Page 12 of This Heart of Mine (O’Malley Saga #4)
“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.”
“That doesn’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 to Ardern 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.
“I have asked Angel to marry me, and, being the sweet child she is, she fears it is not at all a good enough match for me. She thinks the queen will not allow me to wed her, but I have explained that our mother wed my father under even more difficult circumstances with the queen’s blessing. We are going to Ardern Hall now, and Angel wants your support.”
“Do you love my brother?”
Velvet was suddenly very protective of Robin. Men were such fools when it came to women. Dame Cecily had said it often enough.
“I-I don’t know, Velvet,”
Angel answered honestly. “How can I know such a thing? I hardly know Lord Southwood.”
“It’s not important,”
said Robin with a wave of his hand. “I love her, and most matches do not take into account whether the parties involved love each other. Alison and I didn’t love each other.”
“You knew Alison all her life, Robin,”
said Velvet. “You have only just met Angel. Understand it is not just you I fear for, but also my dear friend, Angel. If this is some whim on your part, Robin, I shall be very angry.”
“When have you ever known me to be deliberately unkind, Velvet?”
he chided her gently. “I realize that love at first sight is a rare phenomenon, but it has happened to me with Angel. I will devote my life to making her happy if she will but give me the chance.”
His lime-green eyes were filled with such emotion that for a moment Velvet looked away in embarrassment. She had never known her brother to be this way.
She swallowed the little lump that had risen in her throat and, looking back at him, said, “Then, dammit, Robin, why are we standing here when we should be on the road to Ardern Hall!”
Alex looked from one to the other, amused. What charmingly willful people they were, these children of Skye O’Malley. Both assumed that all was settled because it suited them. Neither had bothered to consult the other person most definitely involved. He looked at the beautiful blond girl and said quietly, “And what say you about all of this, Mistress Angel Christman? Are you content to rush off into the night to ask the queen’s permission to wed with the Earl of Lynmouth?”
“I think it is all madness, my lord,”
she replied with a smile, “but if the earl be serious in his intent toward me, I could not receive a better offer. It is indeed a magnificent offer for a maid in my position. I suppose I must be practical in any event.”
Velvet looked somewhat shocked. “You would be practical in the matter of marriage, Angel? What of love? This is a lifetime we are speaking about!”
Angel sighed and smoothed her palms down over her rather plain gown. “Velvet, you were born an heiress. I do not have your choices. Yes, I want to love the man I marry, but if the queen gave me to a stranger, I could not refuse. In the little time I have known your brother he has shown himself to be a kind and gentle man of the most delicate breeding. He says he loves me, and I do not believe he is a man easily confused by his own feelings. In time I believe I can learn to love him, and that is as good a basis for a marriage as any maid in my position has ever had.”
Robin put a protective arm about Angel and softly kissed the top of her golden head. “Thank you, sweetheart, for giving me your trust. I shall endeavor not to disappoint you. Now, little sister, if you are satisfied as to our intentions, may we be on our way?”
“Oh, no, my lord,”
said the blushing bride-to-be. “Not until I have changed my gown. I cannot appear before Her Majesty in this travel-worn garment. Will you help me, Velvet?”
“Aye,”
came her friend’s reply. Then Velvet said to her brother, “I assume you can arrange a coach for us?”
“A coach?”
Robin laughed. “I had thought to have you ladies ride pillion behind Alex and me.”
“Pillion? Nay! We would arrive at Ardern Hall so covered with dust they would take us for gypsies! Angel and I have but one other dress apiece, and we will need them again tomorrow. You must find us a coach! I shall leave it to you, Robin. Come, Angel!”
Her eyes twinkling, tossing her curls, Velvet took her friend’s arm and led her back into the inn.
In the short time it took for Velvet to help Angel from her worn blue gown and relace her into the magnificent turquoise one that matched her eyes, Robin did manage to find them a coach. He also learned that the queen was supping with the Earl of Leicester in his tent in the middle of the army’s camp.
It was but a few moments’ ride from the Mermaid Inn to the encampment. Upon arriving, the young earl requested a brief audience with the queen, and a few mintues later the four were ushered into Dudley’s quarters.
The queen was gowned in a magnificent black and gold dress, the bodice of which was covered with pearls. She smiled graciously and extended her hand to Robin and Alex. Once the men had paid their homage, it was the girls’ turn to curtsy, which they did prettily and in unison.
“Well, now, my lord of Lynmouth,”
said Elizabeth, “what is so very important that it cannot wait until this business with the Spanish is over and done with?”
She peered at him, genuinely curious.
Robin smiled warmly at his queen. “Do you remember, madame, when I first came to court to serve you and I cried for my mother? You told me then, in order to stop my weeping, that I might have anything of you that I desired. I was so enchanted at the time by the prospect of my queen giving me anything I wanted that I could not decide.”
The queen laughed at the memory. “As I recall, my lord Southwood, I then said that the offer was an open one; a promise from me to thee that might be claimed at any time. Tis that not correct?”
“Aye, madame. Your memory does not fail you.”
“I should hope not!”
The queen chuckled. “I am not yet so old that I grow forgetful.”
She peered at him again. “So you have finally decided after almost twenty years have passed what it is you would have of me, Robert Southwood. Is that not it?”
“Aye, madame, I have finally decided, and I come before Your Gracious Majesty to ask for the hand in marriage of your royal ward, Angel Christman.”
The queen’s surprised glance swung to Angel as she attempted to exercise her memory once again. There were several royal wards. Who was this one? Ah, yes! Her eyes lit up. “You are aware that the maid is penniless, my lord. She will bring you nothing but her maidenhead if you have not stolen it already.”
Angel flushed crimson, and Robin quickly said, “Nay, madame! I have far too much respect for Angel’s reputation to compromise her.”
The queen smiled, a trifle bitterly, Velvet thought, and said, “You may look like Southwood, but you are your mother’s son in many ways, my lord. I believe you when you tell me that you have had a care for the girl’s honor. It is an incredible offer you make to Mistress Christman. What, however, will your mother say to such a match when she returns from her voyage? Will she approve? I wonder.”
“Yes!”
he said firmly.
The queen laughed again. “Aye, you are right. She will be glad, I have not a doubt, to see you happily settled, for Skye O’Malley has always been a woman for a happy ending. Very well, Robert Southwood, Earl of Lynmouth, you may marry my royal ward, Angel Christman. When may we expect to be invited to your wedding?”
“I would wed Angel as quickly as possible, madame. I see no point in waiting. Neither of us have parents here to satisfy, and there is no dowry to be worked out.”
Elizabeth Tudor nodded. “Tonight!”
she said. “You will be married tonight by my own chaplain, and my lord Dudley shall give the bride away! Yes! Tonight! It shall be a good omen for England! A beginning, not an end!”
“Madame!”
Robin was astounded. “You are most gracious!”
“Dudley!”
the queen snapped. “Get off your skinny backside and fetch my personal chaplain! Then find some posies for this child to carry!”
Angel stood, stunned with surprise. It was all happening so quickly. Less than an hour ago she had found herself facing a proposal from a wealthy and powerful man. Now she was to find herself married in less than another hour. What was happening to her? She began to tremble with fright until Velvet pinched her fiercely.
“Courage, you little ninny!”
her friend hissed. “The queen honors you. Where is the feisty sparrow I knew when I first came to court? If you swoon, I shall never forgive you, Angel!”
“Look who advises me about marriage!”
Angel snapped back, the blood beginning to flow hot in her veins once more. “The runaway bride herself!”
Velvet grinned mischievously at her friend. “Good!”
she said. “You have returned to yourself again. I hope you’re not going to be one of those wives who hangs on to every word her husband says. God’s nightshirt, Angel, be yourself! Alison was one of those simpering idiots!”
“Perhaps that is why he is in love with me,”
replied Angel in a slightly stricken voice.
“Nay! You’re nothing like Alison de Grenville. Dying was the wisest thing she ever did,”
Velvet said harshly. “Robin was already beginning to be bored with her though he knew it not at the time.”
“Come here to me, child,”
said the queen, beckoning to Angel. When the two girls had moved to the queen’s side, she asked, “How long have you been a royal ward, Angel Christman?”
“I came to court when I was just a little past five, madame. I shall be eighteen my next birthday.”
“So young,”
murmured the queen. “You were so young to lose your parents, but then I was younger when I lost my mother. I hope you have not been lonely, my child.”
“Oh, no, madame! Your court was a wonderful place in which to grow up. Had I not been at court, I should not have had any of the wonderful advantages that I received by being part of it. I have been taught to read, and to write, and to figure. I can both speak and read Latin, French, and Greek. I am proficient with the lute although I have never owned one. The strings are so expensive.”
“You like music?”
The queen was suddenly interested in this lovely girl who was about to rise from the ranks of the unimportant royal wards to the station of an important noblewoman.
“Oh, yes, madame, very much. I would like to learn to play the virginal, although I dare not aspire to Your Majesty’s talent.”
The queen smiled. The girl was quick despite her fluffy beauty. That was good, for she would be an asset to Lord Southwood. “ ’Tis said I have a talent for the virginal,”
Elizabeth remarked dryly.
At that moment Lord Dudley returned, bearing with him a small bouquet of pale pink wild roses, daisies, and some sprigs of lavender. “ ’Tis the best I could do, Bess, stamping about the edges of the camp in the dark looking for flowers!”
He thrust them out to her.
The queen removed a gold ribbon from her sleeve and tied it around the bouquet. Then, taking it from the Earl of Leicester, she presented it to Angel. “There, my child, though your own beauty far outshines that of the flowers. Now, dammit, where is the chaplain?”
“Here, madame.”
The cleric stepped foward.
“I wish Lord Southwood and his betrothed to be wed here and now,”
said the queen. “Waive the bans.”
“Of course, madame,”
came his smooth reply. “Might I have the names of the parties involved?”
“Robert Geoffrey James Henry Southwood,”
said the queen with a chuckle. “He is one of my many godchildren, and Lord Dudley’s also. It has been more years than I care to remember since he was baptized, but, nonetheless, I do.”
Robin smiled. “You are truly amazing, madame,” he said.
“Humph!”
said the queen with a little snort. Then she turned to the bride. “What is your full name, child?”
“Angel Aurora Elizabeth, madame. I am told my grandmother insisted I be called Angel because she thought I looked like one. Aurora was my mother’s suggestion because I was born at dawn. Elizabeth was for Your Majesty.”
“You were named for me?”
“So I remember being told, madame.”
The queen nodded, pleased, and then said, “Well, Father, let us begin.”
What a funny place to have a wedding, thought Velvet as she stood listening to the cleric droning the marriage service. Here they all stood, in the middle of the lieutenant general’s tent on a potential battlefield. The startled servants had cleared away the table where the queen and Dudley had eaten earlier. It now stood against one side of the tent. Above, the lamps cast warm golden shadows. The hurriedly summoned cleric was plainly garbed without vestments of any kind. The bride stood in the only decent gown she possessed, clutching a hastily gathered bouquet. Thank heavens Angel had refused to come before the queen before she changed, thought Velvet.
It really was a lovely gown, and Velvet was especially glad of the impulse that had caused her to share her own bounty with Angel and Bess. Bonnie had made the dress as if she had been doing it for Velvet herself. The underskirt was striped in narrow bands of gold and turquoise, the bodice embroidered with freshwater pearls and tiny crystal beads, the sleeves beribboned with silk bows. What no one but Velvet knew was that beneath the gown the bride’s stockings were darned neatly in several places and her shoes were almost worn through. Just before the simple service began, she had thought to loose Angel’s long golden hair so that it hung unbound almost to her waist. It was like a shimmering veil. Angel really was an exquisite bride.
“I pronounce thee husband and wife,”
said the queen’s chaplain.
For a long and silent moment, Robert Southwood looked down into Angel’s radiant face, and then, smiling, he kissed her lips sweetly and briefly. Angel then found herself kissed by Lord Dudley, the queen, and Lord Gordon. She blushed rosily. Velvet gave her friend an enormous hug, whispering as she did so, “I am so glad we are now sisters, dear Angel!”
The queen’s servants hurried forth with goblets of sweet Malmsey wine and thin sugar wafers, which they passed to all assembled. “It is a poor wedding that does not offer its guests a loving cup,”
declared Elizabeth.