Royal Inheritance by Kate Emerson Read Free Book Online Page B

my face.
    Master Harington cocked his head and studied me. His interest lingered longest on my hair, which I wore long and loose, as maidensare wont to do. He glanced back at me again as Father presented Muriel to him.
    “A fine family,” Master Harington said, accepting Muriel’s shy kiss of greeting. He was already returning to me. “I have been sent to teach you to play the lute, Mistress Audrey, and any other instrument you care to learn. What will it be? The virginals? The harp? I am proficient with everything from the cittern to the sackbut.”
    There were too many choices. And he was standing too close to me. I was unable to form an answer.
    “The instruction shall be as pleases you, Master Harington,” Father cut in, “but it would please me greatly if you would extend your teaching to all my children.”
    Master Harington hesitated. Then his gaze roved to Bridget. She smiled and dimpled . . . and subtly shifted position to better display the rounded fullness of her breasts.
    “It shall be as you wish, Master Malte.” Turning to my sisters, he began to question them about what skills they already possessed. He seemed pleased at the prospect of tutoring them, especially Bridget.
    I stood a little apart to watch her preen and flirt, and struggled with emotions I had never felt before. For the first time in my life, I understood why my sister reacted so violently when she saw me singled out to receive something she wanted.

10
Stepney, October 1556
    M aster Eworth cleared his throat. “I have lost the light,” he announced. “I can paint no more today.”
    Surprised by how much time had passed since she’d begun her tale, Audrey eased herself to her feet. Hester had already scrambled out of her chair and gone to look at the unfinished portrait on the easel.
    “I have no face,” she complained.
    Although the artist had lovingly reproduced the embroidery on the child’s dress, her features were as yet little more than a pale blur.
    “After the next session you will have eyes and a nose,” Audrey promised, touching a fingertip to the latter appendage and making Hester giggle.
    Master Eworth made no promises. He finished packing away his supplies and departed, trailing a whiff of linseed oil in his wake and seeming as glad to be done with them for the day as they were to see him go.
    “Was that the truth?” Hester asked when the door had closedbehind him. “Did you fall in love with my father the first time you saw him?”
    Audrey laughed. “Near enough. He was . . . and is—as my sister said—a most toothsome fellow.”
    “And did he return your love?”
    Holding her smile while she answered required considerable effort. “You must remember that I was only a little girl when we first met. But he was always considerate of my feelings. And he was an excellent teacher.”
    “Father is the most wonderful man in the whole world,” Hester said.
    The child idolized him, as she should. Audrey knew exactly how she felt. “Your father has a way with people.”
    Jack Harington had charmed everyone in the house on that long-ago day . . . everyone except Edith. Audrey’s new maidservant had been dismissive, calling him “a puffed-up courtier.”
    “Will you tell me more on the morrow, when Master Eworth comes to paint me again?”
    “Perhaps not then,” Audrey temporized. “Parts of the story I have to tell you are for your ears alone.”
    “Then we must find another time, for I want to know everything !”
    “The entire tale will take some time in the telling.”
    “Then you must continue it as soon as may be.” Hester’s eyes were bright with anticipation. “Tonight? After we sup?”
    “I . . . yes. That will do very well.”
    Hester’s enthusiasm had the girl capering in a circle before she left the room. Audrey watched her go with mixed emotions. How much, she wondered, should she tell her daughter? She would not lie, but there were incidents that could be omitted from the tale.