The saints preserve her! The queen and Edmund were staring into each other’s eyes. When the queen fed Edmund an oyster with her fingers, Linnet put away her eating knife. She had to get Edmund away from Eltham before Gloucester arrived.
Jamie, who sat at the other end of the table, was also watching the queen and Beaufort—with a sour expression on his face. Suddenly, his gaze shifted, and their eyes locked. Why did Jamie Rayburn have to be here now? She would not let the tumultuous emotions he provoked distract her.
Nor did she intend to listen to any more of his damned insults. She broke the gaze and stood.
She walked behind the high table and whispered her excuse in the queen’s ear. “If my dinner companion attempts to put his hand on my leg one more time, I am sure to cause a scene.” Raising her voice enough for Edmund Beaufort to hear, she said, “Will you forgive me, Your Grace, if I escape for a short ride?”
“Of course,” the queen said, “if you promise to tell me later which one it was.”
Linnet straightened and met Beaufort’s gaze before she left.
Just outside the entrance to the hall, she stopped a squire. “Could you deliver a message for me?”
The squire stared at her with wide eyes. “I am happy to be of service, m’lady. Anything you ask.”
He sucked in his breath as she leaned closer. “Count to one hundred,” she said next to his ear. “Then go tell Edmund Beaufort I await him in the stables.”
She straightened and put a finger to her lips. “Don’t let anyone else hear you give him the message.”
As soon as the meal was finished, Jamie went to find Edmund Beaufort. The compromise that was reached last night would be blown apart if the queen made a fool of herself with Edmund Beaufort in front of Gloucester. After a quick search of the castle, he caught sight of his new squire, Martin.
“Help me find Edmund Beaufort,” he said.
The lad turned a bright shade of red. What was the matter with him?
“Have you tried the stables?” Martin asked.
“Why? Did you see him go there?”
“He was heading in that direction,” Martin said. “He seemed in a hurry.”
“Perhaps the man had the sense to leave on his own,” Jamie said, more to himself than to his squire.
Martin cleared his throat. “I don’t believe his thoughts were on leaving.”
“Why do you say that?”
Martin looked pained. “I cannot tell you.”
God’s beard. “Then I shall find out for myself,” he spat out.
Jamie wondered if he had made a mistake in taking on Martin as his squire. He’d done so only because the knight the lad had been serving died in France.
As he stalked to the stables, his mind returned to Linnet—and her nasty remark about a wealthy and virtuous wife being sufficient to “satisfy” him. Perhaps he should have told her he also wished for a wife who could make him forget his name in bed. But only one woman had ever been able to do that.
The moment he walked through the door of the stables, he saw the very one. Linnet stood with her back to him, stroking and talking to the white palfrey she had ridden on the bridge.
He held his breath as she took the horse’s head between her hands and kissed its forehead. Now he knew why the horse would follow her through a riot.
Jamie stepped into the shadows as Edmund Beaufort came out from the interior of the stable with a page who was leading his horse. Linnet turned and gave Beaufort a dazzling smile.
So it was Linnet who had brought Beaufort to the stables. Jamie would have to ask Martin how he knew.
“Thank you,” Linnet said to Beaufort. “Leaving Eltham now is the only wise course.”
Beaufort took her hand. “Come with me.”
“I cannot leave the queen alone with Gloucester,” she said, laughter tinkling in her voice. “He’d eat her alive and toss away the bones.”
