“If you love me, you will do as I ask. Take your wife away from here. When I want to see you again, I will send for you. Until then, you would be wise not to press me.” She hated herself for softening, but damn Robert! He could always do that to her.
Robert knew when he had won. He dropped his hand and kissed hers. “I am, as ever, yours to command.”
She hoped his father would be as accommodating, but she doubted it. If Robert resembled a stream, slipping swiftly and noiselessly around any obstacle in its path, then Northumberland was a mountain, looming and unmovable.
At least Amy Dudley’s unexpected appearance had given her the upper hand. Northumberland began apologizing the moment the two of them were alone in his study. The paneled space was cozily hung with tapestries, and rich rugs covered the plank floor. Elizabeth was surprised at the number of books in view—though she knew Northumberland had gone to great lengths to educate his children in humanist principles, she had always thought of the duke as less interested. A reminder that one cannot always judge by the exterior.
“My daughter-in-law should have known better,” Northumberland said gruffly. “But like most women, Amy has more temper than sense.”
“Most women?” Elizabeth asked, thinking it was an apt description of Northumberland himself.
“Your Highness, of course, is a model of all that is wise and measured.”
“I am not here to discuss your son’s wife—at least, not this particular wife. I am rather more interested in Guildford and my cousin, Margaret. Did you introduce them intending an assault on royal privilege?”
He shook his head. “It wasn’t like that, Your Highness. I did ensure they met, and yes, I had it in mind that perhaps Guildford would make the girl a good husband. But she was only fourteen! I thought I had plenty of time to speak to the king.”
“Youthful passion,” Elizabeth remarked drily.
“My sons are not always temperate in their loves.”
She would not let him turn this back on her, nor discomfit her with sly allusions to Robert. “When one threatens royal prerogative, one must pay the price. If you expect me to plead for him to my brother, I am not particularly inclined to do so. Guildford was entirely in the wrong.”
Northumberland flushed; he was not adept at hiding his feelings. “What harm could it do? Guildford is no threat to the king or the succession. He’s had the marriage annulled and the baby declared a bastard.”
“If that were an unshakable answer, then the Catholics would not be constantly threatening us with my half sister, Mary.”
“This isn’t about religion!” Moderating his voice, the duke said, “Your Highness, you love your brother. What would you do to protect him from the consequences of his own follies?”
“Are you implying that your king is foolish?”
“No man is perfect—certainly not a man in love.”
Elizabeth stood up in a swirl of silken outrage. “You would be wise to keep your opinions of my brother to yourself. As to other matters—I did not come here to discuss Guildford. I am interested in larger concerns. We will meet again when you have had a chance to grow calm and consider your future. I would ponder deeply on any actions from your past that you might wish to confess. Actions having to do with the Howard family, perhaps.”
“Norfolk?” Northumberland regarded her suspiciously. “You can’t imagine I was part of that Catholic plot, Your Highness!”
“No. But I can imagine very easily that you could manufacture a Catholic plot in order to destroy your enemies.”
She could not tell if his blank expression was surprise or calculation. Perhaps he had learned something from Robert. With a false and flattering smile, Elizabeth added, “I plan to remain at Dudley Castle for a week at least. We will speak again when you are prepared to be honest.”
If she managed to bring Northumberland to confession, perhaps the sting of Amy Dudley would ease. And perhaps William would not be so furious with her when he found out where she had gone.
It had been a long time since anything had taken Minuette’s mind off her own knot of troubles, but the eruption of Robert’s wife on the scene had done just that. For a woman of middling height and no outstanding beauty, Amy Dudley had commanded the eye and the attention of every person in the hall last night—none more so than Elizabeth. Minuette had never seen her friend so miserably fixed on a single human being in her life. It was as though a demon had walked into the room.
She had known better than to make Elizabeth talk about it, though she did desperately wish that Carrie was here so she could talk it over with someone. When Minuette rose the next morning, she let herself gossip a little with the Dudley maid who came to help her dress.
“Is it usual for Lord Robert’s wife to accompany him to Dudley Castle?”
“No, miss,” the girl said as she laced one of Minuette’s periwinkle sleeves to her overdress. “She’s more likely to be here when he isn’t. ’Course, Lord Robert is hardly ever here hisself.”
Because he’s at court, making certain Elizabeth doesn’t have occasion to forget him, Minuette thought cynically. She’d always been a bit cynical where Robert was concerned. Not because she doubted his regard for Elizabeth, but because she doubted its purity. Would he have been anywhere near as enamoured if Elizabeth were not a princess royal of England? For certain he would not be as patiently loyal. He liked women too well, in all the shaded meanings of that term.
“What is she like, Lord Robert’s wife?” Minuette asked curiously. It wasn’t as though she expected to ever be in Northumberland’s household again—it wouldn’t harm her to get a reputation for nosiness.
The maid was happy to reply. “She don’t put on airs, but it’s her as has the money, and she don’t let Lord Robert forget it. To be sure, I remember when she first came here, after the wedding—very sweet, they were, he liked quoting foreign poetry to her. Italian, I think. I daresay she’s had no poetry from him for ages now.”
The maid stepped back and adjusted a creased seam on Minuette’s blue velvet stomacher. “Certainly no poetry last night,” the maid sniffed. “I weren’t serving in that wing, but they do say you could hear them yelling a long ways off.”
