“And will I?” she asked him softly.
He turned her face to his with a gentle hand. His gaze was warm, and Jasmine was suddenly breathless. “Aye, madame,” he answered her low. “You will learn to love me.” Then he kissed her lips, and she felt as near to swooning as she had ever felt.
“Greenwood Landing!” a voice called out.
Instantly James Leslie leaned forward and drew back the curtain shielding them. “You made good time,” he said to the head bargeman.
“Tide still be with us, my lord,” was the answer, “and Gawd only knows how many times we’ve rowed up and down the old Thames.”
The bargemen guided the boat up against the quay landing. It bumped the stone gently. When it had been made fast to the piling, James Leslie exited the little cabin, helping Jasmine, and they gained the shore, walking up the lawns to the house.A figure came forward to greet them, and, recognizing him, Jasmine ran forward into his embrace.
“Uncle Robin!” She lifted her heart-shaped face for a kiss.
Robert Southwood, the earl of Lynmouth, hugged his niece warmly, and kissed her cheek. “So, you impossible vixen, you have at last come home to us. The king is eager to see you, but not so eager to punish you now that he has seen his grandson, I think.” Southwood escorted the couple up into the house.
“The king has seen Charles Frederick?” Jasmine was surprised.
“Mama stopped in London with the children when she arrived two weeks ago. She brought your offspring to court. The king was delighted and every bit as loving to your young marquis and his lady sisters as he was to his own blood. The children’s manners were exquisite, and everyone was mightily impressed by them, Jasmine. Did you not know that Mama intended to visit Whitehall before she departed for Queen’s Malvern? No,” the Earl of Lynmouth answered his own question. “You obviously did not know. Mama is as clever as she ever was, I think. She has done you a great kindness, my dear, and taken the edge off of the king’s anger. Things have not been going well for the king of late, and your very public disobedience has not helped his mood. Now, however, having seen little Charles Frederick, he is less testy. The boy is a delight, and charmed his royal grandfather completely.”
Jasmine was silent, then she said. “All the children went to Queen’s Malvern with Grandmama, didn’t they, Uncle Robin?”
“Of course,” he replied. “What made you ask such a question?”
“Jasmine fears that the king will take Charlie-boy away from her and give him to strangers to raise, even as he did with Prince Henry. The queen once warned Jasmine of such a thing. Ido not believe that she will rest easily until the king assures her otherwise,” the earl of Glenkirk told the earl of Lynmouth.
Robin Southwood looked thoughtful, and said, “I think that we must indeed get the king’s word that Charles Frederick Stuart remains with his mother and stepfather. Aye! We need a royal guarantee.”
“What have you heard?” Jasmine was pale with anticipation.
“Nothing, my dear,” Robin Southwood hurried to reassure his niece, “but it is always wise not to put one’s trust in kings, Jasmine. Their exalted status makes them believe that God sanctions their every move, and I do not think that it is always so. You did not, however, hear me say that. I am the king’s loyal servant and would never question his divine right.” He patted her shoulder, his lime green eyes twinkling.
She giggled, and the girlish sound did his heart good. “Uncle, you are really quite disrespectful of the king,” she teased.
“Never, my dear,” he replied. “You will remember that I grew up in a far more impressive court than this one is, and served a greater queen than this king. Like my father before me, I am the perfect courtier. However, I have only come up from Devon to welcome you home, Jasmine, and to smooth your way in two days’ time when you must present yourself to James Stuart and make your abject apologies to him for your disobedience. After that I am gone, back to my sweet Angel and the children and our grandchildren. I no longer have a taste for this life, I fear. I think the king’s little passions will be his downfall. First Carr, and now two new young men vie for his favor.”
They found their way to the family hall and, seating themselves at the board, waited for the servants to serve them.
“The king was not always as he is now,” James Leslie said. “I knew him from childhood. I think his age and time have conspired to make him behave foolishly.”
“He never had a mistress like so many of his antecedents,” Robin Southwood said. “He has always been faithful to the queen, but for his young men; and those only since he came to England.”
“But he was not always faithful to the queen,” Glenkirk said quietly, taking a deep draught of his wine.
Southwood was fascinated. “No?”
“The king once had a mistress.” Jasmine said.
“My mother,” Glenkirk answered. “It was a very long time ago. The king developed a passion for her, although she never encouraged him. He sent my father to Denmark to escort his new bride home to Scotland, and while my father was gone James Stuart forced my mother to his will. When my father finally learned of it, it destroyed their marriage, and Mama fled to Lord Bothwell for protection. It is a long story, and perhaps some time I shall tell you of it; but the king was not always the silly fellow he is now. He was ruthless, and cruel, and as tough as any soldier.”
“Did the queen know?” Jasmine was curious.
“I don’t know,” James Leslie answered her. “I do not think so, for she was always very kind to me, and to my brothers and sisters. I don’t think anyone knew but Lord Bothwell, my father, the king, and my mother’s servant, Ellen. You must remember the strict way in which the king was raised, surrounded by overpious and overmoral men, who would have been horrified to learn that their king, their protégé, had coveted another man’s wife and taken her despite her refusals.”
“God’s nightshirt!” the earl of Lynmouth said, using a favorite expletive of the late queen. “I should never have believedsuch a tale but that it is yours, Jemmie. Your mother married Bothwell, didn’t she?”
“After my father’s death,” James Leslie said, “except that he wasn’t dead. He went to the New World, and his ship was lost. He was presumed dead, but damned if he didn’t turn up several years later at Glenkirk with a wild account of his adventures. By that time the king had had him declared dead, and Mama was remarried and living in Italy with Lord Bothwell and their three children. I convinced him to reveal himself to no one else but me. To remain dead for everyone’s sake. Since he had no desire to resume his former life, he agreed. There was, it seemed, a beautiful young lady in the New World awaiting his return.” The earl chuckled. “My father was ever the charmer.”
“Is he still alive?” Jasmine wondered aloud.
