“I don’t believe any of it, but there’s one large problem. The meeting of the princes was a quickly arranged plan known to very few. How did our crackbrained would-be Guy Fawkes find out?”
Kitty pulled a face at him.
“And,” he added, “the queen is not that strongly guarded in Bath. She’d have been an easy target.”
“Perhaps the crackbrain didn’t care to strike against an old, sick woman?”
“Illogical.”
“Crackbrained,” she shot back. “In any case, the death of three sons would be a great blow to her. Dead sons andgrieving mothers,” she said. “That seems to be a running thread for us. We’re getting nowhere, aren’t we?”
“We’ve indulged in flights of fancy, which is always amusing, but often the simplest solution is the true one. Most evildoers are not clever enough to be complex.”
“How many are willing to wait decades for any benefit of their plan?”
“A point. Perhaps our plotter is a country man. There’s a plantation of trees at the Abbey begun by the fourth viscount that will be felled for timber round about the time the last of the king’s children might die.”
Kitty rolled her eyes. “I’m sure there’s some deep philosophical point in that, but if the plotter is of that mind, you have a difficult time ahead.”
“Unless they intend to pick off the royal family one by one.”
“Doesn’t that make your situation more difficult rather than less?”
“If there are repeated attempts,” he said, “the hand will eventually become clear.”
“If there are repeated attempts, the country will be thrown into ferment. The purpose?”
“Possibly. Which is why we must put a stop to it now.” He’d drunk the last of his coffee and came to kiss her lingeringly, a hand cradling her face. She knew his pull back to the bedroom was as powerful as hers, but he straightened. “What are your plans for the day?”
A honeymoon,she thought. But that wasn’t possible.
“A dressmaker. She’s also a friend, so that’s a pleasure jaunt.”
“Your comments have been useful, Kitty. Thank you.”
He went to the door, but Kitty suddenly had another thought. “Speaking of mothers, what about the Princess of Wales? Caroline of Brunswick might be blaming the royal family for her daughter’s death.”
“Oh, dear God. And she is crackbrained enough for anything. I’m not sure whether to thank you or curse you for putting that notion on the list.”
Kitty wasted a few moments smiling at the closed door, and then had to bite her lips on tears. Why was everything always bittersweet? She could try harder to persuade him of the delights of rural life, but how, when she didn’t see them herself? With his work here being so important, it was hopeless.
She could probably arrange matters so she could spend more time in London, but that wasn’t what she wanted. Greedily, she wanted to be with her husband every day and every night. She wanted the passion, but she also wanted his company and the sort of discussion they’d just enjoyed. She wanted to share her life with him.
“Oh, I’ll fall into a fit of the blue devils this way,” she said, startling Sillikin awake. “Time to visit Janet Saunders.”
With some difficulty, she left Edward behind.
“I’m going to a very simple place, Edward. People will stare if I arrive with an entourage.”
“The simpler the place, ma’am, the more I should be with you.”
“For heaven’s sake, I lived in Moor Street for eight years with never a scrap of trouble. I have friends there.”
“All the same, ma’am, his lordship would wish me to accompany you.”
“Then you must tell him I bullied you unmercifully, which I will do if you don’t do as I say.”
With a sigh and rolled eyes, he went to summon a hackney for her and allowed her to ride away with only Henry and Sillikin to defend her from the barbarian hordes.
