“And what if it’s a female imp of Satan like yourself?” Greysteel demanded.
Velvet’s face softened. “If it’s a girl, I shall call her Paisley.”
“My mother’s name!” His heart melted with love. “You are so generous, Velvet.”
“Nonsense, I just like beautiful names.” She pushed back her chair. “Now, if you will both excuse me, I have to write a letter to a friend.” She glanced wickedly at Greysteel. “A
devoted
friend!”
They left the kitchen and Greysteel watched her sit at the writing desk. “I shall give you some privacy, Lady Montgomery.”
Velvet spent the next hour composing a letter to the king. Just as she was about to sand it, she heard a carriage on the driveway and ran to the window. “It’s Christian,” she called upstairs. “Didn’t you answer her letter?”
“Of course, I did. I invited her to come and visit us.”
The two women enjoyed their reunion, and Greysteel sat bemused, unable to get a word in edgewise, as the pair talked without seeming to take a breath.
“What will you wear to the coronation?” Christian asked.
“I’m not going to the coronation. I have more important things to do, like giving birth to the next Earl of Eglinton.”
“Darling, you won’t have your baby until the following month. King Charles will expect you both to be there.”
“Charles is quite capable of receiving the Crown of England without us holding his hands. We have our own life to live. We are going to take our horses to Bolsover and spend Christmas there as well as the spring. We want our child to be born at the castle.”
The dowager countess was taken aback. “You mean to say you don’t intend to return to Whitehall until Catherine of Braganza becomes Charles’s queen?”
“I don’t intend to return at all, except for an occasional visit. I have just written to Charles, declining his invitation to be a Lady of the Bedchamber.”
“Are you pulling my leg, Velvet?”
“No, I am perfectly serious. My mind is made up.”
“How will you exist without the intrigue and gossip?”
“I shall rely on you for every salacious detail!”
“That reminds me . . . the latest rumor is that James, Duke of York, secretly wed Anne Hyde, and now wants a divorce!”
“The lecherous swine! ’Tis no rumor. I was there with the king when James and Anne were married in the chapel. I was also there when the poor lady suffered a miscarriage. Now that there’s no child, the whoreson wants a divorce! I shall add a postscript to my letter to Charles that I will be a witness if he wants me to testify that they are legally wed!”
Montgomery sat stunned, listening to his wife. She was willing to give up her glamorous life at Court to be a wife and mother and allow him to fulfill his dream of breeding horses. Velvet was ready to return to Whitehall to right a wrong, but other than that, she was ready to kiss the Court good-bye.
Suddenly, she looked across the room and their eyes met in an intimate glance that aroused him instantly. He knew he was the luckiest man alive.
Velvet lowered her voice to Christian. “I’ll be busy being a Lady of Montgomery’s Bedchamber. The man is insatiable!”