This Heart of Mine (2 page)

William Cecil, Lord Burghley, sighed softly. It was very late at night, and the queen had been ready for bed when her guests had come. She had insisted on seeing them immediately upon their arrival at Greenwich, and despite her deshabille they had been brought to her. She had greeted them clad in a quilted white velvet robe embroidered with gold threads and small garnets. The elegant red wig she wore to cover her graying and thinning hair had been affixed to her head, but even it could not compensate for her lack of makeup, and, at that moment, the queen looked every bit her fifty-two years. Lord Burghley’s prim mouth crinkled in a momentary smile, for he suspected that part of Elizabeth Tudor’s anger stemmed from the fact that she realized it too, while the woman standing before her looked ten years younger than her forty-five years.

“Madame, if I may speak,” he requested of his mistress. She nodded. “This anger between you is not solving our problem.” He turned to the queen’s guest. “Lady de Marisco, as you know, we have already sent one expedition to the East Indies.”

Skye O’Malley de Marisco’s mouth curled up in amusement. “Aye, my lord, I know. William Hawkins, a London merchant, in the company of a sometime jeweler and a painter of pictures. A most interesting choice of ambassadors.” Her voice held the faintest hint of scorn.

“We felt it best to be discreet in light of the fact that the Portuguese are fast solidifying their hold on the Indies,” was William Cecil’s reply.

“The Portuguese be damned!” shouted the queen. “ ’Tis the Spanish, for they call the tune in Portugal now! They mean to have the riches of the East Indies as they have all the wealth now pouring forth from the silver and gold mines in the New World. Well, I won’t have it! The East Indies must be England’s!”

“I wonder if the prince who rules those lands will agree with your sentiments, madame,” observed Skye wryly.

Elizabeth Tudor looked at her longtime adversary and then said something that no one had ever thought to hear her say to this great rival of hers. “I need your help, dearest Skye! No one else can do what I need done but you.”

The two men in the room glanced at one another, one more surprised than the other. Skye looked to her husband, Adam
de Marisco, and saw in his gaze what she knew she would see. The queen had come as close to begging for her aid as she was ever going to. Adam’s smoky blue eyes looked steadily into Skye’s, and she could hear his silent voice as clearly as if he were actually speaking to her.
You cannot refuse her now
, his eyes told her quietly.
Give over, little girl. Be gracious in your victory.

“Madame, may I have your permission to sit?” she asked. “Our journey was a long road traveled in a short time. I find that I can no longer spend so many hours in the saddle without suffering from it.”

The queen nodded, graciously motioning Skye to a comfortable chair by the fireside. Elizabeth Tudor sat opposite her old foe, leaning forward almost girlishly upon her elbows, and said with a grin, “After so many years, one would think our bottoms would grow hardened, but alas they do not. I find that I cannot hunt as often as I once did without suffering also.”

There was a momentary silence, and then Skye asked, “Why did John Newbery, William Hawkins, and their party travel overland, madame?”

“Hawkins thought to appear less conspicuous.”

“More than likely he thought to save himself the cost of mounting a proper expedition and thereby gain a greater profit,” said Skye. “Upon the sea he was not likely to encounter many ships if the voyage was planned carefully, but upon the land Englishmen traveling in foreign climes, however simply, cannot help but appear objects of curiosity to the local population, a fact that would be quickly brought to the attention of the local authorities. Still, he has not been gone for so long that he will not be successful, madame. Why this haste to launch another expedition?”

“Our agents in Spain send word that our dear late sister’s husband, Philip, seeks to send a great armada against England. The cost of this war is to be borne by the bounty Philip wrests from the Indies. India is ruled by a mighty prince who willingly trades with Portugal and hence with Spain. The Portuguese are a heavy-handed people, however, and I will wager that if we could but get our foot in the door of India, their emperor, Akbar, seeing the difference between our two countries, would more willingly trade with us, and Spain’s revenues would be badly cut.

“William Hawkins and his little party may eventually attain the Indies, but your ships can reach it far more quickly, dearest Skye. You have ever been adept at accomplishing the impossible.

’Tis Irish luck, I suppose, but you and Sir Robert Small together seem to be an invincible pair where trade is concerned.”

“Robbie is getting too old for this sort of thing, madame,” Skye protested.

“I should like to be present when you tell him so,” Elizabeth said, chuckling, “but if that concerns you then go yourself. In fact I should far prefer that you go, for no one else has your knack for diplomacy, when it so pleases you.”

“I have a family, madame. I cannot simply pick up and leave them.”

“Your children are grown.”

“Not Velvet. She is still a little maid, not yet thirteen.”

“Send her to me here at court,” the queen suggested. “She is my godchild, and I shall be happy to have her.”

“Never!”
said Skye vehemently. “Forgive me, madame, but my child is yet an innocent, and I would she remained so for the time being. Your court is a wondrous place for those who are wise in the ways of the world, and you, madame, are the most virtuous of women, but my child would be fair game for those whose high-mindedness is not as great as Your Majesty’s. If I do this for you, Velvet must remain in her own home in the care of Robbie’s sister, Dame Cecily Small.”

“If, madame?” The queen’s gray-black eyes narrowed.

Skye sighed. “We must leave almost immediately if we are to catch the proper winds across the Indian Ocean. It does not give us much time to mount and provision the ships.”

“You will have our utmost cooperation, dearest Skye,” the queen promised.

“What else will I have?” Skye demanded. “Favors between us have never come cheaply, madame.”

Elizabeth Tudor laughed, then nodded. “Do you fancy being a countess again? Do this for me and I will create for you the earldom of Lundy.”

“The inheritance of which will pass down through the female line of our family,” said Skye. “The title must belong to Velvet in her own right one day as we have no son, nor the hope of one. I will expect a share of any profits accrued by my efforts also.”

“Agreed!” said the queen, and her smile was one of admiration.

“How much of a share?” demanded William Cecil, ever mindful of his mistress’s interests.

“Robbie and I will work it out, my lord,” said Adam de Marisco. “The queen will, as always, receive the lion’s portion.

I do not believe you have ever found fault with our accounting.”

“Nay, my lord,” Burghley agreed. “Never have we missed so much as a groat in our dealings with you.”

“Then it is settled,” the queen said, pleased. “Pour us some wine, Cecil, and let us celebrate. One last thing, however—this voyage must remain a secret, for if Philip’s spies get wind of it too soon your chances of success will be destroyed.”

“Aye,” Skye agreed, taking the goblet that was offered her.

The four occupants of Elizabeth Tudor’s private closet drank to the success of the planned expedition, and then with the queen’s gracious permission Lord and Lady de Marisco took their leave of Her Majesty.

“Their chances of success are not very good,” observed William Cecil when the queen’s two guests had departed. “Even if they can leave England without arousing Spain’s suspicions, there is the long voyage to India, and once there they must evade the Portuguese to get to the emperor Akbar.”

“I know,” replied Elizabeth, “but I truly believe that our best hope lies with Skye O’Malley. Ah, my dear
Spirit
, what would I have done all these years without you to look after my best interests?”

“There are many eager to serve Your Majesty,” replied Lord Burghley, but he was nonetheless touched by her gratitude. Her use of the private nickname she had given him further warmed his old bones.

“None like you, William. None like you. The others would have called me mad for summoning Skye O’Malley after all these years. How long has it been since I exiled her to
Queen’s Malvern?
Nearly eleven years, William. In all that time I have not laid eyes upon her. Christ’s bloody bones!” She grimaced. “The woman has hardly changed, and yet she is already a grandmother many times over! It must be living in the country and raising horses that keeps her young, my
Spirit.
Still, I saw the look in her eyes. She is eager for the chance to go to sea once more. Oh, yes, she is most eager!” The queen laughed.

She would have laughed even harder had she been aware that her very thoughts were being echoed by Adam de Marisco, Skye’s husband.

A royal barge had taken Skye and Adam upriver to their London house, Greenwood. They were silent during the trip, for both were well aware that the royal bargemen, like all servants, loved to gossip. It was not until they were safely in their own home, alone within their private apartments, that
Adam burst out, “I thought you were happy at
Queen’s Malvern
, sweetheart.”

“I am,” Skye replied. “Loosen my bodice for me, Adam. I am fairly exhausted and longing for bed.”

“You
want
to go.” His fingers nimbly undid the buttons on her gown.

“Of course I want to go!” She shrugged the bodice off and turned to face him. “For over ten years now I have been kept from the sea. I am happy at
Queen’s Malvern
, but the thought that we are to have the opportunity once more to go adventuring … Oh, Adam!” She flung her arms about his neck and kissed him.

He laughed. “Adventuring is it, little girl? And here I thought you had grown up. Tis a staid and proper wife you’ve been to me since we came to live at
Queen’s Malvern.”

“Not too proper, I hope, my darling.” She chuckled. “Oh, Adam, do you mind? I could not really refuse the queen, could I?”

He sighed deeply. “Nay, we couldn’t refuse her though I would to God that we might have. I do not like the idea of leaving Velvet, Skye. She is overyoung yet.”

“We might bring her with us,” Skye suggested. “After all, she is half O’Malley.”

“Nay, sweetheart, we should not do that. ’Tis a dangerous voyage that we plan for all you make light of it. We have kept her safe all these years, and by the time we return her marriage to the son of my old friend, the Earl of BrocCairn, will be nearly due. Let her remain here in England in our good Dame Cecily’s care, learning all the things she must know to be a good wife to young Alexander Gordon, who will one day be the Earl of BrocCairn himself.”

Skye chuckled. “All those duties that I’ve neglected to teach her myself, you mean. But I’ve taught her other things, Adam. She’s a well-educated child and will be no shame to her husband when he takes her to Scotland’s court.”

Adam smiled. He knew how much value Skye put upon knowledge even for her daughters. Had Dame Cecily not been a part of their household all these years, he wondered if the girls would have ever learned how to manage a household. That skill was the lowest on Skye’s list of priorities.

“Nay, Velvet will be no shame to BrocCairn, sweetheart,” he agreed, “but in the time we are away she will learn how to care for a large estate and all of its people. Though you dislike that duty, even you can perform it, but Velvet cannot, and in just a few short years she will be wed.”

Skye sighed. “I know, and that is one reason I am so loath to leave her. We shall miss at least two years of our daughter’s life, Adam. There is nothing Elizabeth Tudor can give us to compensate us for that loss.” She looked up at him and touched his cheek. “We have been so happy, haven’t we, my darling? As much as I long for this adventure, I am reluctant to break the spell that
Queen’s Malvern
has woven about all our lives. There is so much happiness to come. We shall not be here to help Robin and Alison celebrate little Elsbeth’s first birthday, and there is the new baby Alison carries that will be born soon. Ewan and Gwyneth promised to bring the children from Ireland this coming summer, and we’ve not yet seen their new child, Ualtar. Murrough will want to come with us, and I promised Joan I would not send him off upon another long voyage so soon. Do you realize that when the twins were born last summer it was the first time he was home for the birth of any of his children? He has been off so much that the twins are their first babies in five years.”

“You’re becoming a matriarch, sweetheart,” he teased her.

“I became a matriarch at seventeen when my father thrust the title of “The O’Malley” upon me. Thank God I have been relieved of that burden these past years! Oh, Adam! I want to go to India, and I don’t!”

“But go we must, Skye. The family will survive without us though I will allow they will miss you.”

“And you also, my darling! Though Velvet is your only child of my body, all my other children love you as they would their own fathers. If I am the matriarch of this family, then you are its patriarch, and we shall celebrate our fourteenth anniversary in the Indies come September.”

He laughed happily. “I can always trust you to see the bright side, sweetheart. So it is settled then. Velvet will remain safely with Dame Cecily at
Queen’s Malvern
, the rest of our children shall go on as usual, and we, my sweet Skye, shall go off on a final adventure in the queen’s name before we settle into a rather comfortable and quiet old age.”

“Old age?”
She looked up at him, outraged, and then a wicked smile lit her features. “I shall never be old, Adam de Marisco,” she said, her fingers nimbly undoing his shirt. “I shall never be ready to become
that
comfortable and quiet.” Her warm lips spread little kisses across his furred chest, causing a shiver of excitement to race through his veins. Then she eyed him mischievously. “Shall we begin our adventure tonight, my darling?”