All the Sweet Tomorrows by Bertrice Small Read Free Book Online Page B

another man that I love. I am beginning to believe that I am bad luck for the men that love me. I think I have had enough of husbands! My six children are enough to satisfy any woman. From now on I shall be free! Free to run my own life, and to choose my own companions.”
    “And your lovers,” he said quietly.
    “Perhaps,” she said slowly, and then she blushed. “I find that I am not a woman to do without a man. Is that so awful, Adam?”
    “You could do without a man if you chose, little girl,” he said. “Last night was different. You needed to be with a friend, with someone who loves you, with someone who could comfort you.”
    “Ah, Adam,” she teased him. “No one has ever comforted me better than you.”
    Their eyes met and both remembered their first encounter when he had offered her his help, badly needed, if she would spend one night in his bed. She had been in pain then too, suffering over the loss of Geoffrey, and the loss of their youngest son, Johnny. When she had broken down and wept in his arms he had made passionate love to her.
“Let me comfort you, little girl,”
he had said. Since then it had been a joke between them, and now both laughed with the same memory.
    “How long will you be at Lynmouth,” he asked her when their laughter had died.
    “That will depend on Cecil. First I must send a message to him, and then I must await his decision as to whether I am allowed to go to court so I may petition the Queen for Padraic’s lands.”
    “And if you are not allowed back at court, Skye?”
    “Then I petition the Queen from Lynmouth. Robbie will beback soon, and he can speak for me if I am forbidden the Queen’s presence.”
    He nodded. “Where are your children now? Not all together, I hope.”
    “Nay, Adam, I am too wise for that. My oldest son, Ewan O’Flaherty, is on his lands at Ballyhennessey. My uncle has sent my eldest brother, Michael, to oversee Ewan. He is thirteen now, almost a man. In three years we will celebrate his marriage to Gwyneth Southwood, Geoffrey’s daughter by his first wife. Ewan’s younger brother, Murrough O’Flaherty, is with the Earl of Lincoln’s household. He will need influential contacts, as he is landless. I can give him wealth, but I can’t give him lands. Those he must gain himself, Adam.
    “Willow is with Dame Cecily Small. My eldest daughter does not like Ireland. I think it must be her father’s blood in her that makes her prefer a slightly milder climate. So I allowed her to winter with Dame Cecily as Robbie has been away. They are good company for each other, and Dame Cecily is teaching her all the housewifely arts. Thank God, Robbie and his sister adopted her formally, and gave her their name as well as made her their heiress. Having a Spanish father could harm her socially, and if it were known that Willow’s father was once the Great Whoremaster of Algiers!” Skye shuddered. “As much as I loved Khalid, his daughter shall never know
that.
” Then she was forced to chuckle. “It would amuse Khalid to know his offspring is a most proper little English girl; but without Robert Small’s name to protect her, she would be lost. Most people assume she is actually related to Robbie.
    “My little Earl of Lynmouth is page at court. You see, Adam, I am forbidden court, but my Robin is Elizabeth’s favorite pet. He grows more like Geoffrey every day, I am told.” She smiled softly. “They called Geoffrey the Angel Earl. Our son, Robin, is known at court as the
Cherub
. How proud Geoffrey would be of him,” she said. “My Burke children are safe in their castle.
    “No, Cecil cannot use my children against me. Only Robin is readily available to him, and as one of England’s premier noblemen, he is inviolate. Besides, Cecil is too softhearted to war with children, thank God. A soft heart is the curse of an honorable man, Adam, and Lord Burghley is an honorable man for all he is Elizabeth Tudor’s creature.”
    “You haven’t forgiven