“Then tell me the truth—who pressed for Bonner’s burning?”
“Look, the man committed treason in everything but the final action, he didn’t trouble to deny it at the end. He wanted me off the throne and Mary on it.”
“And you could have had his head for that. Why burn him at the stake?”
“A well-placed blow to heresy carries a long reach. I spared the young Thomas Howard, allowed him to be made Duke of Norfolk, and still the Catholics are discontented. And with the Dudleys behaving badly and out of favour, the Protestants are also restless and want to ensure that I remain firmly on their side. Bonner was trouble. I did what had to be done.”
She studied him intently, then nodded. “I just don’t want you to be taken advantage of.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “No one takes advantage of me, sweetling. That’s my prerogative.”
“Is it? Then why is Eleanor Percy serving in Lady Rochford’s household once more?”
His jaw tightened. “She is nothing to do with you, Minuette. Eleanor is under strict instructions to leave you alone.”
“That’s as good as throwing fuel on a fire, Will. If she thinks you are trying to shield me—”
None too gently, William removed her from his lap and stood. “That’s enough, Minuette. Eleanor is my concern. But since you are so curious about knowing things, I will tell you that I have formally recognized Anne Howard as my daughter.”
Minuette thought of this little girl, not even two years old, caught in political and emotional forces that could so easily destroy her. “Did you like her?” she asked.
“Did I like who?”
“Your daughter. When you saw her at Kenninghall. Did you like her?”
William’s face twisted and he sighed. “I loved her, the moment I saw her. The child reminds me of Elizabeth.”
And of course clever Eleanor had used that resemblance to her advantage, Minuette thought cynically. But William was right—Eleanor had given him a child and he owed her certain things. And it wasn’t as though she herself was truly afraid of Eleanor Percy. Although she’d wanted to believe that Eleanor had orchestrated the incident of the adder in her bedchamber, she’d never been convinced of it, and the dead rat in France was more evidence of Eleanor’s innocence. She could hardly have left a rodent and a nasty broadside in Minuette’s chamber in France while she’d been at Kenninghall in the north of England.
William wrapped his arms around her and said softly, “Eleanor is in the past, my darling. You know that, don’t you? I am sorry to cause you pain in anything. It is never done intentionally.”
Something about the urgency in his voice and the way he held her more in appeal than passion…all at once Minuette could see what had happened at Kenninghall as clearly as if she’d been there. William had met his daughter, had been instantly smitten by her, and Eleanor seized the moment. No doubt William had been easy to persuade. Probably Eleanor knew how to touch him just so, how to encourage him to slip. Unlike Dominic, William did not make a habit out of saying no to himself.
He had gone to bed with Eleanor at Kenninghall, and now Eleanor was back at court. Right where she’d always intended to be.
Could this be Minuette’s moment to tell the truth?
She imagined opening her mouth and pouring out to William her love for Dominic. And she knew instantly that she wouldn’t, without exactly knowing why. Because of the dangerous, royal fury that had sent Guildford Dudley and his bride to the Tower? Because William had listened to Rochford and allowed a man to burn to death?
No. Politics had nothing to do with her silence. She had kept this secret for months now, locked away so deep that even Dominic could hardly find it in her any longer, for the sole reason that it would hurt William. More than just wound his pride or damage his ego.You are the only three I trust.And with her confession, that number would be down to one. No matter if William forgave them—he would never trust either her or Dominic again.
I can’t do that to him, she realized bleakly. Something has to break elsewhere.
His breathing ragged, William whispered, “I wish we could be alone tonight.”
“We can’t.”
“I know. Will you come hawking tomorrow? I’m taking the French ambassador out, but you can ride along with Elizabeth and no one will think twice.”
She shook her head. “Not tomorrow. It will be better for us both if I’m not there.”
He groaned and nuzzled her neck. “You are so good, Minuette. So good for me. What would I do without you?”
I honestly don’t know.And that’s why I’m lying to you and breaking my own heart as I do so.
“Courtenay, I’d like a word with you.”
Rochford’s voice was unmistakable, and Dominic stopped in his tracks. He’d been stalking through the corridors of Nonsuch, attempting to remember where he’d been quartered, while trying to ignore the fact that William and Minuette had disappeared after dinner.
