The Traitor's Wife by Susan Higginbotham Read Free Book Online Page B

beautiful when you are with child than other women do when they are with child.”

    “Oh, stop it. Save your compliments for Margaret.”

    Gaveston bowed. “I shall do so.” He glanced at the considerable bulge under Eleanor's gown. “May I, sister?”

    “You may as well. Everyone else in the family does.”

    Piers put out his hand and touched Eleanor's belly, with a gentleness that surprised her.

    The king shyly touched it too. Then he asked, “Is the queen still hunting?”

    “Yes.”

    “Good. I wish to speak to you privately for a moment.”

    “He is sending my brother Hugh on crusade, Nelly. Go, Hugh, with our blessing! Fight the infidels.”

    “Leave us be for a while, Piers,” Edward said patiently.

    “Oh, very well.” Gaveston again patted Eleanor's belly, gently as before. “Keep young Hugh safe, now. As opposed to Hugh the younger.”

    “ Piers! ”

    “I'm going. Good-bye.”

    Edward looked after him fondly. “He's irrepressible, isn't he? I can't tell you how sweet life has been since he returned. It was so bleak without him. And now he must go away again.” He gave a sigh, then forced a smile. “But let's have our chat now.” He paused awkwardly. “On second thought, let's go inside.”

    She followed her uncle indoors. Langley had been Edward's favorite residence as a boy, and he had lovingly improved it since so that almost every room in it bore some stamp of his individuality. The room he led her to, however, had scarcely been altered in twenty years, when Edward had slept in it with his nursemaid. Now a new nursemaid sat in the room, and a child, little more than a year old, slept in a little bed. “Uncle, he is an angel! Who is he? Who are his parents?”

    “His name is Adam, and he is mine. He was born eleven months ago.”

    “He is the most beautiful little boy I have ever seen.” She knelt beside his bed and stroked his hair, which was still sparse and whitish but seemed to be acquiring a reddish tint.

    “Aye, he is a pretty little fellow. Bastards always are, for some reason.” He shook his head sadly and led her away. “Let's go into the next room so we don't interrupt his nap.”

    She sat in a window seat in the adjoining room, which was well supplied with toys. “If I may ask, sir, where is his mother?”

    “In the next world, poor thing.” Edward stood next to her, staring out the window. “I met Lucy while rowing. She had no idea who I was and I didn't tell her at first.”

    “She must have been very pretty.”

    “A handsome peasant girl, no more and no less. But that's what I liked about her, no false airs or graces, all natural. Rather like y—” he glanced at Eleanor and broke off. “Just a sweet-tempered village girl. She was doing laundry on the bank when I rowed by, and I stopped to talk. She was no wanton, poor thing; it was I who seduced her. Not that I'd planned it; I started kissing her and couldn't stop myself from taking it further.”

    Eleanor said sadly, “She died in childbirth.”

    “No, she died but four weeks ago. I told her who I was—rather to her surprise—and told her that if anything happened to her she was to leave word at Langley that she needed to see me and I would take care of her. Fortunately she took me at my word, and I found her a nice manor to live upon. She and Adam lived there together and I saw her from time to time, though I never lay with her again. I didn't want to put her in the position of being a royal mistress; she was too innocent for that. I was keeping an eye out for a man in my household who would be a good husband for her. But a bad fever came through the area and killed her and half a dozen others. It nearly killed my son too, but you can see he recovered nicely. So I had him brought here—her parents are dead—and here he shall remain.”

    “Does the queen know?”

    “No. Only Gaveston, and a few servants, and now you.” Edward flushed. “The truth is, Eleanor dear, I wish you would