She sent for a flacon of wine and downed cup after cup. A line from a play by that fellow Shakespeare ran through her mind: “Give me a bowl of wine; in this I bury all unkindness.”
But by the time the flacon was half-empty she wished desperately she hadn’t had any at all, for her blood grew warm and she was all liver and lights. Toward morning she did manage to fall into a fitful sleep where she saw a tall, dark cavalier beckon to her. He was irresistible and all he had to do to make her follow him was to lift his finger. He held a bag of gold and selected a crown from it. Holding it out to her on his palm, he crooned, “You like gold, don’t you, little wench?”
“Yes, Ruark,” she answered.
“Will you sell me a piece of tail for a piece of gold?”
“Yes, Ruark,” she readily agreed.
“I have a hundred crowns in this bag. Will you let me fuck you a hundred times?” He leered.
“Yes, please, Ruark,” she begged.
When she awoke, she was covered with shame. The only thing that saved her from completely wallowing in self-loathing was the realization that this was the day the King and their other guests were arriving.
All morning and into the early afternoon the carriages and gilt coaches rolled up the long driveway to Helford Hall. The drivers, along with the grooms and stablemen of Helford, unharnessed the horses and took them into the dark, cool stables to be fed and watered. Though their guests would not be sleeping at the hall, nevertheless Summer had made the guest chambers available for the ladies so they could bathe, change their clothes, or rest in privacy. All the female servants, not just the chambermaids, were given special duties, even though some of the ladies high in the pecking order like the Countess of Castlemaine brought their own serving women.
Finally the King arrived accompanied by Buckingham, and Lord and Lady Helford came from separate directions to welcome their royal guest. Summer was wearing the very latest fashion from France. Her bodice was low cut and laced together to allow delicious glimpses of female breast to peep through the laces. Her full skirt was striped in pale and jade green and the flattering color made her eyes as green as emeralds. She curtsied deeply before Charles and he boldly took advantage of the opportunity presented and gazed down the front of her dress. He lifted her at last and took her hands to his lips. Her eyes met his and he murmured, “Little beauty.” Then in a louder voice he drawled, “’Sblood, some men have all the luck in their choice of wives, Helford.”
“Welcome, Sire, it looks as if we are to be blessed by king’s weather,” said Ruark, ignoring the compliment about his wife.
Although the game of the treasure hunt had been explained to all the guests and they were eager to get started in their search for clues which would lead them to the treasure, most had been reluctant to set off before the King arrived. Now, however, as the King and Buckingham were given refreshments, men and women were choosing partners to help them win the game.
A great crowd was gathered about the table in the front hall, where the large lump of ambergris sat resplendent in a gilt casket which Summer had found up in the attics. It caused a great deal of ribald comment and set a bawdy tone for the afternoon’s festivities.
The King was sampling some cider which Ruark said had been aged in applewood casks for five years. He grinned at Ruark. “’Sblood, it’s the first time I’ve seen Buckingham take an interest in something other than the cut of his coat in a twelvemonth.”
The men were making private wagers on who would win the coveted prize and Summer was aghast at the great amounts of money being so casually gambled away.
“I wouldn’t mind a lump of the stuff to analyze in my laboratory —purely for the sake of science, you understand,” Charles said, winking at Ruark. “Lady Helford”—he beckoned—“I shall consent to play treasure hunt only if you will partner me, dearest lady.” He turned to Ruark, who had a heavy frown between his brows. “There is method in my madness. The lady who made up the rhyming clues must know where the winning clue is buried.”
“Ah, but Sire, I could take you along a false track, lead you down the primrose path so to speak, and you’d be none the wiser,” Summer warned prettily.
“How can I lose if I spend an hour with you in a shaded yew walk, my beauty?”
She glanced at her husband in a cool detached manner and replied, “I do not wish to cause jealousy, Your Majesty.”
“Oh, Ruark knows it is my duty to spend time with my hostess and Barbara can partner her cousin Buckingham if she wants to play the game.”
Summer linked her arm with the King’s and dipped into the glass bowl for the first rhymed clue:
“First seek out the leafy bower
Where you may measure every hour.”
Summer handed it to Charles. “The first one is easy; they get progressively harder.”
“Harder and harder,” he whispered wickedly as they walked off in the direction of the sundial.
Charles tried to amuse himself with kissing games, but no matter how he pressed the lady she would not yield to anything adventurous. When Summer urged him to hurry or they would never get through all the clues which led to the treasure, he put his arm about her and whispered into her ear, “I need no aphrodisiacs, sweetheart. I’m accused of being in rut like a stag as it is.”
“And with good cause, Sire,” said Summer, eluding his arms and skipping away from him into the next deserted yew walk. For a moment she was dismayed to find it empty. Charles’s long legs soon closed the distance between them and he finally managed to claim a kiss. He whispered into her ear again, “Sweetheart, a hostess really should do everything within her power to please a guest.”
“Do I not please you, Your Majesty?” she asked, filled only with hurt and longing for her unyielding husband.
“Yes, you do, but could we not sit down and rest awhile in this cool grass in the lovely shade of these private yews?”
“They won’t be private for long, Sire. Whatever would become of my reputation if we were caught lying in the grass together?”
“Little innocent … none of the court would dare come down the same secluded yew walk where I had taken a lady. They would avoid us at all costs rather than risk my displeasure.”
“I see,” she said softly, “but you would risk my displeasure.”
“Sweetheart, not for all the world. If you are unwilling, we’ll say no more about it.”
Since the King had gone off with Summer Helford, Barbara put a good face on it and prepared to partner Buckingham. Barbara’s friend the Countess of Shrewsbury said, “Dammit, Barbara, how is it you get two of the most virile men at Court?”
“George is my cousin, you know that!” protested Barbara.
“So? That never stopped anyone. Tell me the truth, have you never lain with him?”
Barbara whispered behind her fan, “George has peculiar tastes. He frequents a brothel in the Haymarket where they pander to perversion.”
“Really?” drawled Anna Maria, sensing a challenge. She walked over to Buckingham and licked her lips. “I doubt very much if ambergris would work as well as other devices I could name.”
Buckingham’s eyes were on her mouth as her tongue outlined her lips again. She continued, “When the senses are slightly jaded, a man needs more voluptuous stimulation than powders to drink. Tell me, your grace, have you ever heard of the ingenious Oriental rings?”
“Anna Maria, I have heard of them and seen a demonstration of their efficacy, but, alas, I have never been able to procure any.”
She smiled. “I happen to have a collection of Chinese curios Shrewsbury brought home from the East. He hasn’t the vaguest notion they are sexual devices.” She tapped his arm intimately with her fan.
“I think,” said Buckingham, taking her elbow, “we would make formidable partners.”
In the end it was Dick Talbot, a huge and handsome friend of the King’s celebrating his thirty-third birthday, who was declared winner of the treasure hunt. Though he had so far
escaped matrimony, he was rumored to have bastards sprinkled all over England. The prize was presented with great ceremony amid a veritable hailstorm of lewd, rude, and crude bon mots.
Summer stood on tiptoe to press a kiss to his ruddy cheek as he accepted the gilt casket from her hands and, taking the ribbing like a good sport, announced, “See, it’s already working.”
Dinner was served in the formal dining salon of Helford Hall. An immense oval refectory table accommodated the whole company of nearly one hundred. Summer, as hostess, sat between the King and her husband. Ruark’s attentiveness almost undid her. How could he play the role of devoted bridegroom while despising her?
She gave the lion’s share of her attention to Charles, but it was impossible to ignore her husband completely since he and Charles carried on a conversation with each other, and her presence between them inhibited their topics in no way.
Charles said, “I think Harry Killigrew deserves a prize for dallying in the gardens two hours longer than anyone else.”
Ruark laughed. “Wild Harry, I heard, made love to not one, but two countesses this afternoon.”
Summer’s mouth gaped. “How can you laugh? I distinctly remember you saying that anyone caught with another man’s wife should be shot!”
He winked at Charles. “The key word, my little innocent, was ‘caught,’” he said with his wolf’s grin.
“Oh!” she said, and deliberately turned her back upon him, but it did not free her mind of his strong image. She seethed as his insufferable laughter rang out over her head.
The King looked her over with appreciative eyes and said, “I see you have changed your gown, madame, I swear you must have more dresses than Lady Castlemaine.” He pulled a rueful face. “This visit will cost me a pretty penny, I’ll warrant.”
She glanced at Ruark from beneath her lashes and said to the King, “I had to change my gown, Sire, the one I wore in the garden was covered with grass stains.”
It was a blatant lie, for her gown had been the color of grass to begin with, but it had the desired effect on Helford. His eyes narrowed dangerously and she looked down at her plate quickly. Her eyes strayed to his powerful hands, and when she saw them clench in anger, she shuddered.
The King decided to rub salt in his wounds as any good friend should. “I told you, sweetheart, you should have let me spread my cloak for you.”
At this moment Barbara had had enough of Summer Helford’s monopolizing and she put her hand upon the inside of Charles’s thigh beneath the table.
With the King’s attention diverted from them for a few moments, Ruark took Summer’s hand and squeezed it painfully. “I swear you must be the worst wife a man was ever cursed with,” he said between clenched teeth.
“Oh no,” she said with exquisite sarcasm, “that would be too great a coincidence!”
The kitchen staff of Helford Hall had outdone itself for this royal visit and the pièce de résistance to end the sumptuous meal was petits fours iced with the Christian names of every guest, a half-dozen of each, making a total of over five hundred cakes. It seemed everyone at table wanted to taste a Barbara, a Summer, or a Bess while the ladies fought over Charles and Ruark and the losers settled for a George or a Bunny. Some of the men who thought they were witty offered the ladies a Dick or a Roger and the meal ended in high good humor as everyone repaired to the gaming tables.
Ruark singled out Mr. Burke to compliment him on the successful menu and was annoyed when that worthy gentleman said, “All the credit must go to Lady Helford, sir.” The real reason it annoyed him so much—if he were to be truthful—was that he wondered how on earth she managed so superbly. Until that fateful trip to London she hadn’t known which fork to use or which form of address was correct. She’d run about in rags, yet here she was with better dress sense than any female he’d ever known. She plied her fan and fended off a king’s compliments with the finesse of an experienced courtesan. She had such allure every man present was aware of it.
She had this exciting hidden quality about her which wasn’t altogether explained by her deception, for even though he now knew the ugly truth about her, her hidden pagan qualities almost magnetized him. He might no longer feel love for her, but he still felt an overwhelming desire for her. He looked over at his wayward bride.
Summer’s gown was ivory lace. She wore her mass of dark, silken curls swept up high off her neck to show off her rubies. As she moved from table to table, making sure her guests’ glasses were refilled or making polite conversation, she was utterly dismayed at the amount of money she saw sitting so casually on the card tables. She was certain there would be enough money lost and won this night to pay off the dreaded mortgage which hung over her head so disastrously, threatening to steal her very sanity. Her quicksilver mind darted about every which way to devise a scheme whereby she could acquire some of the gold in that room. Damn, she thought, I should have auctioned that bloody ambergris off to the highest bidder and found a way of pocketing the receipts, she scolded herself. None of the schemes she dreamed up were practical and with a little sigh she sat down to try to win some money, but her attention was not wholly on her cards and she lost more than she won. There was no alternative but to cheat, she told herself righteously, but at the end of the evening all she had to show for her deceit was a miserable hundred pounds. At this rate she’d have a long white beard before she accumulated the thousands she needed. The festivities broke up at eleven because the guests had to travel by carriage to Pendennis Castle about four miles away.
Summer walked with the King and Buckingham to the royal coach, while Ruark attended the ladies. Charles said, “I’m looking forward to seeing Pendennis again. Zounds, I remember the last time I was there fifteen years past, I wouldn’t leave, I wanted to stand my ground even when General Fairfax besieged the castle. I had more courage than common sense I’m afraid and had left it too long to escape. Your husband is the only reason I’m standing here today. Since we are the same height and coloring, he donned my clothes and made himself a visible target up on the walls of Pendennis for three days while I was taken by ship to the Scillies. The ship tried to return for him but had to stand three or four miles out to sea. It signaled the castle that I was safe, but the ship couldn’t come in closer, and do you know what the damned fellow did? You guessed aright! He swam out to sea.” Charles shook his head at the selflessness of such an act, but Summer knew it was recklessness that was in Helford’s blood. She knew the demons which craved adventure, for she herself was cursed with them.
“Don’t let on I told you, sweetheart,” the King warned. “He’d not be best pleased if he knew I was trying to make him a heroic figure.”
Buckingham drawled, “I’ll wager she’s already found him to be real flesh and blood.”
Ruark and Barbara Castlemaine caught up with them. Summer gave him a measured look and said with a shrug, “He’s a man … no more, no less.”
She waved gaily to each carriage as it lumbered off into the warm night, then picked up her skirts to return to the house. When Ruark arrived back at the hall, he found she had assembled the entire household staff, which numbered almost threescore. She gave them her heartfelt thanks for a splendid job and told them she would need their special help tomorrow. She bid them good night, while a proud Mr. Burke stood smiling happily. “Oh, and by the way, Lord Helford asked me to tell you that he’s raising everyone’s wages.” She swept her husband from head to foot with a cool glance and said sweetly, “Good night, everyone.”
Ruark wanted to snatch her up, throw her across his knee, and deliver a damned good beating where it might do some good. He watched her bottom move from side to side as she ascended the great staircase and knew that wasn’t the only thing he’d like to do to her. After the flogging he’d like to give her a good bedding. She’d put up one hell of a fight, he knew, but ached to force her to his will. He took one step after her, then stopped himself. That would be playing right into her hands. That would show her without a shad
ow of a doubt how he craved her, how he could not exist without her. Well, she could come to him and even then she’d have to come on her knees!
Summer threw the bolt on her bedchamber door. She’d never, ever allow him into her bed again. She vowed it to herself. She opened the doors that led out onto the small balcony overlooking the tropical garden and terrace and stepped out to look up at the stars. Tomorrow that garden would be transformed into a sultan’s harem.
She heard a rustling sound and looked down in alarm. She sighed with relief as she saw Spider’s familiar face approaching from the garden below to her balcony.
“I gather it was a roaring success? I perched in a tree at the end of the drive so I could look into the carriages, and finally got to see the King. Christ, the coachmen were so drunk it’s a wonder they didn’t tumble from their boxes. What the hell had they been drinking?”
“Cider, I imagine. Oh, Spider, you wouldn’t believe how high the gold was piled on those gaming tables tonight.”
“Perhaps I could join you tomorrow night and between the two of us we could relieve them of the burden of their wealth.”
“No, Ruark knows you. He has a deadly temper, so please don’t try any of your tricks,” she warned.
He shrugged. “I’ve other things to do, Cat. There’s a rumor about that the pirate, Black Jack Flash, was in these waters last week. Now there’s somebody I’d like to do business with. He’s the best at what he does. He’s slick, fast, and his cargoes are unbelievable, so I’ve been told.” He eyed her rubies. “Why don’t you give me your jewels … perhaps I could sell them to him.”
The Pirate and the Pagan Page 22
