“It seems it is time for me to leave, my lord,” observed Robbie drily.
The two men shook hands and parted, Cecil to return to his paperwork, Small to escort the Countess of Lynmouth, when he finally managed to catch up with her, back to Devon.
Skye was in a rage and refused to linger in London another hour. So the Queen thought to hand her over to Robert Dudley while she played her “perhaps I will, perhaps I won’t” game. The bitch! Skye had no intention of meekly waiting for the fine Lord Dudley to use her as a plaything. For Robin’s sake she would appear to submit. Butsomehowshe intended being revenged on Elizabeth Tudor.
Skye looked across at Robbie, who sat pensively smoking his pipe. “I want you and Dame Cecily to take the children for a few weeks,” she said. “I must go home to Ireland. It is a trip I have delayed far too long.”
“What did the Queen say to you, Skye?”
“She said I must play the whore for her precious Earl of Leicester. She means not to marry, Robbie, but she’ll not admit it publicly. She fears a man’s dominance over her more than anything else. She wants Dudley, but she’ll not take him to husband. She has decided that I am no threat to their love, as so many others might be, because I dislike the man. Therefore, as long as I satisfy his lusts Elizabeth Tudor stands in no danger of losing her gallant. God! Geoffrey must be spinning in his grave to see me used thusly! And by the Queen!”
“It’s monstrous!” Robert Small was deeply shocked. “What will you do?”
“What can I do, Robbie? I must submit for my son’s sake, andboth the Queen and Dudley have counted on this. As long as I keep her secret and yield to Dudley, my son’s inheritance is safe.”
“And this is your final word on the matter? No, Skye, I don’t believe it. You’ve some plan that you’re not telling me about.”
“Robbie … are you loyal to the Crown?”
“Of course! I’m an Englishman.”
“And I am an Irishwoman, Robbie. We Irish have never been overfond of the English monarch impressed upon us. While Southwood lived, his loyalties were mine. And they might even have remained my loyalties had Elizabeth Tudor respected me as I once respected her. But she is just like all English rulers! She uses everyone around her to her own ends, overlooking kindness and friendship. She is a brilliant woman. I have no doubt she will govern England well. But after what she has done to me, she is my bitterest enemy!
“Two of my children, nevertheless, are English, and I will not confuse them by tampering with their loyalties. Robin is the Earl of Lynmouth, a peer of this realm. The title is old. Geoffrey was proud of it and rightly so. Robin owes his allegiance to his Queen and, perhaps because he will be an attractive man as his father was, Elizabeth will treat him well.
“Willow was born here in England, and she is your heiress. I cannot endanger you and Dame Cecily, and I know that my dearest Khalid would not thank me for placing his only child in a dangerous situation. So for all your sakes, whatever I do it will be done in secret.”
“Did Geoffrey ever adopt Willow legally?” asked the captain as their coach jounced along.
“No. He meant to, but we simply never got to it. Why?”
“Because I do want to adopt her, Skye. She’s legally my heiress, but ’twould please me greatly if she also bore my name. And, I suspect it would be safer for Willow to be a Small. I’ve known you since you were an innocent slip of a girl blindly in love with Khalid, and I recognize the light of battle when I see it in your eye.” He sighed. “You’re going to make war on the Crown, aren’t you?”
She smiled a rueful little smile. “I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do yet, Robbie. But as a loyal subject of the Queen, it would be better if you didn’t know my plans.”
“Humph!” sniffed the little man. “I’ll remind you that I’m your friend before I’m anything else, your fine ladyship!” Then he grew serious. “Be careful, Skye. Bess Tudor is the lion’s cub, and can be very dangerous.”
“So I have found, Robbie, and I’ll be wary. I think, however, that I have discovered a way to get at her without her ever knowing it’s me. Let me go to Ireland first, and then we shall see.”
“When will you go?” he asked her.
“In a few days. I must first send a message to my uncle, for I prefer to travel in an O’Malley ship.”
And some four days later the Bishop of Connaught sat in his study reading his niece’s letter for the second time. The O’Malley of Innisfana was finally coming home, though this was to be a secret visit. She wanted her flagship, theSeagull, to meet her off the Isle of Lundy on Midsummer’s Eve and she wanted her uncle aboard. Seamus O’Malley was well pleased. It was high time his niece remembered who she was. And on Midsummer’s Eve, it was he who reached over the ship’s rail to pull her up the final few feet to the deck.
Her smile erased the years. She leaned over the railing and called down to the little sailboat that had ferried her from the mainland. “Ten days, Robbie, unless it’s stormy.”
“God speed, lass!” was the sure reply, and the little boat turned and headed back toward the English coast.
Skye walked directly to the main cabin in the stern. She flung her cloak on a chair, poured herself some wine, and stood looking at the two men who were waiting for her to speak. “Well, Uncle,” she smiled teasingly, “have I changed so much? MacGuire, you’ve gotten fat, but it’s good to see you again.”
“Mistress Skye, we thought surely you were dead,” and then his voice broke.
She reached out a hand to comfort him. “But I’m not dead, MacGuire. I am quite alive, and I have come home now.”
The old seaman blinked rapidly and Skye turned to her uncle. “Well, m’lord Bishop, I’ve never heard you so quiet in my entire life. I owe you a debt, Uncle, for your care of the O’Malley fortunes. I can never repay that debt, for it’s too large, but I do thank you with all my heart.”
Seamus O’Malley found his voice at last. “I would not have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes. I thought once that you’d reached the peak of your beauty, but I was wrong. You’re lovelier now than ever before, if that’s possible. And there’s something else about you, something I cannot put my finger on.” He shook his head. “No wonder Niall Burke refuses to marry again.”
