The Sixth Wife_ The Story of Katherine P - By Jean Plaidy Page 0,113
was capable of two loves. One for Seymour and one for power.
They were alone together, a few weeks after the marriage had been announced. She had been walking near the Dormer Palace, and he came upon her when she had eluded her attendants and had walked near Blandels Bridge.
She believed he had seen her and followed her; it was because of this that she had slipped away from her attendants.
“This is a happy meeting,” he said, catching up with her as if by chance near a clump of trees which would provide a screen and protection against prying eyes.
“Happy for whom?” she asked. “For you, my lord, or for me?”
“Dare I hope, for us both? I have seen little of you in these last few months.”
“’ Twas two days ago, my lord, that we met.”
“I mean alone,” he said with that low caressing note in his voice which, in spite of her knowledge of him and herself, could not fail to thrill her.
“Alone?” she said, looking about her as if surprised to find herself unattended.
“How beautiful you are!” he said. “As beautiful as this May morning. The year is in its springtime and so are you.”
“My lord, your flatteries fall on deaf ears.”
“And what has befallen your royal ears that they are deaf to flattery?”
“Do not mock me, I beg of you.”
“It is sometimes easy to hide deep feelings behind mocking words.”
She could see the bluebells under the trees bowing in the faint breeze, and she fancied they were the men and women of England bowing to her greatness, reminding her of her royalty. But she could smell the May flowers and see the budding and blossoming of the trees; the sun was warm on her face; she felt reckless because there was spring in the air.
She could not resist dallying with him, luring him on to flirtation, that most pleasant of all pastimes, allowing him to give her those toys for which she most longed—fl attery and admiration— showing her that if she had not yet the power for which she longed as a Queen, she had the subtle power of an attractive woman.
“I could not take you seriously when you speak of deep feelings,” she said.
He tried to seize her hand.
“My Lord Admiral,” she went on, “methinks you forget the respect due to me. You find me here unattended and you forget.”
“I forget everything,” he said, “but that you and I are here… alone together.”
“Thus speaks the bridegroom?” she said, lifting her eyes to his, mocking and inviting. “The bridegroom of a few weeks! Or is it longer? Methinks you may have become my stepmother’s bridegroom before ever you went through the ceremony of marriage with her.”
“You’re a saucy wench!” he said with a laugh.
“My lord, how dare you!”
“I would dare much with you, my lady; and methinks you invite me to the daring.”
“I would be alone. I give you leave to retire.”
“Your eyes invite me to stay, Princess.”
“How dare you treat me thus… because you find me here alone and unprotected?”
The Admiral laughed. She was as fond of make-believe as her father had been. She wished to play the part of the pursued and reluctant maiden.
“You’ve a droll little face,” he said. “And I have a weakness for red hair.”
He held a lock of it in his hands and, bending his head, swiftly kissed it.
She pushed him away; she now wished to play the haughty Princess, for she would not let him think she could easily forget that he had humiliated her deeply.
“What dost think the Queen, my stepmother and your wife, would say if she knew that, scarce had the King been dead a week, you were suggesting marriage with me?”
“Have you not told her, then?”
“You must be very sure of your charms, my lord, since you think that I might have told her that, and she still remain so affectionate toward you that she would consent to become your wife.”
“I am sure of them,” he said; and bending his head swiftly, he kissed her lips.
She gasped, but her flush betrayed her enjoyment.
“Aye,” he went on, mocking her, “and not only am I sure that I can charm the Queen… but others also.”
“I could carry tales of this to the Council,” she said threateningly.
“You could, my Princess.”
“And you would suffer for it.”
“And you would not? They would say: ‘And how came the Lady Elizabeth to be alone in such a place with the Lord Admiral, her step-father?’”
“Why should she not be…if her attendants had left her?”