A new sort of shiver took hold of Anna—a warm feeling deep in her belly of desire reborn. She had to hold on to Rob, on to her feelings for him, as long as she could. She had to relish the passion that sprang so easily between them, and remember it for the rest of her life.
‘I can think of a few things…’ he said deeply, seductively, and leaned over to kiss her mouth hungrily. It was a long time before she knew anything else but him.
Chapter Fifteen
Henry Ennis stopped at the end of Seething Lane, trying to catch his breath. He felt as if he had run all the way from Southwark, his chest tight and his throat aching. He loosened the high collar of his doublet with sweating hands, but still that heavy cloud pressed down on him.
He glanced back over his shoulder, but even as he thought to run away from his resolved task the door opened. One of Walsingham’s men stood there, bearded and grey-faced in his black robe. He gave Henry a humourless twist of a smile.
‘Master Ennis, at last,’ he said. ‘Secretary Walsingham has long been expecting you since he received your most intriguing message.’
Henry was forced to step into the dimly lit hall, and the door clanged shut behind him. He swept his cap from his head and twisted it between his hands as the man led him towards the stairs.
This had all seemed such a fine idea when his father’s old friend Thomas Sheldon had approached him with his proposition: gather bits of information from his fellow actors and pass them on to Sheldon, and sometimes slide coded passages into pages of the play he was writing. It was so simple, and gained him a few extra coins.
It had seemed even better when he’d realised the Queen’s Secretary would also pay for such nuggets of intelligence, and his coffers grew. Walsingham and Sheldon both paid for information that flowed both ways. He’d even dared to think that with the extra money he might marry Anna Barrett.
Until that hope had been shattered. He rubbed at the wound on his leg, and his hatred of Robert Alden, born when they were both newcomers to Lord Henshaw’s Men, vying for the same roles, and nurtured over the years as Alden’s star rose and Henry’s stalled, flowed even hotter. When he’d seen Anna smile at Alden so tenderly, he’d snapped. It had been the final straw.
Why, then, was he so nervous? His hands were damp, his head pounding. He had to be strong now. Follow through on his plans. Soon his tormenter Alden would be gone from his life, and Anna would smile only at him.
He followed the man up the carved staircase and along a long, narrow corridor to a chamber at its end. Henry had never been so far before. Usually his messages were taken and his money handed over in the entrance hall. He didn’t like this walk at all. But he had to carry on with his plan now.
He had no choice.
The door opened and he was ushered into a small chamber piled with papers and heavy with the smell of ink and herbs and close air. Walsingham’s assistant, Master Phellipes, a sallow-faced, ferretlike man, was carefully steaming open wax seals by the window. It was said he could tamper with seals so well no one was ever the wiser that they had been read. Walsingham himself sat behind a desk with a ledger open before him.
‘Ah, Master Ennis,’ he said. ‘I trust your leg is healing?’
‘It is, Master Secretary,’ Henry answered, swallowing past the nervous knot in his throat. Of course Walsingham would know about the fight at the White Heron.
‘Excellent.’ Walsingham sat back in his chair and studied Henry over his steepled fingertips. ‘Now, tell me how you know the traitor we seek within the White Heron…’
Chapter Sixteen
‘Shall I race you across the park?’ Rob challenged as he led Anna down the stairs of Hart Castle towards the open front doors.
Anna laughed, trailing behind him. ‘You would win most handily, I fear. It’s been a long while since I was on a horse, and then it was only a docile old mare that carried me to country markets.’ She tugged on his hand, forcing him to stop and face her, and whispered, ‘In truth, I’m a bit nervous about this excursion today. What if I fall off and make a fool of myself in front of everyone?’
Rob didn’t laugh at her, as she’d half feared he might. He seemed to be afraid of nothing at all. He held her hands tightly in his and raised them to his lips for a gentle kiss.
‘You needn’t fear falling, Anna,’ he said. ‘’Tis no wild hunt, racing through stream and bramble as the Queen enjoys. It’s just a day of hawking in the sunshine, and a picnic. I’ll be nearby, and so will Edward—we won’t let anything happen to you.’
She smiled at him. ‘You are quick in a fight, I know, Robert. Yet I doubt you are quite quick enough to fly to me in time to catch me, should my horse take a notion to throw me.’
Rob leaned closer and whispered in her ear, ‘I have talents you have not even seen yet, fairest Anna. If we but had time, I would demonstrate…’
Anna watched, fascinated, as he tilted his head and skimmed his lips in a soft, tantalising kiss over her cheek. Lower and lower, close to her mouth, until her own lips parted on a sigh.
But he drew back in a flash and tugged again at her hand, leading her towards the door. ‘I fear duty calls us, my dear,’ he said.
‘You are a wretch, Robert Alden,’ she declared. ‘I will have my revenge on you yet.’
He laughed. ‘I look forward to it.’
The party was gathering on the gravelled driveway in front of the house, a milling crowd of people, dogs and horses in the pale, misty morning light. Pages circulated amongst them with trays of goblets filled with warming spiced wine against the chilly morning.
Anna carefully smoothed her skirt and straightened her hat. She wore her own grey skirt and doublet for riding, but she had a new tall-crowned red-velvet hat and red leather gloves much like the riding ensembles of the other ladies. At least she would look well enough when she went tumbling to the ground, she thought. It was strange how Robert made her feel so very confident and carefree when she was with him. So very unlike herself.
Elizabeth stood with Edward and a russet-clad man holding a hooded hawk at the edge of the crowd. She waved at Anna and broke away to hurry over to her, her green and gold riding clothes bright and summery in the grey mist.
‘Good morning to you, Mistress Barrett! And to you, Robert,’ Elizabeth said. ‘Don’t you look quite…well-rested today.’
‘And you look most charming, as ever, Lady Elizabeth,’ Rob said with a bow. ‘The goddess of the sun, the herald of the day…’
‘Pah, it is too early for your poetry! Go and talk to Edward. He is aching to show off his new hawk,’ Elizabeth said with a shooing wave. ‘I will introduce Mistress Barrett to her horse.’
She didn’t wait for an answer, but looped her arm with Anna’s and led her towards a sleepy-looking grey mare. ‘Robert said you haven’t had the chance to ride very much of late, so I found the quietest mount in the stables for you,’ Elizabeth said. ‘She knows every inch of this park and will carry you most safely.’
‘That was very kind of you, Lady Elizabeth.’ Anna cautiously patted the horse’s soft nose, and laughed when it whinnied and nudged at her. ‘I’m sure we will do well enough together.’
‘I’m sure you will.’ Elizabeth laid her hand on the horse’s bridle, watching Anna closely. ‘Tell me, Mistress Barrett, are you enjoying yourself at Hart Castle?’
‘Very much. I don’t see how anyone could fail to enjoy being at such a fine house.’
‘Yes. Though, I fear it was not always so happy a place.’
‘How so, Lady Elizabeth?’
Elizabeth studied the gleaming windows of the house with a little frown. ‘When I first met Edward—when he brought me here—it was a house of great sadness and seemed very lonely. Since Edward had lost his brother he seldom came here, because he could not face the old memories. His grief was too deep, and he and the house were both sunk in some terrible spell of sad lifelessness.’
‘How awful,’ Anna whispered. She looked across the drive to where Edward stood
with Rob, both of them laughing at some jest. ‘He doesn’t seem so sad now.’
‘Nay. Sometimes, my dear Mistress Barrett, a person merely needs a reason to truly live again. A purpose that banishes the past and awakens them to the wonders of the present moment. A true passion.’
‘And he found that purpose with you?’
‘Me—and other things. Life is too uncertain and precious to waste, and love too rare to lose,’ Elizabeth said with a smile. ‘He and I both had to learn that. Maybe what happened to us could be useful for others, as well—others who struggle.’
Anna stared at the horse’s grey neck, unable to quite meet Elizabeth’s gaze. ‘You think I struggle?’
Elizabeth shrugged. ‘I have not known you long, Mistress Barrett—Anna—but I see the light in your eyes when you look at Robert, the way the two of you smile at each other. It’s as if there is no one else in the whole room—nothing else you see. That is also how I feel when I look at Edward.’
Somehow the understanding in Elizabeth’s soft voice, the truth of her words, melted Anna’s reserve. ‘I do care about Rob. But there is so much I don’t know about him, and what I do know tells me I must be cautious. My feelings frighten me a bit.’
Elizabeth nodded. ‘We can’t choose who we love, and I fear our hearts have not chosen easy men to care for. But my first marriage was not a happy one. My husband was much older than me, and not very kind. I thought I could never feel for a man as I do for Edward. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to feel that way!’
‘I am not sure, either,’ Anna murmured. Could she put the past behind her forever, and move forward as she had these last few days?
‘But I came to see it as a great gift, Anna, and you should, too!’ Elizabeth declared. ‘Just remember what I said—life is too fleeting for fear.’
‘My friends, shall we ride out?’ Edward called. ‘The day grows apace!’
Elizabeth gave Anna one last smile and hurried over to her own horse as a groom came to help Anna into the saddle. As she settled her skirts around her Elizabeth’s words echoed in her mind. Too fleeting for fear. Should she—could she—reach out and seize this time with Rob, no matter how brief, as a gift?
Rob reined in his horse next to hers and gave her a wide, white grin of sheer pleasure in the day. ‘Are you ready to run, Anna?’ he asked.
She nodded and laughed. ‘Aye, Rob. I am assuredly ready to run!’
* * *
‘Where are we going?’ Anna asked as Rob led her along the soft green banks of the river. He laughed that she whispered the words, as if they were sneaking away from the party in stealth, even though the chattering voices of the others were now a mere echo behind them.
Now the sumptuous picnic that had been laid out for the hunters in a shady grove had been consumed they were all falling into a happy lassitude, induced by fine wine and Elizabeth’s soft song played on her lute. Rob had taken Anna’s hand and lured her away from the group.
‘’Tis a secret,’ he said, tossing her a roguish smile over his shoulder. ‘Unless you don’t trust where I might lead?’
Anna laughed. ‘I don’t trust you a whit, Robert Alden! Yet you always intrigue me so greatly I fear that I forget all prudence and follow you.’
‘You are a secret adventurer, then, fairest Anna. I see it in your eyes. You try to hide it behind your sternness and your grey gowns, but you can’t conceal it forever. We are both much too curious about the world around us for our own good.’
Anna smiled, but Rob could see a dark cloud pass fleetingly over her face. ‘Perhaps I was curious once. Until I learned it is better not to be.’
He remembered her tale of her nasty husband, and the scars on her back from where the villain had tried to beat the curiosity, the bright spark out of her. Fury still burned within him that anyone would dare treat her so—would bully and oppress her, his beautiful Anna. Master Barrett was fortunate he was dead, or Rob would soon have tortured him most painfully into that state. He could never bear to see a woman scarred, like Anna and his sister.
Yet Barrett hadn’t extinguished Anna’s spark, her passion. He had merely forced it into hiding behind a brittle shell of caution. Rob intended to see it free once more. Surely he could give her that one small thing? A moment of freely won happiness, before he himself had to hurt her all over again?
Or maybe he was merely selfish and wanted to taste her happiness for himself. He found he yearned for it as he never had anything else.
‘Do you remember when I told you of my disobedient youth?’ he asked. He wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her against his side as they strolled beside the water.
She wrapped her arm around him, too, leaning close. ‘Aye, you said you would climb out of your window at night and run free to sit by the river and dream of your future plays and poems.’
‘This was that very river.’
She looked down at the water, burbling gently past below the banks, her eyes wide with surprise. ‘Is it truly?’
‘I lived in Hartley Village, not so very far from this estate, and I often trespassed on this land to swim in the river or wander the woods. Edward’s father was always at Court, waiting on the Queen in her younger days. There was no one to care what one small boy did here.’
‘And you imagined tales of knights and kings and gods here? Just like in your plays?’ she asked.
‘Perhaps then they were more bloody and full of battles and revenge,’ he said. ‘The fashion now is for tales more romantical. I had no liking for such things then.’
Anna laughed. ‘And now?’
‘Now they are my favourite tales of all. What poet is not inspired by the beauty of his lady?’ He caught her up in his arms and carried her over to a narrow wooden bridge as she laughed and held on to her hat. She was so very beautiful when she laughed, her face glowing in the bright day. ‘Or by the music of her laughter?’
‘Audiences do like tales of love,’ she said. ‘But they also love stories of bloody revenge just as much as ever.’
Rob didn’t set her back on her feet, despite her wriggling in his arms, but carried her along the overgrown path that led away from the river. He couldn’t let her go yet. ‘Then I must strive to give them what they want. Love and passion, ending in a noisy, messy battle.’
‘As it always does, I fear, in one way or another.’ Anna laid her head on his shoulder with a sigh. ‘I think you do give the people what they want in your plays. You see into their very hearts and your words speak to their deepest desires and fears. It is why they flock to the White Heron to see your work. You see the truth of people, deep down.’
He wished he could see the truth of her. All of her—not merely the tantalising glimpses she offered in the heat of their passion. But then he would have to show her the truth of himself in return, and he wasn’t ready to lose her. Not yet. He hadn’t realised how dry and barren his life had been before, how hungry he was for what Anna offered. Not just sex, but her laughter and secrets, too.
Had he found what he really needed now, all too late? Was this the true curse of his life? To see what he wrote of in his poetry but be unable ever to claim it? He would have laughed at the bitter irony if it did not make his heart ache.
‘Then I must finish my new play quickly for your father,’ he said. ‘And hope you will approve of it.’
‘I fear you won’t finish by going to country parties and wandering the woods with me,’ she said.
‘On the contrary, fairest Anna—walking the woods with you is the finest inspiration.’ Rob ducked beneath a low-hanging tangle of branches, Anna still held in his arms, and entered his old secret grove.
‘Oh!’ she gasped. ‘What is this place?’
‘It was my magical realm when I was a boy,’ he said. ‘I haven’t been back for many years. I’m surprised it’s still here at all.’
‘Who could bear to destroy such a spot?’ Anna asked. Rob gently set her on her feet and she drifted around the thick ring of trees, staring in wonde
r.
The trees were so closely grown that the circle was cast in deepest shade. The ground beneath was soft and emerald green, scattered with several large, flat rocks worn smooth by time. In the centre a blackened circle showed where there had once been an old fire-pit.
‘When I was a boy I imagined it was the realm of Druids and the fairyfolk, from the old tales our kitchen maid would tell me when my mother wasn’t listening,’ Rob said. ‘Or it could be the Dark Knight’s fortress—or a place where spirits could be summoned.’
‘It is an enchanted place. I’m sure of it,’ Anna murmured. She removed her glove and ran her fingertips over the rough trunk of a tree. ‘I’ve never been anywhere so quiet. So strange and haunted, yet so welcoming at the same time.’
Rob leaned against another tree, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched her. She tilted her face up to the faint rays of pale light that filtered through the trees, and spun around laughing.
He couldn’t look away from her at all. Her beauty held him spellbound.
‘This place likes you,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t welcome everyone into its midst.’
She twirled to a stop, her skirts swaying, and smiled at him. ‘Perhaps it welcomes you because you are the king of the enchanted grove and I am your guest.’
‘I would that I were king of so much more, with lands and jewels to shower on you.’ He wished he could give her everything, instead of the pain that was his only legacy to her. Wished he could be worthy of her.
‘No gift could be finer than this moment, here in this place.’ She slowly crossed the grove to stand before him, so very close, achingly close, but not touching. ‘With you, Robert.’
He could bear it no longer. He grabbed her hands in his and drew her into his arms, their bodies pressed tight together as she went up on tiptoe. He kissed her with all the hunger in his heart.
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