssa replied. ”Good night, Uncle.”

Owen FitzHugh gripped his wife by the elbow and hustled her from the Chapel Royal before Bliss might recover her composure.

Now there were but three people in the king”s chapel.

”You have done well, Varian,” the Duke of Norfolk congratulated his grandson. Reaching out, he caught Nyssa”s chin between his thumb and his forefinger. His cold dark eyes looked into her soft violet-blue ones. He was amused to find she would not look away. A brief wintry smile touched his mouth. ”She is a beauty, my boy, and as you said, she has spirit. You”ll get strong sons from her.”

Nyssa pulled angrily away from his grasp. ”You, my lord, are, I assume, responsible for this marriage,” she said scathingly. ”I think I am entitled to an explanation from you!”

”Take your wife to bed, Varian, and make a woman of her,” the duke said coldly, and then he was gone.

”Ohhh, he is the most arrogant man!” she fumed.

”He is,” her new husband agreed, ”but he is also brilliant, and loyal to his family.” He took her by the hand. ”Come along now, sweetheart. We do not want to be discovered by anyone in our nightclothes wandering about the palace. There will be speculation aplenty about our marriage as it is. I know a shortcut back.”

”Back to where?” she asked him as they hurried along, hand in hand.

”To my grandfather”s apartments, where we have our bedchamber,” he told her calmly. ”I have some good red wine, and we will toast our union, as no one else has bothered to do so for us.”

Nyssa suddenly realized that her feet were cold. They made a faint little slapping noise as she hurried along next to Varian de Winter. She wondered if his feet were cold too. She was married. She was a bride. How had it happened? She had to know! They reached their destination, and as the door closed behind them, she whirled about.

”Tell me now, my lord! Tell me how I came to your bed tonight, and why? There can be nothing between us until I know,” Nyssa said.

”I will never lie to you, Nyssa,” he said seriously. ”The cordial Lady Rochford brought to the Maidens” Chamber tonight was laced with a light sleeping draught. It was believed that you were possibly too deep in the king”s favor. Once his union to Queen Anne is undone, he will be required to marry again. It was feared that you might be his choice.”

”Feared by whom? The Duke of Norfolk?” she demanded. ”My dreams have been snatched from me, and I wish to know for certain who the thief is, my lord.”

”You are right in naming my grandfather,” the earl answered her. ”There is another whom he thinks will make a more suitable wife for the king.” Varian de Winter sighed deeply. ”Thomas Howard is an ambitious man. Ambitious for himself, and ambitious for his family, Nyssa. I do not always agree with him, but I owe him my loyalty, and I love him despite all his faults. My mother was his bastard, yet he raised her lovingly, and saw to it that a good match was made for her despite her accident of birth. She died shortly after I was born, yet Grandfather did not desert me. He came every year to Winterhaven to see me. He always remembered my birthday and Twelfth Night with gifts. When I was six, he took me into his own household to raise. He is not always kind. Sometimes he is even cruel. But I love him even as he loves me. Can you understand that, sweetheart?”

”So because of Howard ambition,” Nyssa said angrily, ”I have had my dreams torn from me! All my life I dreamed of the man I would marry, and the wedding we would celebrate with our happy families in attendance. I would wear a gown of white satin, silver tissue, and pearls. There would be flowers in my hair. Papa would give me away in the same church where my father formally married my mother.” She brushed the tears from her eyes.

”There would be a great feast on the lawns of RiversEdge,” she continued. ”All my family would be there: my grandparents, my aunts and my uncles; my cousin, Mary Rose, would attend me, along with some of the littler cousins. We would dance, and Violet, my old nurse, would weep, foolish creature. And my bridegroom, my lord—he would be a man who knew and loved me. A man I loved. A man my family would respect. Now I will have none of that because your grandfather believed the king lusted after me. Thomas Howard has a more suitable candidate than Nyssa Wyndham for Henry Tudor”s bed and crown. My reputation must be discredited in the king”s eyes to serve Howard ambition. God damn you for it, Varian de Winter! And God damn your grandfather as well!” She burst into tears.

He reached out to draw her into his embrace, but Nyssa jumped back like a scalded cat. ”Do not dare to touch me, my lord! I hate you! You and your family”s overweening ambition have destroyed my life!” She angrily wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand.

”Destroyed your life? How have I destroyed your life?” he demanded. ”By marrying you? Who else would have had you under the circumstances, madame?” This was not going at all as he had anticipated.

”The circumstances,” Nyssa answered him coldly, ”were not of my making, my lord. How easily you forget it.”

Varian de Winter drew a deep breath, then said to her, ”The day you came to Richmond, and I stared so boldly at you across the Great Hall at Hampton Court, I fell in love with you.”

Nyssa gasped with surprise. Then she replied, outraged, ”How dare you say such a thing to me! A man in love with a woman does not compromise her reputation as you have done mine.”

”I love you enough that I allowed my grandfather to use me in this wild plot of his lest another be chosen to disgrace you, Nyssa,” he told her. ”Do you think the great Duke of Norfolk cared about what happened to you? My grandfather cared nothing for your fate. When he first brought this scheme to my attention, I tried to dissuade him. When I was unable to do that, I agreed to aid him when he threatened to choose another. I thought his design wrong for many reasons, but what if he had chosen a man of low degree to ruin you? Then your reputation would have been truly destroyed. Had you been caught with a guardsman, there would have been no one to marry you, despite your wealth. Instead, this sudden marriage between us will be but cause for good gossip which will shortly die away, particularly as I mean us to leave court. If we are not here, then something else will distract the gossips.” There! Certainly he had explained it so that she would understand, and he had admitted his love for her. He held out a hand to her, but Nyssa slapped it away.

”Now I see the crux of it,” she said scathingly. ”Your grandfather has managed to forward his plans and gain you a rich wife in the bargain. I am not surprised, my lord, that you agreed to aid him in his wickedness. Who else would have me? Rather, who would have you? Your reputation is so black that no decent parents would entrust their daughter in marriage to you, a man who deserted his mistress and caused her death. Only by deceit could you gain a respectable wife, sir!” Nyssa glared at him furiously. This was certainly not how she had imagined she would spend her wedding night; but then this was not how she had imagined she would be married either.

To his credit, he did not lose his temper, although it was near to boiling over. Yet she was correct in many ways, and he could not blame her for his past. ”I told you that I would never lie to you, Nyssa. What I am about to tell you is the truth, but it must be kept secret, for so it has always been and must remain. Will you agree to keep what I say between us, madame?”

Nyssa nodded slowly. She was curious as to what he would reveal to her. Having had her say, she felt her anger beginning to drain away, for she was a practical girl. What was done was done, and there was nothing that could change it. ”I will keep your secret, my lord, unless, of course, it is treasonous. If that is the case, it would be better not to tell me.”

”There is no treason involved,” he said quietly, and then he offered her his hand once again. ”Come, madame, let us sit by the fire while we continue our discussion. I find I am growing cold, and surely you must be.”

She nodded and slipped her fingers into the hand he offered, which then closed firmly over hers. Leading her across the room, he drew her down into his lap even as he sat himself in a large, tapestry-backed chair. Startled, Nyssa struggled a moment to regain her feet.

”Nay, madame,” he told her, his grip upon her firm. ”I have a tale to tell, but it will be told my way, and I would have you here in my arms as I tell it. Cease your attempts to escape me, or,” he threatened softly, ”I will be forced to take stronger measures.”

”What measures?” she demanded.

”I shall spank you,” he said calmly.

Outrage flooded Nyssa”s being. ”You would not!”

”Tempt me not, madame,” he warned her.

”You are most hateful,” she replied, but she was quiet in his lap now. ”Spank me, indeed! I am not a child.”

Varian de Winter restrained himself from smiling. Nay, he thought to himself, you are not a child, Nyssa. You are the most delicious armful I have ever held, and I long to possess you.

”Well, sir?” Her voice brought him back to reality.

”My tale,” he began, his cheeks flushing as he wondered if she might have guessed his thoughts, ”is a relatively simple one. When my uncle, Henry Howard, was but fifteen, he had a pretty lover. She was not his first, mind you. I, myself, had caught Henry beneath a hedgerow with a milkmaid when he was just twelve. This girl, however, found herself with child. When her family realized it, they sought to learn the father”s identity. All the girl would say was that her lover was of the duke”s family. She sought Henry out in secret and pleaded with him for help, but he was afraid of what his father would say. He sent the girl away. The poor little wench hung herself. When her outraged family came to my grandfather to demand remuneration for loss of their daughter, I accepted the blame for my uncle”s crime. I did not want the boy saddled with that burden. He was so young.”

”Not so young that he could not dip his wick in any honey pot conveniently offered to him,” Nyssa said tartly.

”I should have allowed Henry to take his own punishment,” Varian de Winter continued. ”It never occurred to me that the scandal would not be allowed to die down after so many years.”

She did not know whether she believed him or not. Were men in this day and age really that noble? Perhaps he was just lying to her in order to gain her sympathy. Did she dare to trust him? She wasn”t certain. ”How could your grandfather have allowed you to take the blame for his son”s crime?” she asked him. ”It was very wrong of him, my lord. Your uncle was but a boy. He would have eventually been forgiven, but certainly a grown man could not be. Only a true villain would do what you are alleged to have done. I am not surprised no decent families would allow their daughters to be associated with you.”

”My grandfather,” the Earl of March said quietly, ”cares only for his family, and their advancement. He does what he believes he must do on their behalf. Still, for all his faults, he is a loyal Englishman.”

”Who is the other woman?” she asked suddenly, changing the subject entirely. ”Who is the woman the duke would make queen? The woman for whom I was sacrificed?”

”My cousin, Cat,” Varian de Winter replied.

”Ohh, poor Cat!” Nyssa said softly as her eyes teared.

He brushed her dark hair away from her face, agreeing, ”Aye, poor little wench, but if I tell you she is willing, will you be very surprised, for willing she is.”

Nyssa shook her head. His soft touch had startled her. ”Nay,” she answered him. ”I am not surprised. She has the Howard ambition, does Cat. Perhaps she will make the king happy, though.”

”Are you still angry with me?” he asked her.

She turned her head so that she might look into his face, and was a bit nonplussed by how close his lips suddenly were. ”I am not certain if I am yet angry with you, my lord,” she told him honestly. ”I think we both be victims of Howard ambition. When my service to Queen Anne is at an end, then we may go home and be done with Howard ambition. Your mother may have been a Howard, but you, my lord, are a de Winter. It is time that your ambitions were reserved for the de Winters, and not for the Howards.”

All his life he had felt that there was something missing, and now he knew what it was. It had been a woman. Not just any woman, but a woman who would put his interests, and the interests of his family, above all else. That influence had never been there, and he hadn”t even missed it until she had spoken so strongly to him. He had tried so hard for his grandfather”s sake to be a Howard, but he was not a Howard. He was Varian de Winter, the fifth Earl of March.

Smiling down at her, he said, ”My grandfather has thrown us together for expediency”s sake, Nyssa, but he has done me the greatest kindness ever, and he does not even know it.” His dark green eyes were suddenly warm.

”What kindness has the duke done you?” she asked him, shifting nervously in his lap. She could not break the gaze between them.

”He has given me you,” Varian de Winter said low, and then he took a lock of her dark hair between a thumb and a forefinger, rubbing it between the two digits, enjoying the sensuous softness of it. Then raising that lock to his lips, he kissed it.

Her throat felt suddenly tight, and her heart beat a quick tattoo. She was very, very aware of their closeness to each other.

Slowly he reached up and unfastened the gold frog closures on the rose velvet cloak she wore, pushing the heavy fur-trimmed fabric back, exposing her chemise. His hand caressed her face, his fingers trailing lingeringly down the smooth, warm column of her neck. ”The king has ordered that we consummate this marriage tonight, Nyssa. If it were in my power, we would get to know one another better first. I wanted to court you properly, the way a man courts a woman he admires and hopes to wed one day. When we first met, I hoped to have that opportunity, but your family was so protective of you. Now we are legally bound together as man and wife, and none of it is as I would have had it. The king will have proof that our union is made complete on the morrow nonetheless. If he does not get it we will end up in the Tower.”

”How fortunate for Henry Tudor,” Nyssa said sharply, ”that the Duke of Cleves did not demand such proof of his sister”s consummation from our hypocritical sovereign.” She was beginning to grow a trifle frightened. Varian de Winter was handsome, and he was being most charming, but he was still a virtual stranger.

”Tell me what your mother has told you of passion between a man and his wife,” Varian de Winter said as he tipped her gently from his lap and stood up. Taking her cloak from her, he laid it across the chair, then, undoing his own garment, he put it with hers, the dark green and rose velvets lying against each other, the sable and ermine furs mingling.

Nyssa stared at him, wide-eyed. ”My mother thought no knowledge necessary until my marriage contract was settled,” she said, recovering herself. ”The women in the queen”s apartments gossip, of course, but I know not what is truth and what is not. I fear, my lord, that I am woefully ignorant of such things as passion, having never before experienced it. I have never had a suitor.”

She is a true virgin, he thought. Of course she would be. It was to be expected of a respectable maid from a good country family. When he had kissed her earlier in the evening, it had been for the benefit of the king. When their lips had briefly met at the command of the archbishop at their wedding, it had also been for the benefit of others. Now he tipped her heart-shaped face up, kissing her for their mutual benefit and pleasure. Her mouth softened beneath his. It was a good start.

She did not close her eyes when he kissed her, he saw, amused, as he opened his. ”It is nicer when you close your eyes,” he said.

”Why?” she wondered aloud.

He thought a moment, and then said, ”I do not know, but it is, Nyssa. Would you like to try again with your eyes closed?”

In answer to his query, she closed her eyes and pursed her lips up at him. When he chuckled, her eyes flew open. ”What is the matter?” she demanded of him. ”Why do you laugh at me?” As if I were not nervous enough, she thought indignantly. He doesn”t have to be so damned superior.

”I am not laughing at you,” he swore to her. ”But you are so absolutely adorable, sweetheart, you make me happy. Now, close your eyes again.” When she did, he kissed her tenderly, pressing her against his chest. He struggled with himself that he not hold her too tightly. He recognized her own inner battle to stay calm in an unfamiliar situation, and for her, a possibly frightening one.

For the briefest time she felt dizzy, and she clung to him as his lips warmly met hers. She sighed deeply. It was nicer when you closed your eyes, although, like the earl, she could not have said why. In a sudden spurt of courage, she slipped her arms about his neck. He took her head between his hands, covering her face with soft, feathery kisses. His lips touched her fluttering, closed eyelids, her forehead, her cheeks, the tip of her nose, and finally her lips once again. His mouth pressed more firmly on hers this time, but Nyssa found it very pleasurable. She stood upon her tiptoes, straining to prolong his kiss. She was tingling all over, and had never before felt quite so . . . so . . . oh, why could she not find a word to describe how she felt?

His hands moved from her face, and clasping them about her waist, he lifted her up so that at first she was level with him, and their kisses deepened; and then he raised her up so that she was looking down into his face for a brief moment before he set her blushing back upon her feet. ”You have never really been kissed before, have you?” he said, and not waiting for an answer, continued, ”You learn quickly, sweetheart.”

”Are you pleased, or displeased, my lord?” she inquired breathlessly. Her heart was hammering with her excitement.

”I am pleased you enjoy my kisses, and are so quickly expert in returning them,” he told her, ”but I am displeased you have not yet learned to say my name. We are husband and wife, madame, yet you do not speak my name. I love your name, Nyssa. It is Greek, is it not?”

”Aye,” she said softly. He was so damned disarming, but disarming men were also dangerous men, she suspected. She did not truly know if he was a villain or merely maligned. Still, he was her husband now, and she frankly enjoyed his kisses.

”My mother named me before I was born,” he said. ”She told my father if she bore him a son, he should be called Varian, for men, like the wind, are variable creatures. So I was named as she wished me to be.”

”Varian,” she said low. ”I like it, and I think I would have liked her. I am sorry that neither of us knew your mother.”

”Say it again,” he demanded, his voice intense.

”Varian. Varian. Ohh, Varian!” This last as he moved to unlace her chemise. She caught his hands and held them in her suddenly trembling ones.

”Do not forget,” he told her. ”I have already seen you naked. I disrobed you myself earlier, Nyssa.” He raised her hands to his lips and kissed them. ”You are very beautiful, sweetheart.” He kissed each knuckle in turn, then clasped one of her hands against his cheek while, turning the other palm up, he pressed a warm kiss upon it.

Another flush suffused her fair skin, and she whispered so softly that he was forced to draw her even closer to hear, ”Varian, I do not know what to do. You set my senses to reeling, but I am truly ignorant of lovemaking.”

”For now, my sweet,” he told her, loosing her hands and slipping her chemise over her shoulders, ”you will do nothing but accept the homage of your besotted husband.” His dark head dropped and he kissed a shoulder.

His lips were so warm, she thought, as they traveled back and forth across the column of her throat; lingering in the pulsing hollow of her neck; sliding softly to her other silky shoulder. She murmured a tiny half protest as he pushed the chemise down to reveal her young bosom. An arm cradled her while his free hand cupped a firm little breast. The gentle pressure of his hand had the most extraordinary effect upon her. Had it not been for his supporting arm, she believed her legs would not have held her. She watched, wide-eyed, as his thumb slowly rubbed against her nipple and it hardened to a tiny point.

”Varian,” she cried low, and when their eyes met, she felt faint with a longing she could not understand. Was this lovemaking? It was but the beginning of lovemaking, she realized, but if this was the beginning, the rest must be too wonderful to even contemplate. Wonderful and terrifying! Another wave of weakness swept over her as he smiled. Then his mouth met hers once again. She let herself get daringly lost in his kisses, almost aching with the pleasure that they gave her.

Her fingers were kneading the back of his neck. He wondered if she realized it. He could not ever remember having been so filled with desire for any woman. She absolutely intoxicated him, yet he did not want to hurry them along the path of Eros. He wanted her very first experience with passion to be perfect, and damn the king for insisting they consummate their union this night. Ideally he would have waited for her to want him as much as he wanted her. Still, they had the night stretching out before them. He would move at as leisurely a pace as he could to ensure that she gained some pleasure her first time. If he did not expire from wanting her so desperately first.

He set her gently back a pace from him, his hands upon her hips, pushing the fabric of her chemise so that it slid with a soft hiss to the floor. With a single, swift motion he drew his nightshirt off and let it join her garment. Lifting her up, he pressed his face into the shadowed valley between her sweet little breasts. He could feel the rapidly beating pulse of her heart beneath his lips. Her eyes were tightly shut, for she dared not look at his naked form. Her fingers dug into his shoulders, and her little intake of breath assaulted his ears. Lowering her so that her feet touched the floor, he took her face between his hands once again, kissing her slowly and deeply.

Nyssa found suddenly that she couldn”t draw a breath. She pulled away from him, eyes wide and frightened, face pale, whispering desperately, ”I am faint, my lord!” Oh, Holy Mother! Did she really want this thing to happen between them? Her legs began to buckle beneath her. She was being assailed by a range of emotions she had no experience with at all. Why had no one told her how powerful passion was? Could one die from passion?

Sweeping her up into his embrace, Varian set her gently upon their bed and lay down next to her. Raising himself upon an elbow, he leaned over to look into her face. ”Would you like some wine? Perhaps it would help to calm you, sweetheart.”

”I am not afraid,” she lied, embarrassed. ”I was just not prepared for the intensity of lovemaking. Is it always so strong, Varian?” She had been unable in the brief moment he had stood by the bed to avert her eyes from him. His body was beautiful, yet it was also mysterious to her.

”It is stronger when two people truly love one another, Nyssa. What you feel at this moment is, I think, a mixture of lust and fascination with the unknown. That would be normal for a virgin entrapped in an arranged marriage with a virtual stranger. I can arouse your body, sweeting, with my touch, and with my kisses,” he told her honestly.

”Are you thought to be a good lover?” she asked. ”I am certain you have made love to many women.” There was no jealousy in her voice, only curiosity.

”I have been told that I have the art of pleasing a woman,” he answered her modestly. This was certainly the damnedest conversation I have ever had with a naked woman, he thought, a soft chuckle escaping him. He ran a single finger across her ripe mouth. ”Do you always talk so much, sweetheart? This is, after all, our wedding night.”

”There are things I need to know,” she began seriously, but he silenced her with a quick kiss.

”If you grow frightened, you must tell me,” he said, taking command again of the situation, his lips softly brushing the edge of her ear. ”I do not want you to be frightened of me, Nyssa.” He nuzzled her neck, and a shiver raced through her body. ”Since we are now in bed, there is no danger of your falling,” he continued. ”If you grow dizzy, you need fear not.” His teeth bit gently into the flesh of her shoulder, sending another shiver down her spine. ”You are delicious,” he declared huskily.

She was dizzy, but frightened? No. She did not think she was frightened of him. He was being very kind and gentle to her. Her instincts told her she was fortunate, for another man might have been less thoughtful. She lay silent as he explored her slowly and with great tenderness. It was all most curious, she thought, watching him through half-closed eyes as his lips wandered over her shoulders, down her arms, kissing each individual fingertip in turn, moving slowly across her upper chest. Her breath caught sharply in her throat once more when his mouth closed suddenly ever the nipple of a breast. She knew infants suckled upon a woman”s breasts, but she had never imagined that husbands did. He drew strongly upon her flesh, sending a jolt of pleasure deep into her very being. Was this behavior proper? She moaned low, stirring beneath the strong hands that lightly pinioned her, realizing she did not care if it was proper.

His head was whirling. He could not remember any time that making love to a woman had thrilled him so. He had, of course, never had a virgin before, not wanting the responsibility that went with a maiden”s first initiation. Did she excite him so greatly because of her innocence, or was it because he loved her? His tongue slid over her perfumed skin, tasting her as he struggled desperately to maintain his control. He was so hot for her now that he was close to violence, but virgins, it was said, felt less pain if well-aroused. His mouth moved down her long torso and across her flat, quivering belly. Each place his lips touched pulsed wildly beneath his kisses.

No wonder some girls lost their reputations because of passion, Nyssa thought fuzzily. This was absolutely wonderful! No wonder mothers warned their daughters from it. If maidens knew how marvelous lovemaking was, parents would be hard-pressed to keep them from it! It was the most delicious of forbidden delights, but it was not forbidden to a married woman. She sighed deeply, enjoying the heavenly sensation of his warm tongue and his lips on her body. Her hands began a tentative exploration of his shoulders and long back. She kneaded and caressed him; shyly at first, then more boldly. Suddenly he was kissing her again, but more frantically. She tangled her fingers tightly in his dark, dark hair.

”Open your mouth for me,” he groaned against her lips.

When she did, he startled her by plunging his tongue deep into the warm cavity, seeking her tongue, finding it. Their two tongues entwined about each other in a wild dance of desire. She was all silky, sweet passion-fire. He could not get enough. His desire was nearly out of control.

”I want to touch you as you are now touching me,” she whispered daringly against his mouth. She touched his face gently, caressing the line of it.

”You are a bold wench,” he teased, intrigued by this sudden courage, curious to know how far she would go.

”Is it wrong for a wife to be bold with her husband?” Nyssa asked him. ”Your touch gives me pleasure.” She honestly admitted, ”I would give you pleasure too.” She let her hand slide down the length of his body to lightly touch his very taut buttocks. ”I never thought that a man”s skin could be so soft,” she said wonderingly, ”but you are very soft, Varian.”

For a moment he could not breathe, his breath was caught so tightly. ”What can you know of a man”s body, sweetheart? I would not frighten you,” he managed to grate out.

”I know that you are as excited by me as I seem to be by you,” she answered him honestly. ”Let me touch you, my lord! Please!” She caught his head between her two hands as he had earlier held hers, placing sweet little kisses all over his face. ”Please!”

He groaned, helpless before her. Were all virgins like this? Rolling onto his back, he said, ”Have your way with me then, you little vixen, but be warned that my patience with you is nearly at an end.”

”What will happen when it ends?” she daringly inquired of him. Now it was she who was up on an elbow, staring down into his handsome face. His green eyes blazed up at her. She could almost smell the danger in the air. It was a precarious game she played with him, but realizing that only made it more exciting. Whatever fear she had felt was gone for the moment with the knowledge of this new power she had.

”When my patience ends, Nyssa,” he said slowly, deliberately, ”I shall mount you like a stallion mounting his mare, and I shall make you the woman you were meant to be.” Then reaching up, he pulled her head down to his, and their lips met again in a searing kiss.

She seemed to draw strength from his passion this time, and pulling away, she smiled boldly down on him. Pushing his head to one side with her hand, she bent to kiss his ear, her tongue darting into its cavity to torment him. She did not know how she knew to do this, but it certainly had the desired effect. Still restraining him with her palm, she began to lick the column of his neck, sweeping down to his shoulders and chest. His skin tasted salty, yet there was an elusive fragrance to him that was not displeasing. She nuzzled at his nipples, and then bent to kiss his belly. It was then she saw it. Gasping, she turned to look at him. ”What is that called?” she asked, awed. ”And why is it so very big?” Reaching out, she touched it gingerly, briefly.

”I thought you had brothers,” he said.

”They are younger than I am, and do not parade naked before me, my lord. Is this what the queen”s ladies call a manroot?” She was intrigued by the thick, stiff piece of flesh thrusting up from his belly. It seemed to have a life all its own, moving about beneath her fascinated gaze.

”My patience is at an end,” he said warningly.

”I am not ready yet,” she replied, suddenly aware this was no game she played with him. A tingle raced down her spine as she seriously considered flight.

”How can you know?” he demanded, and with a quick motion he reversed their positions. ”Now, my bold little virgin,” he told her, ”we will see if you are indeed ready to become a woman.” His hand swept down her torso, pressing between her closed thighs. ”Open your legs for me, Nyssa,” he commanded her fiercely. ”Do not deny us the pleasure that the joining of our two bodies will bring.” His fist gently but firmly levered her thighs open when she instinctively resisted the order. His palm cupped her in a place she had never even touched herself. Leaning back, he looked into her blushing face, touching her lips with his. ”I can feel the heat of you blazing through into my hand,” he whispered. ”Can you feel it too?”

She nodded, wide-eyed. Suddenly she was not in control of this situation any longer, but she was not afraid.

A single digit began to move against the cleft of her nether lips, exerting just the slightest pressure until it slipped between the soft folds. To her surprise, her flesh seemed wet and slippery there. A whimper escaped her.

”Your love juices have begun to flow, sweetheart,” he said softly, kissing her ear as he spoke. ”That is how I know you are ready for me.” The tip of his finger found her tiny love button, and he rubbed it.

Nyssa gasped loudly. What was happening to her? It was too sweet, and with each touch of his finger it grew more so. ”I do not think I can bear much more, my lord,” she whispered desperately, and then to punctuate her argument, she cried out as something wonderful burst within her and she felt near to tears.

He covered her young body with his, simply unable to wait any longer. ”I must have you, sweetheart,” he told her low. ”I must!”

Nyssa felt fear overwhelming her again. She struggled beneath him, but he pinioned her between his muscular thighs, capturing the little hands beating against his chest, securing them well above her head. Bending, he kissed her tenderly, covering her face with kisses to reassure her. ”Don”t fight me, sweeting,” he begged her.

She pulled her head away from his. ”No! Please no! I want to love the man I marry. Ohh, please don”t!”

”Then love me! We are married,” he ground out through gritted teeth. ”You are my wife, Nyssa. We are bound to consummate this match tonight on the king”s command. Damn, sweetheart, do not fight me now!”

Nyssa felt him penetrating her body, and she cried out. In a blinding flash she perceived what a manroot”s use was. He was filling her full with it! She had a passage between her legs, and that was how a man locked his body to a woman”s to create new life. She was not certain that she did not feel violated by his actions. Yet she could see that he was doing his very best to be gentle with her.

Despite her obvious terror, she began to open for him like a flower opening to the morning sun. His head swam dizzily as he slowly pushed himself into her tight, hot sheath. He did what he must now only in order to temper the king”s ire, but dear God! He wanted this girl who was now his wife to love him as he loved her. Then suddenly his progress was blocked. He had reached the barrier of her maidenhead. She cried out and arched against him. There was, he knew, simply no gentle way to do this, for her maidenhead was firmly fixed.

”It hurts!” Nyssa sobbed. ”Please stop!” she begged him.

In answer he drew back just slightly, then drove mercilessly into her fragile body, her scream piercing him to the heart. He saw the tears on her fair cheeks, and felt like a monster, but he could no longer help himself. He began to piston into her with smooth, deep strokes of his manroot, filling her full, driving as deep as he could go until he thought he would die with the pure, sweet pleasure of possessing her.

He was unforgivably cruel, Nyssa thought, sobbing as the burning agony swept up into her belly and down through her thighs. She fought him wildly, desperately seeking to elude the terrible torture he was inflicting upon her. Then, as suddenly as it had burst over her, the pain was gone. In its place was the distinct sensation of his strong body deep within her body. He pulsed and throbbed inside her hot passage until her head began to whirl. She was overwhelmed with a pleasure such as she had never known. She wept with the feeling, reveling in the sweetness until they both seemed sated with it, collapsing into each other”s arms, exhausted, and to her utter amazement, wonderfully contented.

Varian de Winter rolled his weight off of Nyssa. Reaching out, he enfolded her in his embrace. Neither of them could say a word. His big hand stroked her tousled, dark hair gently, silently communicating his tender feelings for her. Beneath her cheek his heart beat wildly, slowing gradually, until finally it simply thudded rhythmically, comfortingly.

Nyssa was absolutely astounded by the passion that they had shared. She was also furious that her normally forthright mother had never even discussed these things with her. How could she? a saner voice in her head asked, and Nyssa honestly realized that there was no way Blaze could have possibly explained what just happened between herself and the Earl of March.

Was she all right? Would she ever forgive him for what had just transpired? Varian was almost sick with anxiety, and said low, ”Are you. . . are you . . . I know I hurt you, but it was the shattering of your maidenhead. It only happens once, Nyssa.”

”I could not have begun to imagine it,” she told him quietly.

”Then you forgive me, sweeting?”

She raised her head to look at him. ”I know that you were both patient and kind, my lord. I apologize for my fear. I am not usually so cowardly.” She touched his cheek with a single finger. ”This passion is a most powerful thing, is it not? Is it always so?”

”Between people who desire each other, yes, my love,” he told her, catching at her hand, turning it and kissing the palm.

She nodded gravely, and lay her head back down upon his chest. ”Will the king be satisfied that we have done our duty?”

”Aye, Nyssa, he will,” the earl told her.

She said nothing more. Very shortly he realized that she had fallen asleep. He lay awake for some time, listening to her slow breathing until, finally lulled by it, he fell asleep too, his arms wrapped tightly, protectively, about her.

They were awakened several hours later by a loud knocking upon their chamber door. Before he might arise and answer it, the door swung open and his grandfather entered the room. Varian de Winter drew the coverlet over his wife”s nakedness.

”It will be dawn soon,” the duke said without preamble. ”Is the girl breached?”

He looked directly at Nyssa, but she was not in the least intimidated by him. She glared back, angered not merely by his intrusion, but by what she considered a great lack of delicacy as the old man ran an appreciative eye over her.

”Well, my lord? Is she breached?” he repeated. ”She”s fair enough to have aroused your lust.”

”If you will leave the room,” Varian said tightly, ”I will obtain the proof for you that should satisfy the king, Grandfather.”

”We have something to discuss first,” Thomas Howard said bluntly. ”Stop looking as if you would plunge a knife into my heart, girl,” he ordered Nyssa. ”What”s done is done, but now we must have an explanation for your marriage to silence the gossiping tongues.”

”You are so skilled at scheming, my lord,” she answered him, ”that I will leave it to you. What can you possibly tell people that they will believe? My virtue is well-known in a court not known for virtue. What will you say? That I was suddenly overcome with a reckless passion for your grandson, and he with an equal desire for me? That we eloped?” She smiled with false sweetness at the Duke of Norfolk.

”It has already been decided, madame,” he replied coldly. ”You have but to go along with the explanation. Your aunt and uncle see the wisdom of my plan, and have agreed to it. The king also agrees, for he will have no shame fall upon you for your wicked behavior of last evening.”

”My wicked behavior?” Nyssa”s voice rose dangerously. ”Cease this charade, my lord, I beg you. I know how I came to be in the earl”s bed last night. I know of your wretched plot to make poor Cat queen.”

”Do you? Then you know enough to hold your tongue, girl, else you and your husband end your days in the Tower,” the duke snapped.

”Were it not for my loyalty to Queen Anne,” Nyssa said, ”I should leave Greenwich this very day, sir!”

”You are free to leave, madame,” he said.

”Nay,” Nyssa answered him. ”I will not leave my queen alone and defenseless, my lord. I will stay until the end. His grace has said that I may continue to serve her for the present.”

”Then listen to what I tell you both. Last night Varian de Winter stole you from the Maidens” Chamber and raped you. You escaped him and fled to your relations. They protested to the king, who saw to your immediate nuptials. In this way your virtue remains intact, madame. You become the innocent victim in this affair,” the duke said.

”Which I certainly was,” she snapped back at him, ”but I will not allow you to defame my lord husband in this manner! It is not right! Have you no heart, my lord duke, that you would blacken your own grandson”s name further like this?”

”Considering his reputation,” the duke told her, ”it is the perfect explanation for what has happened. You, madame, will abide by it.”

Nyssa opened her mouth to protest further; to tell him that she knew her husband”s reputation was a false one, that he was innocent of the crime he had admitted to. But Varian suddenly squeezed her hand very hard beneath the coverlet. Nyssa”s mouth closed abruptly. She turned to look questioningly at him. He put a warning finger to her lips and shook his head at her. For some reason he did not want her arguing further with his grandfather. She wondered again if perhaps his black reputation was deserved. Had Varian told her the truth or had he lied to win her over last night?

”I hope, at least,” the earl said, attempting to inject some humor into the situation, ”that you will claim I was driven by my passionate love for Nyssa, Grandfather.”

”Considering the king”s affection for me,” Nyssa said wickedly, ”will people not wonder why he has not clapped Varian in the Tower for this crime of passion he has committed against me?”

”The king is a married man for all intents and purposes,” the duke said, discomfited by her continued show of spirit. ”He could hardly admit to having loving feelings toward another lady, madame.”

”He did toward your niece Anne, under similar circumstances,” Nyssa answered him.

”Madame, you tread on dangerous ground,” the duke growled at her. He turned to his grandson. ”Obviously I have given you a viper to wife, Varian. Perhaps I should apologize to you.”

”Aye,” Nyssa returned angrily. ”You should apologize to us both, my lord. You are a cruel man.”

”Be silent, sweeting,” the earl said softly to her.

”You know what you must do,” Thomas Howard said coldly. ”I shall wait outside for the proof, Varian. Be quick! The king will be awakening at any moment. I would have this over and done with.” He turned and departed the room, closing the door behind him.

”How can you give him your loyalty?” Nyssa asked her husband when they were once again alone. ”He thinks nothing of sacrificing your name in order to advance his ambition.”

”This will be the last time he does so,” the earl replied quietly. He loved his grandfather, but this was really too much. Sweet Nyssa knew not that much of the blame for his alleged rape of her would fall on her slender shoulders despite her reputation for virtue.

”I hate him!” she declared vehemently. ”He is a wicked man!”

”But what other explanation could have been given for our sudden marriage, Nyssa?” he asked her. ”We have hardly spoken to each other until last night. There was, I fear, no other way. I apologize for the pain and embarrassment it will cause you.”

”Could he not have said seduced? I should rather be thought a foolish maid than you be called a villain. Why rape? It is disgusting, my lord! It makes you out to be an evil man, and I think you may not be one!” she cried. She was so confused! ”Could we not have kept the marriage a secret from everyone for now? Would that not have been better? It was, after all, important only to the king,” Nyssa said.

”What if our coming together last night produces a child? How would you explain your condition, Nyssa? It is better that our marriage be known. I will have no stain of bastardy on our firstborn.” He tipped her face to his and kissed her lightly. ”Now get up, madame.”

”I have no clothing, my lord. I will need Tillie,” she said.

”Tillie?”

”My tiring woman. You must send for her to bring me clothes,” Nyssa told him.

”Wrap yourself in the coverlet for now,” he said. ”I need the bottom sheet from our bed for the king.”

”Why?” she demanded of him, but she arose from the bed and carefully wrapped herself in the coverlet as he had advised her.

The earl pulled the top sheet away and pointed. ”There, Nyssa, is the king”s proof. The blood of your maidenhead staining the sheet.” He yanked it off the bed. Going to the chamber door, he opened it and handed the bedcloth to his grandfather without a single word. Then he shut the door firmly and turned to his wife. ”I will send my man Toby for your servant. Will she be in that small room the servants for the queen”s ladies inhabit? What does she look like?”

”She is brown-eyed with a single flaxen plait, small of stature, and just my age,” Nyssa told him. ”Oh, please be certain that your Toby is discreet! There will be scandal enough, I fear.”

The earl called for his own servant and instructed him most carefully. ”I married this lady last night,” he explained to the surprised Toby. ”Do not believe the gossip you will hear as to why. Now go, and fetch my lady”s tiring woman. Her name is Tillie.” He described her.

”Tell her to bring me my clothes for today,” Nyssa said to Toby. ”I must attend the queen, and I can go nowhere until I have clothing.”

”Yes, m”lady,” Toby said, keeping his eyes well-averted from the beautiful girl wrapped in the coverlet. It was just all too much for him. He hurried off to find the woman called Tillie.

She, at first, did not believe the young man”s story. ”My mistress is in the Maidens” Chamber where she belongs,” she said firmly.

”No, she ain”t,” Toby said low, struggling to keep his voice down. ”She is in my master”s bedchamber wrapped in a coverlet. She can”t come out without her clothes, and says you are to fetch them to her. If you don”t believe me, go and see for yourself, miss. I ain”t much for jesting, as anyone who knows Toby Smythe will tell you. Look in the Maidens” Chamber if you will. Your lady ain”t there.”

Tillie did just that, and not seeing Nyssa about anywhere, ran to the little storage room where the maids of honor were allowed to keep their clothing. Quickly she gathered the garments needed, and also snatched up a hairbrush and shoes. ”All right,” she said to Toby. ”Where do we go? And if I find you”ve made a fool of me, laddie, I”ll see your master punishes you, and I”ll get in a few smacks myself.”

”You”re a feisty one,” he replied with a grin. ”Follow me.”

Tillie”s eyes widened as they entered the Duke of Norfolk”s apartments, but she said nothing. Toby knocked at a paneled door, and when it was opened, he waved Tillie through. She hurried past him, relief suffusing her features as she saw Nyssa. ”Oh, m”lady! What has happened? Why are you here instead of in the Maidens” Chamber?”

”I am a married woman, Tillie,” Nyssa said quietly. ”Put down my clothing and send Toby to fetch some water for my bath. I will tell you everything, but I must reach the queen before the gossip does, if possible.”

When Tillie had sent Toby off to do her bidding, she sat, at her mistress”s insistence, upon the bed, listening while Nyssa told her the truth of what had transpired. A simple country woman, Tillie was shocked by the scheme fostered by the Duke of Norfolk, but she was relieved that Nyssa had told her of it. It would be easier to deal with the gossip knowing the real facts of the matter. She agreed to keep secret what Nyssa had said, fully understanding the necessity of it, for she was not a stupid girl.

”Yer mama and papa are going to be very angry,” she noted when her mistress had finally concluded her tale. ”They won”t like it one bit that you”ve been forced into this marriage. I know they always promised you that you could make your own choice of a husband. I don”t see how you can get out of it, though, the archbishop himself having performed the ceremony.” She sighed, but then asked, ”What is yer bridegroom like, m”lady? Is he handsome? They say he”s a real devil with the ladies. At least,” she amended, ”that”s the talk amongst the upper servants, but most of what they say is so much tittle-tattle, I find.”

Nyssa thought a moment, and then said, ”I do not know. Much about him is wrapped in gossip and dark innuendo. He has been kind to me, but I am not certain yet that I can trust him. Time will tell us that.”

”Where are we going to live?” the practical servant asked.

”We will remain at court for the present,” her lady said, ”but you will be happy to learn that the earl”s home is just across the river from my house at Riverside. We”ll still be near our families and friends, Tillie. I think we will depart court in just a few more weeks. Lord de Winter prefers the country, he tells me.”

”Well,” Tillie pronounced, ”he can”t be too bad then, no matter what the others say about him.”

Toby entered, struggling beneath the weight of a wooden tub. ”Where do you want it, then?” he demanded of Tillie.

”By the fire, you dolt,” she snapped at him. ”Where else would I want it? Is my lady to catch her death of cold?”

”Yer pretty as a summer”s day, miss,” he told her, ”but yer as mean as they come, I”m thinking.” He plunked the tub down with a thump. ”I”ll be fetching the water now.”

”You”d better have help,” Tillie told him, not in the least discomfited by his backhanded compliment, ”or it will take all morning.”

With aid from several of the duke”s footmen, the tub was quickly filled. Tillie shooed Toby from the room and locked the door behind him. Then she helped Nyssa bathe. The girl blushed silently at the sight of the dried blood on her thighs. Tillie said nothing until, toweling her mistress dry, she asked, ”Where is yer husband, m”lady?”

”He has already dressed and gone,” Nyssa said, although to be honest, she did not know where. He had not volunteered the information, and she had not asked him. Her main duty was to the queen. She grew silent again as Tillie dressed her. The rose-pink silk gown with its silver-embroidered underskirt was one of her favorites. Tillie brushed her hair, but instead of leaving it loose, befitting a maiden, she fashioned Nyssa”s hair into a chignon set low on her neck. Over it she affixed a silver caul. Then she held up a looking glass, that Nyssa might see how the new fashion looked.

”I look so old suddenly,” Nyssa told her servant.

” ”Tis a flattering style, m”lady,” Tillie reassured her.

”I must go to the queen now,” Nyssa said.

”Are we to live here for now, m”lady?” Tillie asked her. ”What am I to do with your possessions now that you are no longer a maid of honor?”

”I will not stay here under the duke”s rule while we are at court,” Nyssa said. ”Take my clothing and my other effects to the house my FitzHugh relations have rented. Toby can help you.”

”What of yer husband, m”lady?” Tillie wondered.

”He may come, or he may stay,” Nyssa replied. Then, unlocking the door, she hurried off to the queen”s apartments.

Anne of Cleves was already awake. When Nyssa entered her apartments, the chatter was instantly silenced, and the queen”s ladies stared hard at her. Her friends looked frightened. Lady Rochford had a distinctly smug air about her. So, Nyssa thought, they already know, or think they know, what has happened. She refused to lower her eyes.

Lady Browne hurried forward. ”You can no longer serve the queen as a maid of honor, Lady Wyndham, er, Lady de Winter. The king has sent word.” She looked distinctly uncomfortable.

”The king has promised me that I might remain in the queen”s service, as she will need her friends in the days to come,” Nyssa answered her quietly. ”A married woman can hardly be a maid, madame, can she?”

Lady Browne flushed. ”No, of course not,” she murmured.

”I wish to see the queen now,” Nyssa said firmly.

”Brazen hussy!” she heard someone say.

”I will tell her you are here,” Cat Howard said loudly. None of the other women dared to stop her as she bustled off.

Nyssa swallowed back her laughter. So, not only did they know of her disgrace, they also knew in which direction the wind was blowing. It was amusing for the moment, but she did not really think she would like to live her life like this. It would be good to finally leave court.

Cat was back, her cerulean-blue eyes twinkling with amusement. ”Her grace will see you immediately, my lady de Winter,” she said sweetly, and curtsied politely to her friend, giving her a mischievous wink.

”Thank you, Mistress Howard,” Nyssa replied loudly, moving past her into the lady Anne”s privy chamber. She curtsied low before the queen. They were alone, much to Nyssa”s relief.

”Ach, my friend, I am so sorry for your troubles,” the queen said to her. ”I vas no sooner awake than Lady Rochford told me.” There were tears in her soft blue eyes.

Nyssa moved next to the queen”s bed and said low, ” ”Twas a plot by the Duke of Norfolk, madame, in order to discredit me in the king”s eyes. I am certain you know the reason why. And I think you should know that Lady Rochford is in the duke”s service. She spies for him.”

Anne nodded. ”I suspected it.” Then she said, ”But for the duke to haf his grandson rape you, my friend. ”Tis criminal!”

”I was not raped, madame. Lady Rochford drugged my bedtime drink.” Nyssa quickly explained the facts behind her hasty marriage.

”Such plotting, and planning, and all for the privilege of vedding and bedding Hendrick,” the queen said incredulously. ”I do not know if I am sorry for Mistress Howard or not. Surely she must know vhat is in store for her, yet she seems a happy young maid.”

”Her heart is good, madame, but she does have the Howard ambition. It seems to run hot and fierce in the veins of that family.”

”And your bridegroom, Nyssa. Does he haf the Howard ambition too?” the queen asked her. ”Vill you be happy vith him?”

”My husband is a de Winter, Your Grace. From now on I intend that he remember it. As for my happiness, Varian seems a good man, but I do not really know him. I hope we will like each other.”

”You sound to me as if you might already like this man, Nyssa,” the queen observed. ”Had you ever met him before last night?”

”Once,” Nyssa told her mistress. ”We danced at your wedding, madame.”

”Perhaps under the circumstances the archbishop vill gif you an annulment after the matter of my marriage is settled, and the king has taken himself a young and pretty English rose to vife.”

”There are no grounds for annulment, madame,” Nyssa said honestly. ”The king was most insistent that the marriage be consummated, and demanded proof of such by this morning. The duke took him the proof.”

Anne shook her head in wonderment. ”Once,” she said, ”you told me that the king could be ruthless. I vas not certain you vere entirely correct, for Hendrick and I haf come so easily to our secret agreement; but his behavior in this matter is indeed heartless.”

”He was very disturbed, madame; he had promised my mother he would keep me safe. Remember, the king is not privy to the duke”s scheming. He felt my reputation had been compromised. So he took the only action he believed would restore my good name. He saw to my immediate marriage. He insisted upon the consummation, I realize now, to protect me from an annulment, or divorce later on. Remember that I am a considerable heiress in my own right.”

”And the Howards are ambitious.” The queen smiled.

”Aye, madame.” Nyssa smiled in return.

”Vhen vill you leave the court, my friend?” Anne asked.

”Not until your grace is happily resettled. I have the king”s permission to serve you until then in whatever capacity your grace wishes,” Nyssa told the queen. ”I could not leave you while you need me, dear madame. You have been so kind to me.” She took up the queen”s hand and kissed it.

Royalty did not cry, but Anne felt the tears welling up in her blue eyes. Since her arrival in England, she had met with great kindness from the common people, and from many here at court, but from young Nyssa Wyndham in particular. She squeezed the girl”s hand. ”Ya,” she said huskily. ”You vill stay vith me until everything is settled.” She brushed her hand across her eyes. ”I had best arise now, Nyssa. Call my ladies to come to me. I shall appoint you to personally oversee my jewelry until such time as I am no longer qveen.”

Nyssa backed away from the queen”s bed and curtsied to her. Then she went to fetch the queen”s ladies-in-waiting to help their mistress get up and get dressed. When the women had hurried past her into the queen”s bedchamber, the maids of honor crowded about her, all talking at once, demanding an explanation of her marriage.

”You have heard the official account, I am certain,” Nyssa told them. ”I can say nothing more, but you will be kind to the Earl of March. I think he may not be the man some would have you believe.” The girls nodded, relieved.

”Is he a good lover, Nyssa?” Cat Howard demanded saucily of her.

”He says he is,” came the serious reply.

The other girls giggled.

”But what do you think?” Cat persisted wickedly. ”Did your toes curl up, and did you swoon with delight?”

”I have never had a lover before, Cat. I cannot make comparisons. I can only take the gentleman”s word for it,” Nyssa told her friend.

”I think he has been in love with you for some time,” Elizabeth FitzGerald noted astutely. ”He was always staring at you when he thought no one was looking.”

”You Irish are incurable romantics, Bessie,” Nyssa told her. ”Besides, how could you know he was staring at me? Were you staring at him?” she teased her friend.

”Aye,” Bessie admitted, blushing. ”Handsome men with dangerous reputations are always far more interesting than just ordinary handsome men, and we Irish are known to be reckless where such men are concerned.”

”Will you leave us now?” little Kate Carey inquired.

”Nay, I have the king”s permission to remain in the queen”s service until such time as I am no longer needed. I will oversee the queen”s jewelry,” Nyssa told them.

”Then the remainder of your stay will be a relatively short one, I suspect,” said Kate Carey wryly. ”It will be back to the country for you, Nyssa. Why do I think you will not be sorry to go?”

Nyssa smiled at her young friend. ”Because I won”t. I have loved serving the queen, and making friends with all of you, but like my mother before me, I am a country girl in my heart. Varian”s lands are across the river Wye from my own estate of Riverside. I will not be far from my parents, and we will be surrounded by my family.”

”Will you learn to love the earl, I wonder?” Bessie mused.

”Whether I love him or not, we are bound together in matrimony,” Nyssa replied seriously. ”I think I can learn to like him.” She smiled at them. ”Do not fear for me, my young friends. You should save your pity for others less fortunate than I.”

”I want to speak to Nyssa alone,” Cat Howard said meaningfully. ”Go in to the queen before the other ladies wonder where we are and come spying on us.”

Bessie and Kate obeyed her without question.

”What do you want of me?” Nyssa said quietly. ”I think I have already done enough for you, Cat Howard, don”t you?”

Catherine Howard had the grace to blush at Nyssa”s gentle rebuke. Then she said, ”You have met Duke Thomas, have you not? Would you defy him? He is a formidable opponent. I have not the strength to oppose him, Nyssa. You know in your heart that he would not have allowed it. He wants another Howard on the throne, and I am that Howard.”

”You could have told him no, Cat, but you did not because you like the idea of being queen. Henry Tudor is a dangerous man to wive—Queen Catherine divorced; your own cousin Anne, beheaded; Queen Jane dead of childbed fever; this Queen Anne to be annulled. What will happen when he tires of you, Cat? How will he rid himself of the next wife he takes when he grows bored with her, or another pretty face takes his fancy? You are putting your head in the lion”s mouth!”

”Are you jealous?” Cat Howard asked her, curious.

The look Nyssa gave her was incredulous. ”Jealous? God”s blood, Cat! If the king had had a romantic interest in me, I would have died of fright! But he did not. Your uncle, the duke, made a miscalculation there in his eagerness to be a queen-maker. His grace favors me for my sweet mother”s sake, and no more. She petitioned him for my place at court, and he promised her he would look after me as if I were his own, for my stepfather did not want me to come. Your uncle”s overweening ambition has cost me the chance of marrying for love, as my parents promised me I could. I think little of him for that, and for other reasons as well. But nay, dear friend, I am not jealous of you. I have grown to love you as a sister. I fear for you, Cat.”

”The king is in love with me,” Cat Howard said softly. ”He has told me so. I know he is old enough to be my father, but I think I can really love him. I have learned not to be repulsed by his bad leg when it swells and runs with pus. I can even dress it. He says my touch is healing. I know I can be a good wife to him, Nyssa. He will have no reason to cast me off. You need not fear for me. I will be all right.”

”I pray it so, Cat, but what of your cousin, Thomas Culpeper, who professes his love for you? You have flirted with him for months now. Will he not be heartbroken by your match with the king?”

”Tom Culpeper is a fool,” Cat said angrily. ”He did not want to marry me, Nyssa. He wanted to seduce me, the rogue! Why, last Christmas he tried to bribe his way into my affections with some cloth for a gown with which he gifted me. In exchange he expected a romp in my bed. I quickly set him straight. Let his fickle heart be broken! I care not a whit for him. He will quickly find another gullible maid upon which to affix his affections.”

Nyssa thought her friend”s denial a bit too vehement to be believable. She thought perhaps Cat cared for Tom Culpeper, but Catherine Howard claimed she had what she wanted: a man who would love her, and make her a queen. And what have I got? Nyssa wondered. Who is this man I have been married to so precipitously? When good Queen Anne shortly ends her brief reign, I am going to have a lifetime to find out, she realized.