Winter Blockbuster 2012 (70 page)

‘Oh, my lord. I think both of you know far more about secrets than I ever could,’ Anna said.

Edward laughed and led her up the wide stone steps and through the open doors into the house, Rob trailing behind them. The entrance hall was richly panelled in polished dark wood, hung with tapestries, the floor an intricate pattern of white and black tiles. An elaborately carved staircase twisted up to the floors above, lit by a window of old stained glass at
its turning. A suit of armour lurked in the corner, as if watching over all the comings and goings of the house.

A lady appeared at the top of the stairs and waved down at them. She was not very tall, and she was attractive rather than fashionably beautiful, with a heart-shaped face and dark brown hair drawn back under a pearl-embroidered cap. She wore a simple gown of blue velvet with an embroidered Spanish-style surcoat.

‘I’m quite sure the lady must be too tired for your teasing, Edward,’ she said, hurrying down the stairs. Her heeled shoes tapped against the gleaming wood. ‘It’s a long journey from London.’

Lord Edward’s face seemed to glow from within at the sight of her, and a gentle smile touched his carved lips as he went to her and took her hands in his. Anna watched the two of them with a sharp pang that was terribly like envy. They seemed to belong together, so perfectly fitting as they moved across the hall hand in hand.

‘Mistress Barrett, may I present Lady Elizabeth Gilbert?’ Edward said.

As Anna curtsied and murmured, ‘Lady Elizabeth,’ the lady reached for her hand and laughed.

‘I have been so eager to meet you, Mistress Barrett,’ she said. ‘I visit the playhouse as often as I can—as does Edward, as I’m sure you have seen. He makes a peacock parade wherever he goes.’

Edward clasped his hand over his heart. ‘My love, you wound me. I am the soul of discretion.’

Elizabeth just shook her head. ‘The Queen does not love you for your discretion, I fear.’

‘Indeed we do know Lord Edward well at the White Heron,’ Anna said, looking between the pair with wonder. She had seldom seen such a couple, so very comfortable with
each other, teasing and joking, unable to look away from one another. How was such a match even possible? A vague wisp of hope floated through her at the sight of a couple so genuinely happy with each other.

She glanced back at Rob, who also watched Edward and Elizabeth with a little smile on his face. He leaned against the stone stand of the armour, all lazy elegance. He also seemed to belong here, in this beautiful house with these people, and Anna at last started to feel at ease herself. Rob had drawn her out into the wide world again.

‘But now we can come to know you, as well, Mistress Barrett!’ Elizabeth said. ‘I want to hear the secrets of a playhouse, and the secrets of Robert, as well. For all his wit, he is a great cipher to us.’

‘I fear I cannot help you with that, Lady Elizabeth,’ Anna said ruefully. ‘He is a cipher to me, as well.’

Rob’s brow arched, and Elizabeth laughed. She took Anna’s arm and whispered, ‘Then we must speculate about him between us. Come, I will show you to your chamber and leave Edward and Robert the dull task of going to look at the new stable.’

‘My love, I fear you only wish to be rid of us,’ Edward said.

‘Of course we do. Gentlemen are only in the way when ladies have confidences to share,’ Elizabeth said. ‘Now, run along. We will see you at dinner.’

As Edward and Rob turned back towards the doors Elizabeth led Anna up the staircase. Anna glanced down over the balustrade, but Rob had already vanished into the bright day outside.

‘Now, Mistress Barrett,’ Elizabeth said. ‘Tell me all about you and Rob Alden. I am so longing to hear he is tamed at last …’

CHAPTER TWELVE

R
OB
followed Edward out of the doors and back into the sunlit day, but his thoughts were with Anna as she went upstairs with Lady Elizabeth. Would she be all right on her own, in the midst of that vast house? Would she be nervous, or feel lost, or come to hate him for throwing her into the midst of these bright, brittle courtiers?

He had to laugh at himself for those worries—about Anna Barrett of all people. Surely she had never feared anything in her life? Especially not a pack of overdressed pleasure-seekers. He was turning soft-hearted towards her, and he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t afford to—not when he walked the tightrope of Walsingham’s task, dragging Anna with him. Below them both lay the waiting abyss, lined with flashing blades and snapping teeth. He did what he must for the work, but the guilt of involving Anna in his own chosen danger lay heavy on him.

If he was to save them both he needed all his hard, cold wits about him. So did Anna. She couldn’t gossip with Lady Elizabeth—who knew what she would hear?

Rob glanced at the upper windows of the house, sparkling
like diamonds in the sun. He thought he glimpsed a pale face behind one of them, watching him, but then it vanished.

‘Don’t worry, Rob,’ Edward said. ‘Elizabeth will look after your lady.’

‘She’s not
my
lady,’ Rob protested. He hated the sudden smug touch of satisfaction those words gave—
his
lady, his Anna. No matter how easily those thoughts came to him.

‘Is she not?’ Edward said with a grin. ‘I’m sure Lord Maddingly will be glad of that. He arrives this evening, and Mistress Barrett seems just the sort of beauty he enjoys.’

Hot anger flooded through Rob, and he reached impulsively for the dagger at his belt. ‘He’d best keep his distance from her if he doesn’t want a blade at his poxy throat!’

Edward laughed. ‘A mere joke, Robert, I swear. But if she is
not
your lady you are doing a fair imitation of it. Are you up to some masquerade?’

‘I hardly know any longer.’ What was real and what was a counterfeit? He had lost his real self so long ago.

‘That sounds intriguing. I hope there’s a part for me in whatever you’re planning.’ Edward stopped to bow to one of the ladies in the garden who waved to him, a pretty blonde in yellow satin and gilded lace.

Rob recognised her—Lady Arabella Bowen, one of the Court ladies who lingered at the playhouse so often. She sent him secret notes and lacy garters, but that was as far as things had ever gone with that particular lady.

Thus far.

She waved to Rob, too, and covered her mouth as she giggled and blushed.

‘I have the feeling Lady Bowen would be glad to hear that you and Mistress Barrett are only travel companions, as well,’ Edward continued. ‘Elizabeth says she asked about you as soon as she arrived.’

‘There is no time for such things right now, I fear.’ Rob studied Lady Bowen as she cavorted among the flowers with her friends. She was pretty indeed, a fluffy Court sweetmeat, with an obvious liking for actors. But he felt strangely unmoved as he looked at her. He could see only Anna’s face now.

‘My friend, there is
always
time for such things,’ Edward said. ‘Except for men like me, whose hearts have been entirely claimed. If you are not in the same situation …’

‘I am not.’ Not yet—and never, if he guarded himself as well as he had in the past. If he kept his armour in place. Even as he knew Anna would hate him after, and that knowledge pained him as nothing else could.

‘Then Lady Bowen might be a fine distraction from your work.’ Edward led Rob down a winding path that twisted around the house to the meadows and fields that rolled away into the distance. Once they were alone by the decorative lake, with no one to overhear, he said, ‘Speaking of work, Rob, what progress have you made?’

‘Walsingham believes he is closing in on the plotters,’ Rob said. The plotters—including Anna’s own father. He scooped up a flat stone from the ground and sent it skimming hard into the water. ‘He still seeks their leader, and I think he does not yet know the essence of their plot. Only that they work for Spain.’

‘Always Spain,’ Edward said. ‘Even when we defeat them we are not rid of them. But perhaps some of our guests will know information of help to us.’

‘Which guests are you thinking of?’

‘Ah, we shall have to discover that later, won’t we?’ Edward pointed to the crest of a distant hill, where a dark grey stone wall snaked its way through the lush green. ‘Beyond
that border lies Thomas Sheldon’s new estate, which he bought after the downfall of the unfortunate Carringtons.’

‘Sheldon lives there now?’ Rob said in surprise. ‘And you have not yet run him off?’

‘It amuses me to watch him squirm so close by,’ Edward said, his eyes narrowed as he studied that wall. ‘And his days are numbered now. He has many interesting visitors—and I have many watchers along the road to make note of them. He grows careless. With these comings and goings, and the papers Elizabeth’s enterprising niece snatched for us, he will soon be done.’

‘And you think he has something to do with these new Spanish plotters?’

‘The Spanish have gold, and lots of it. Of course Sheldon will deal with them. I will show you the papers later. I’m eager to see what you think of them.’

‘Will we have to break into his house to search for more evidence?’ Rob asked. House-breaking was not his favourite activity—it lacked the quick, sharp action of a fight, the satisfaction of meeting an enemy face to face. But sometimes it was the only way to accomplish a goal.

‘No need,’ Edward said. ‘He will be at the ball here at Hart Castle a few nights hence. Perhaps the lady who is not
your
lady might care to dance with him? She seems very observant, even if she
is
here with you.’

Rob stared hard at the hillside, imagining Anna in Sheldon’s fat arms, the villain braying down at her as he stared at her bodice. It made that hot fury return, stronger than ever.

He had never felt so possessive of a woman before—so protective. He could never do his task—clear her father, be rid of Walsingham—if he spent every moment waiting to skewer any man who looked at her, who wished to do her harm.

Especially when he feared he would be the first one to hurt her.

He shrugged, feigning indifference. ‘You must ask her yourself, Edward. I told you—she is not my lady.’

‘I do hope you will be comfortable here, Mistress Barrett,’ Lady Elizabeth said as she bustled around the bedchamber. She fluffed a cushion on a chair and opened the window to let in the fresh country breeze.

Anna carefully laid her hat and gloves on a small carved table, staring around her at the room that was larger than the first floor of her father’s house. An immense dark wood bed, etched with images of fruit, flowers and fantastical birds, was hung with deep green curtains and spread with an embroidered counterpane that matched the cushions of the cross-backed chairs by the fireplace. Large clothes chests lined the walls, which displayed a valuable oval looking glass and portraits of sumptuously garbed Hartleys. Her own luggage looked small and puny next to such furnishings.

‘Oh, yes,’ Anna murmured. ‘I dare say I will be comfortable enough here.’

‘If you have need of anything at all you need only ring for it, or ask me. My own apartment is across the corridor.’ Lady Elizabeth suddenly hurried over to clasp Anna’s hands in hers, a happy smile on her face. ‘I am so very glad you’ve come here with Robert! He has never brought a lady to one of our parties before.’

Startled by such a fine lady’s gesture of friendship, Anna managed to smile back. What a strange house this Hart Castle was! She was starting to feel as if she had tumbled down into a new, strange land, and Rob was her only anchor.

‘Has he not?’ Anna asked.

Lady Elizabeth shook her head. ‘I do fear he is very lonely.’

Lonely? Robert? Anna almost laughed at the thought as she remembered the bawd in the dirty yellow gown, the ladies who crowded the galleries at the White Heron to toss flowers at his feet, and the woman in the garden below who stared at him.

But then she remembered something else—the shadow in his eyes sometimes when he looked at her in an unguarded instant. The tender way he held her in his arms once the storm of passion had passed. There
was
something raw and aching he hid deep inside, and it was that which called out to her so strongly, which drew her to him even as she knew she should run.

But he would never reveal that vulnerable heart to her—not fully and freely.

A burst of laughter rang through the open window, and Anna hurried to see what was happening, Elizabeth right behind her. The view was down to the driveway and statues below, the curve of the lane, the formal gardens and the trees beyond. A new carriage had just arrived, its glossy, crest-painted doors opening to disgorge its passengers.

They were two men and three women, all dressed in sumptuous satins and velvets, creamy pearls and plumed hats. The guests who had been strolling among the flowerbeds rushed to greet them amid more raucous laughter and shouts.

Lord Edward and Rob appeared from around the hidden side of the house, and one of the ladies broke away to hurry over to them. Blond curls and bright ribbons flying, she threw her arms around Rob’s neck and squealed with joy.

Anna smiled wryly. ‘Terribly lonely, I see.’

‘Lady Arabella flirts with everyone,’ Elizabeth said.

‘And so does Robert.’

‘Does he?’ Elizabeth waved towards the scene below. Rob had unwound Lady Arabella’s arms and held her away as she
pouted up at him. Rob just laughed and strolled lazily to the house, disappearing up the front steps.

Lady Arabella then bounced over to another gentleman and took his arm. He seemed rather more receptive.

‘Dinner tonight should be very interesting,’ Elizabeth said. ‘Now, Mistress Barrett, tell me all the news of London. I have not been back to town for many days, and I’m sure much has happened since then! Has the unhappy Moreton been released from the Tower yet? What of the French ambassador’s quarrel with Lord Meyers?’

As they shared gossip of the city, and maids appeared to unpack Anna’s borrowed trunks, Anna began to feel more at ease. Lady Elizabeth was not grand or snobbish, despite her title and the fact that she had been lady-in-waiting to the Queen, and they laughed and chattered as old friends. Anna could at last let go of her worry over her father, her confused thoughts of Rob and all that had happened between them, and just enjoy herself.