Harlequin Historical July 2021--Box Set 1 of 2

by Virginia Heath

  ‘Come closer.’ The Queen lifted one elegantly manicured hand, beckoning her forward, and she obeyed at once. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lady Berthe, chief of the spies, move as if to join them, before Isabella stilled her with a sharp look.

  ‘Cecily?’ The sharpness softened as the Queen called out to one of her older English attendants, the ones who’d joined her household when she’d first arrived in London as a young bride seventeen years earlier. There were only two of them remaining, Lady Cecily d’Abernon and Katharine Sykes, and both were fiercely protective.

  ‘Yes, Your Grace?’ Lady Cecily bobbed into a curtsy.

  ‘I want to wear my lilac gown tonight, the one with the silver trim, but I’m afraid there’s a tear in one of the sleeves.’

  ‘I believe you are right, Your Grace.’ Whether it was right or wrong, Lady Cecily’s face was a picture of innocence. ‘In fact, there are several items in your wardrobe that require attention. We have time to do some mending now, if Your Grace would excuse us?’

  ‘Of course.’ Isabella inclined her head as if she were conferring some great favour. ‘Mathilde here will stay and keep me company. Kat, too.’

  Lady Cecily curtsied again, bustling the spies out of the chamber before they had a chance to think up excuses to stay.

  ‘That’s better.’ The Queen waited until the door was completely closed before letting out a long sigh, as if she’d been holding her breath. ‘How old are you, Mathilde?’

  ‘Seventeen, Your Grace.’

  ‘So old? And with such pretty eyes. Yet still unmarried?’

  ‘Yes, Your Grace.’ She blushed, pleased with the compliment despite the sting in its tail. Her sister Hawise had always said that her eyes were her best feature, a deep, dark brown like their mother’s had been, though as for the rest of her, she knew that she was ordinary. Pretty enough, but no great beauty and without any dowry. That was why she remained unmarried. Why she’d been sent to court, too, or one of the reasons anyway. At home she’d been surplus to requirements whereas here she could earn her own keep.

  ‘You need not look so embarrassed. There are worse things than remaining unmarried, is that not so, Kat?’ Isabella exchanged a knowing look with the widowed Katharine, who only grunted. ‘Tell me, which would you prefer, a bad husband or no husband at all?’

  Mathilde hesitated, baulking at the question. It wasn’t one she’d ever had cause to consider before, but the Queen was waiting expectantly, the full penetrating force of her blue gaze focused upon her. ‘I think no husband at all, Your Grace.’

  ‘Then you may be just the girl I’m looking for.’ Isabella’s expression warmed. ‘You hail from the north of England, as I recall?’

  ‘Yes, Your Grace. From Rudstone Manor near Scarborough.’

  ‘Ah, now I remember. Your father helped my husband during the rebellion.’

  ‘He did.’ She nodded eagerly. After fourteen years, her father still seized any opportunity to talk about the day the second King Edward had ridden into their courtyard, fleeing from Thomas of Lancaster’s forces. ‘He gave him food and fresh horses and then rode to York beside him. He always says it was the greatest honour of his life.’

  ‘As it was...at the time.’ A shadow of some emotion crossed the Queen’s face, so fleetingly it was impossible to identify. Impatience? Annoyance? Mathilde dropped her gaze to the rug, afraid that she’d said something displeasing. ‘So now my husband has repaid him by giving you a place in my household?’

  ‘Yes, Your Grace. My father brought me to London to ask it.’ And then abandoned her there, she thought bitterly, biting her tongue to stop herself from saying the words out loud.

  ‘So you have no other connection to the King...or his friends?’

  ‘None, Your Grace,’ she answered with complete honesty. She’d only glimpsed the King from a distance and she knew nothing of his friends.

  ‘Good. What do you think, Kat? Is she trustworthy?’

  ‘If she’s not, then she’ll answer to me.’

  ‘I am, Your Grace,’ Mathilde countered at once, indignant at any suggestion otherwise.

  ‘I believe you, girl.’

  Isabella’s tone was soothing and for the first time since leaving her family, Mathilde felt a sense of kinship with someone. No, she corrected herself quickly, that was the wrong word. She could never be kin with the Queen, but somehow the words made her feel less isolated.

  ‘Come over here.’ Isabella sat down in a window seat, as far away from the door as possible, laying a hand on the maroon velvet cushion beside her.

  ‘Thank you, Your Grace.’ Mathilde threw a quick glance at Katharine, who had her arms folded across her chest like a sentinel, before obeying, her heart thumping with excitement even as her knees shook with nerves. She was glad to sit down before they gave way altogether, although it felt strange to sit so close to someone as extraordinary as the Queen. As women, they were only thirteen years apart, but Isabella was everything she knew that she would never, could never, be.

  ‘I have a request to make of you, Mathilde, one that must remain a secret between us.’ Isabella paused significantly. ‘I need someone like you to carry messages for me. Cecily has been unwell of late and Kat cannot walk as far or fast as she once did.’ She pressed her lips together as Katharine made a loud tsking sound from across the room. ‘Do you think you could help me, Mathilde?’

  ‘I would be honoured, Your Grace.’

  ‘I thought so.’ Isabella pulled a ruby and gold ring from her finger. ‘I knew that you weren’t like the rest of them. Here, hold out your hand.’

  Mathilde gasped as the Queen placed the sparkling band in the centre of her palm. It looked valuable, probably equivalent to several years’ worth of harvests at home.

  ‘Now, the boy will take you to someone, a guest. Show him this ring and tell him to meet me in the French King’s private apartments at once.’

  ‘Yes, Your Grace, but...’ Mathilde drew her brows together. The boy had spoken of a Madame Baudin...

  ‘A necessary deception.’ Isabella seemed to understand her confusion, throwing a telling glance in the direction of her dressing chamber. ‘When the others ask, which they will, tell them that an old nurse from my childhood has come to visit me. It doesn’t matter whether or not they believe it. All that matters is that they do not discover the truth. This must be our secret, do you understand?’

  ‘Yes, Your Grace.’

  ‘Thank you.’ The Queen touched a hand to her cheek. There was something almost maternal about the gesture, Mathilde thought, a tenderness that made her heart glow. ‘Remember to trust no one except myself, Katharine or Lady Cecily.’

  Mathilde nodded and stood, dipping into another curtsy without asking for any more details. The identity of the guest was none of her business and the dour expression on Katharine’s face warned her not to pry. In truth, she didn’t care who it was. Isabella, her Queen, had touched her cheek and asked for her help. That was all that mattered now.

  CHAPTER TWO

  ‘Show him this ring...’ Mathilde repeated the instructions under her breath as she followed the boy down a winding staircase and along a series of dimly lit corridors, then through a courtyard and along even more corridors. They were almost running, but her feet still felt too slow, unable to keep up with her whirling emotions. She had a suspicion that something important was happening, something momentous and clandestine. She had no idea what it was, but more than anything at that moment she wanted the Queen to approve of her. If she couldn’t prove her worth through beauty or fortune, then she would prove it through steadfastness and loyalty instead.

  The spies would pay her a fortune to tell them about this, she thought with a twinge of smugness. Not that she intended to. She wasn’t included in their hushed conversations, but she knew they sent regular letters back to England, reporting on all of the Queen’s deal
ings: whom she met, whom she spent time with, what they talked about and for how long. Personally, she couldn’t see what her mistress had done to deserve such treatment, but they seemed to take pride in being thorough. It wasn’t something that she wanted to be a part of.

  Her steps slowed as they ventured into an area of the castle she’d never visited before, part of the original building judging by the aged look of the stone, far away from the splendour of the great hall and royal apartments. Whoever the Queen’s guest was, it was becoming increasingly obvious that they wished to remain unnoticed. It was quieter and darker here, too, with few windows and fewer attendants, none at all after a few minutes, so that, despite her resolve, Mathilde couldn’t repress a shiver of unease.

  The boy passed her a lantern he must have put aside ready and she gripped the handle tightly, her anxiety growing the further along the corridor they went, as if she’d started along a dangerous road and had no idea how to find her way back. For a moment, her nerves faltered and she wished herself back in the safety of the Queen’s rooms and beneath her notice again, but it was only briefly before she berated herself for cowardice. She wasn’t going to fail in her mission when it had barely begun.

  At last they stopped outside an oak door so thick and solid looking she thought it might require a battering ram to open. It would certainly be impossible to hear through it if anyone were tempted to eavesdrop. The boy knocked and then, before she could tell him to wait, before she even had a moment to gather her wits, he scampered off, running back the way that they’d come. Panicking, Mathilde opened her mouth to recall him, but it was already too late. There was a harsh, scraping sound as a bolt was drawn back and the door swung halfway open.

  ‘Yes?’ The shadowy outline of a man appeared in the doorway.

  ‘I...’ She faltered, the strangeness of the situation making her tongue-tied as she lifted her lantern to get a better look at the speaker. He was tall and lean and appeared to be no more than a couple of years older than she was, but the severity of his expression made her feel younger and more insignificant than ever. Even frowning, however, he was arrestingly handsome, with sharp cheekbones, a square jaw covered in bristles, and features that appeared to have been chiselled out of granite. He held himself with an air of confidence, too, though his clothes were crumpled and mud-spattered as if he’d been travelling, and his hair was ruffled, tumbling over his forehead in dark curls. It was almost black, she noticed, a deeper shade of brown than her own, but whereas her eyes were a similar colour, his were a glacial shade of blue, pale and piercing even in the gloom of the corridor.

  ‘Can I help you, lady?’ He sounded suspicious as if he, like Katharine, thought that she couldn’t be trusted, blocking the half-open doorway with his body so that she couldn’t see past.

  ‘Sir.’ She didn’t know whether or not to curtsy so she dipped halfway down as a compromise, licking her lips to loosen them as she held up the ring. ‘The Queen bid me show you this and to request that you meet her in the French King’s private chambers.’

  ‘Not me, I think.’

  The frown fell away, his mouth quirking as he turned his head to speak to someone else in the room, presenting her with a clear view of his back. Mathilde glared at it, resenting the amusement at her expense. She might be a nobody, but she’d been sent by the Queen and he ought to show some respect.

  At last he finished speaking and opened the door wider, as if deciding to trust her, after all, propping one shoulder against the stone archway as his gaze dropped down to her feet and then meandered slowly upwards again.

  ‘We haven’t met before, lady.’

  A roguish half-smile played about his mouth and Mathilde’s resentment increased tenfold. It was a statement, not a question, and she didn’t know how to respond. The way he spoke implied that he ought to have met her, as if he were familiar with all of the ladies in the Queen’s household, but his scrutiny made her uncomfortable. She wasn’t used to being looked at in such a manner. She simply wasn’t used to being looked at. Most men’s gazes passed over her and moved on. His suggested that he was committing every inch of her body to memory.

  ‘No.’ She tossed her head to hide her embarrassment, but his smile only grew wider. It made the ice in his eyes melt a little, drawing attention to the long curly black lashes around them. She resented those, too.

  ‘I didn’t think so. I would have remembered.’ A single dark brow rose upwards. ‘You needn’t look so nervous. I don’t bite.’

  ‘I’m not nervous,’ she retorted, irritated that he could read her so easily. She needed to learn how to guard her expression, but such a thing was easier said than done. There were so many aspects of court life that she hadn’t yet mastered, deceiving others chief among them. It was a skill that she needed to learn, and quickly!

  ‘Ah, my mistake.’ His voice was laced with scepticism. ‘Then tell me your name.’

  ‘My name?’ She tensed, pressing her lips together in a thin line. The Queen had told her not to trust anyone and even if she hadn’t, Mathilde didn’t want to tell this man anything. She didn’t want to be there at all, having this conversation. His pale gaze seemed to be having a strange, disruptive effect on her breathing, making her chest feel constricted and her heart thud in a way she’d never felt before, as if it were actually pressing against her ribs. ‘I hardly know you well enough to share it, sir.’ She gave him a haughty look, mimicking Katharine’s disdainful tone whenever she spoke to the spies.

  ‘Very wise.’ He leaned forward slightly, his voice deepening. ‘But then how are we to become friends?’

  ‘Why would I want to become friends?’ She took a hasty step backwards. ‘I ought to go.’

  ‘Then we can walk together.’

  ‘No! That is, we probably shouldn’t be seen together.’

  ‘But then who will lead the way to the French King’s chambers?’

  He pushed himself upright, looking very tall and broad-shouldered suddenly, and she felt a fresh jolt of panic. She was anxious enough about finding her own way back through the maze of corridors, but she didn’t want to start leading the Queen’s guest in circles as well. Was she supposed to accompany him? Them? Isabella hadn’t said either way. She had the vague suspicion that she was being toyed with on purpose, but before she could challenge him the door was pulled wide and another, older man appeared on the threshold.

  This, she presumed, was the Queen’s real guest, though she still had no idea who he was. He carried himself like a lord, but his clothes were plain, without any crest or insignia, nothing to make his identity obvious. He had a hood pulled over his head, too, though in the glow of the lamplight she spied thick brows, a neatly trimmed beard, and the same black and blue colouring as her tormentor. This man’s features, however, were marred by an expression of arrogance. He gave a tight smile when he spied the ring in her hand and she stepped aside quickly, losing her voice all over again.

  ‘Now you’ll have to come with us.’ Her young tormentor leaned close to murmur in her ear and her stomach jumped and immediately started tying itself in knots. It wasn’t that she’d never been whispered to before. With three brothers and one sister she was accustomed to childish confidences, but this felt different. She’d never stood so close to a man who wasn’t a relation before and the sudden warmth of his breath on her neck, exposed by her long braid, made her feel strangely dizzy, as if she’d been dancing for too long. The sensation wasn’t entirely unpleasant, but she didn’t want it, not here, not now and definitely not in front of these men, whoever they were. She only hoped that it passed before they reached the Queen. There was something about Isabella that made Mathilde think she could see everything.

  ‘Allow me.’ He reached a hand out for the lantern and she almost dropped it, letting go of the handle as his fingers brushed against hers. Fortunately he was quick, catching it in mid-air so smoothly that the tallow candle inside barely flickered.r />
  She twisted her face away, enraged by the sight of his silent laughter. If he’d been one of her younger brothers, Laurent or Dicun or even Aland, she would have kicked him in the shins in retaliation, but common sense prevailed over temper. Tempted though she was to inflict some kind of painful injury, for all she knew he might be a baron.

  Thankfully, she wasn’t needed as a guide, after all. Despite his earlier taunt, her tormentor clearly knew his way around the castle, leading them in tense-sounding silence towards the royal apartments. Two others accompanied them, guards if their fearsome appearance was anything to judge by, although as far as she could see, they didn’t carry weapons. To do so inside the King’s palace would have been an unpardonable insult and these men obviously knew better.

  Mathilde kept pace uncertainly, half of her wondering whether she ought to excuse herself and make her way back to the Queen’s rooms, the other half too curious to break away. She had a feeling that she was heading even further down the dangerous path, but she still couldn’t turn back, as if she were being pulled by some invisible but compelling force. Not for the first time, she wished that her father had better prepared her for life at court, but then he’d never been at court himself to learn the rules. All he’d ever told her was to be modest and respectful and dutiful, all of which she was, but she still felt hopelessly out of her depth. Time and again, she overheard whispers and hints of scandal, along with a name, Despenser, and understood none of it. Maybe this was finally her chance to learn...

  A page opened the door as they approached the French King’s apartments and Mathilde peered through, surprised to catch a glimpse of Isabella standing inside. She hadn’t expected to see her there so soon, not to mention so close to the entrance after all her insistence on secrecy, but the Queen’s expression was eager, excited almost. As her eyes fell on her guest she smiled the same breathtaking smile from earlier, but this time, Mathilde wasn’t dazzled. This time there was something unsettling about it. It seemed too personal, too intimate, too triumphant almost, not the kind of smile a woman ought to give to a man who wasn’t her husband.