“I do, your grace. Had you a particular plan in mind?”
With a feeble gesture, the King said, “I want to ken nowt of any plans, for I am incapable of lying to my brother. Just get Jamie to St. Andrews.”
“I can be away in the morning if James can be ready by then,” Ivor said.
“You need only give the nursery mistress your orders when you arise,” the King said. “Henrietta already knows that Jamie may be traveling tomorrow.”
“Then, by your leave, sire, I will sleep, too,” Ivor said. “If you can tell me—”
“Aye, sure. My own man will show you to a room near the royal nursery.”
Bowing, Ivor bade the King goodnight and retired to bed only to awaken betimes when the lass in his dreams became real. However, afterward, thanks to years of knightly training and preparing for battle, he soon slept again and awoke only when the dawn’s gray light crept into the room.
His bruised hand reminded him of the lass, but he dressed nonetheless hastily. Then, deducing which door was that of the royal nursery, he rapped on it lightly.
Marsi opened the door, took one nervous look at the tall, well-formed, stern-looking man who stood at the threshold and quickly swept him a deep curtsy. Then, speaking over her shoulder as she rose again, she said, “Mistress Henrietta, methinks ’tis the gentleman ye’re expecting, though he do be earlier than ye said he’d come.”
“Do not chatter, lass, but come and assist his lordship to dress whilst I talk with the gentleman,” Hetty said sternly. “I am Henrietta Childs, Mistress of the Royal Nursery, sir,” she added, and Marsi moved to obey her, glancing back as she did.
Without awaiting further invitation, the man stepped into the room and shut the door. “I believe you understand, mistress,” he said, “that we must be away as soon as possible and without any ado. His grace’s man awaits us near the sea gate.”
“The sea gate!” Marsi’s exclamation was out before she knew she would speak. Trying to conceal her dismay, she glanced at Jamie and saw that his eyes were wide with delight. Turning next to their visitor, she said, “But where do we go?”
The man looked at Hetty, who said sharply to Marsi, “Hold your tongue, lass. Ye ken fine that ye’ve nae call to put yourself forward so. I did say that I would have need of ye, but if ye cannot behave, we will leave ye right here.”
Quickly bowing her head, Marsi strove to look contrite, but James said in a tone just as stern as Hetty’s, “Marsi must come with us, for I want her. And if we are to go on a ship, I will need her, Hetty. Ye ken fine that boats always make ye sick.”
Eyeing their visitor again, Marsi saw that he was looking sterner than ever, but before Jamie had stopped speaking, the man’s gaze shifted to her. Feeling herself tense, she took a deep breath, but his expression had already turned thoughtful, and he said only that Hetty should hurry her charges along so they could all get going.
The man had forgotten all about her, Marsi decided, so he could have no suspicion that she was the girl who had fled from his bed the night before.
To be sure, she had put on a plain moss-green kirtle and a simple white apron. And, fearing that he might recognize her hair, she had covered it completely with a frilly white cap. Even so, and although she was relieved that he did not seem to recognize her, she felt an odd sense of disappointment, as if he should have.
THE DISH
Where authors give you the inside scoop!
From the desk of Jane Graves
Dear Reader,
Have you ever visited one website, seen an interesting link to another website, and clicked it? Probably. But have you ever done that about fifty times and ended up in a place you never intended to? As a writer, I’m already on a “what if” journey inside my own head, so web hopping is just one more flight of fancy that’s so easy to get caught up in.
For instance, while researching a scene for BLACK TIES AND LULLABIES that takes place in a childbirth class, I saw a link for “hypnosis during birth.” Of course I had to click that, right? From there I ended up on a site where people post their birth stories. And then…
Don’t ask me how, but a dozen clicks later, my web-hopping adventure led me to a site