Velvet, suddenly filled with an unexplained joy, laughed up at him, her eyes shining brightly as she said, “You make me happy also, dear friend!”
While they continued on down the riverbank, a far more intense scene was being enacted in a secluded part of the inn garden. Robert Southwood had waited from the instant he had laid eyes upon Angel Christman to be alone with her like this. His gentle manner was deceptive, for like his father before him, he took what he wanted. Without any preamble, he declared himself. “I love you,” he said in an intense voice. “I have loved you from the first moment I saw you!”
Angel stopped, shocked by his words. She had not believed that Velvet’s brother was the kind of gentleman who would make mockery of a poor girl. She was confused and, for a minute, unsure of what to say to him. Then realizing that to play the simpleton would only encourage his cruelty, she said briskly, “You make fun of me, my lord, and that is unkind of you. Your sister loves you dearly, and she is the best friend I have ever had. Would you endanger the one thing I prize most, Velvet’s friendship? For shame, my lord earl!”
“But I do not mock you!” he cried. “Ilove you, Angel!”
“Then you are a fool, my lord, for you do not even know me!”
she snapped, her patience gone. I may be poor and unimportant, she thought to herself, but how dare he tease me in this fashion!
“Your father was Witt Christman, the son of Sir Randor,” said Robin. “Your mother, whom you favor strongly, was Joanne Wallis. Your family seat is near Longridge in Lancaster. Your parents died when you were five, and although your paternal grandparents would have taken you in, your father left your wardship to the crown. You will be eighteen on your next birthday, which is December fifth.”
“How do you know all this?” Angel demanded, furious at having her privacy invaded. “I asked Lord Hundston,” came his honest reply.
“Why?” She glared at him.
“I have told you why! I love you, Angel!” Dear heaven, how fair she is, Robin thought.
“My father killed my mother, who was unfaithful to him, and then took his own life,” she said bluntly.
“Unfortunate,” he answered, “but those things happen even in the best of families. My mother and Velvet’s was in a Moroccan harem once.”
“Thatdoesn’t happen in the best of families,” Angel answered quickly, and a small smile tugged at the corners of her lush mouth. “You are teasing me, aren’t you? Trying to make me feel better?”
“No,” he said. “ ’Tis true.”
“What do you want of me, my lord?” she queried him, still confused as to his motives. In her heart, she knew he was going to suggest something she could not countenance and she would offend him by refusing. How angry would he become? Would he forbid her to remain friends with his sister? Oh, Lord! He was so handsome. He was the most beautiful man she had ever seen.
“I want you to be my wife,” Robin said quietly.
“My lord, that is cruel!” she cried, and, to her surprise, her eyes filled with tears. Damn him! she thought. Damn him! Embarrassed she hid her face from him.
Southwood, however, would have none of it. Gently he turned her so that she was forced to face him. “Look up at me, my sweet Angel,” he said softly. “I love you, dearest heart.”
She stared at him as if he had gone mad. “You can’t love me,” she said. “Knowing facts about me is not really knowing me. Besides, you are the Earl of Lynmouth, one of England’s most powerful and wealthy men. I am nothing in light of your family. What is the daughter of an impoverished second son of an unimportant baron to the Southwood family?”
“I am Southwood, Angel. There is no one to tell me yea or nay! I am my own master.”
“You should marry a lady of equal wealth and family, my lord,” she said softly. “Even I know that.”
“I should marry the girl I love,” he answered her, “and, my beautiful Angel, I love you beyond life itself! Marry me, my darling! Make me the happiest of men!”
Angel was now totally disconcerted. She had always thought that the queen would eventually make some sort of match for her, for she could not remain a royal charge forever. Angel had believed that the only asset she had to her name was her beauty. Her face, she had hoped, would win her a wealthy merchant, or perhaps an unimportant but pleasant nobleman. It had never occurred to her that someone like Robert Southwood would fall in love with her, and Angel, being the practical girl that she was, had never even considered aspiring to such heights.
Her heart was hammering in her chest, and her normally muted color was high in her excitement. She looked at Robin and said, “I don’t know if I love you, and like Velvet I believe a girl should have some feeling for the man she marries.” She bit her lower lip with some vexation. “This is totally unthinkable, my lord! What will your mother say to such a match? The queen will certainly not countenance it. Speak no further about it, I pray you. I shall forget you have even mentioned such a possibility, and then perhaps you will allow my friendship with your sister to continue. I will not embarrass you by repeating this incident. I promise.”
Robin came perilously close to hugging Angel right then and there. “My mother married my father when she did not even know who she really was,” he said quietly. “She had suffered a loss of memory. My father, however, loved her no matter who she was, and he married her. She might have been a murderess, but it mattered not to him. What did matter was that he loved her even as I love you, Angel. As for Her Majesty, my love, she will give her consent. Come with me now and we will ask her.”
Angel looked aghast.“Now?”she cried. “At this time of evening?”
Robin grinned at her. “Yes, Angel Christman. Now! At this time of evening. You can ride pillion behind me toArdern Hall.”He took her firmly by the hand to lead her off, but Angel hung back.
“Velvet,” she said. “Please ask Velvet to come with us.”
“Very well.” He smiled down at her. “Where do you think the minx has gotten to?” He shaded his eyes with his hand and looked down the garden. “Ah, there they are by the riverbank. Velvet! Alex!” he called.
They came toward him hand in hand, and Robin noted silently that his youngest sister was pleasingly flushed and his friend, Alex, looked relaxed and content. “Is everything all right, Robin?” Velvet inquired of him as they finally reached him.
