Cat Leslie slipped her arm through Velvet’s. “Come, Lady Gordon, I will wager that ye want a bath, and if I don’t get the water brought now, ye’ll be out of luck, for ’twill soon be time for dinner.”
The two women departed, and Francis ushered his cousin Alex into the Great Hall, signaling a servant as they went to bring them wine. When he had settled his guest comfortably, Bothwell said, “Ye take a great risk coming toHermitage, Alex. I am put to the horn and outlawed. If our cousin Jamie should learn of your visit, it could go hard wi’ ye.”
“I must risk it, Francis. Velvet was simply not strong enough to go any farther today. Actually, I should like to bide wi’ ye for a few days before going on north.”
“Will ye stop in Edinburgh?”
“I must.”
“Tell Jamie then that ye were here and why ye came. Then no one, Maitland in particular, can accuse ye of duplicity. He means to bring all the earls down, Alex. He begins wi’ me, but beware, for I suspect he will turn on Huntley next. He is an ambitious man, Master Maitland. If he can break the power of the earls, then he can rule James himself without interference.”
“Is it true what I heard as I came south? That James stopped Lady Leslie’s divorce from Glenkirk?”
“Aye! The bastard! He forced her to his bed, and when she finally fled him she came to me. I have loved her for some time now, but she knew it not until she sought refuge wi’ me. The queen had managed to keep James from stopping the divorce, to hold him off until Maitland found out and told him that Cat was wi’ me. The queen, of course, has no idea that her lord and king desires Cat. She would be most hurt if she knew, and Cat loves the queen, which Jamie well knows.”
“What will happen to ye, Francis?”
“I know not, Alex, but perhaps someday I shall seek refuge atDun Broc.”He smiled. “Will ye gie it me?”
“Aye!”
The servant arrived with the wine, and the two men stood by one of the large fireplaces drinking together, while in another part of the castle Cat had brought Velvet to a comfortable, airy apartment.
Pansy and Dugald were already there, and, seeing them, Cat said, “I will give instructions to have a bath brought to ye, Lady Gordon. I shall see ye at dinner.”
“Please, won’t you call me Velvet?”
“If ye will call me Cat,” came the other woman’s reply, and then she was gone.
“Isn’t she beautiful?” Velvet said to Pansy.
“She’s caused a great scandal here in Scotland, Dugald says. She ran away from her husband to be with Lord Bothwell!” Pansy told her mistress.
“I can understand a woman falling in love with Francis,” said Velvet. “He’s devilishly attractive, but ’tis not just his looks.”
“Aye,” agreed Pansy. “He’s got a way about him. They say there ain’t a woman alive who can resist him.”
“Fine talk for a couple of seemingly respectable married women,” grumbled Dugald, and Velvet and Pansy giggled. “Laugh if ye will, but ’tis said the Earl of Bothwell is a warlock, a wizard.”
“He can cast a spell on me anytime,” Pansy laughed.
“Hush yer mouth, woman, or I’ll take a stick to ye!” threatened her husband. “Such talk, and from my own wife!”
“Lay a hand on me, Dugald Geddes, and I’ll turn right around and go home to England—and I’ll take me son with me, too!” Pansy snapped at her spouse. “I birthed him without you, and I’ve raised him for two years without you.”
“Now, lassie,” wheedled Dugald, “ ’tis just jealous I am, hearing ye talk about Lord Bothwell. I dinna mean it.”
Pansy sniffed, but said nothing more, and Velvet hid a smile. Her tiring woman certainly had the upper hand where her new husband was concerned. Dugald adored his wife and son, and Pansy knew it and used her advantage to great effect.
Within a few minutes the oaken tub was set up before the fireplace in the bedchamber, and a line of kilted Borderers brought buckets and buckets of hot water to fill it fully. Velvet bathed gratefully, hearing Alex come in and, attended by Dugald, bathe as well in the outer chamber before its fireplace. He entered the bedchamber, a towel wrapped around his loins, before she had climbed from her own tub. Pansy blushed, and he chuckled.
“Run along, lass, and see to yer bairn, who I’ve heard is wailing for both his mam and his supper. I’ll attend yer mistress until ye return.” He gently shooed Pansy from the room, closing the door behind her. Then taking the large towel that had been warmed on its rack before the fire, he opened it out and, holding it up, said, “Come on, Velvet, and let me dry ye. Ye’ll get a chill.”
She rose and stepped from the tub into his arms, which closed about her, enfolding her in the warmed bath sheet. For a moment they both stood very still, and then Alex began to rub her down briskly. She knew that he wanted to kiss her, and had he done so she would not have minded. Yet he kept his promise not to force her.
When he dried her, he threw the towel aside and, picking her up, walked over to the bed where he tucked her beneath the sheets. “ ’Tis several hours before dinner, Velvet. Rest while ye can. We are going to stay several days here atHermitagebefore we move on to Edinburgh.”
“Are we going to court, my lord?”
