Free A Love for All Time by Bertrice Small Page B

madame. She is discreet, but I cannot believe that even her husband is unaware of her conduct. As for her daughters, they are said to be a pair of teasing drabs, and though the father might be fooled, neither came innocent to court or young O’Malley, I am certain. He is a rogue, and filled to the brim with mischief, but he is no wanton taker of innocence, madame.”
    “Bring me my embroidery frame, Aidan,” said the queen to the maid of honor who had been seated quietly, and unobserved on a stool in a corner by the fire.
    Quickly Aidan St. Michael hurried to obey the queen, and then pulling her stool next to Elizabeth Tudor, she sat down, and prepared to hand the queen her threads as she needed them.
    “Nonetheless some devil in hell has encouraged both Lady Holden, and her offspring to confess their misdemeanors with Conn, placing, of course, the entire burden of guilt upon him. I doubt not ’twas jealousy on the part of all three. Lord Holden had no other choice than to come to me in light of the episode with the ambassador’s wife,” continued the queen. “I had intended to banish Conn from court for a few weeks, perhaps through the Lenten season. Now I must keep him away for a goodly time, and where to send him? It cannot be Ireland. That is too far, and what would poor Conn do? I will wager although I have never met them, that he is nothing like his elder buccaneer brothers. I had thought to send him to the de Mariscos, but will they be able to tolerate him for an entire year?”
    “He must be married, madame,” said William Cecil quietly.
    “Married? Conn? No!”
    “There is no other solution, madame,” Lord Burghley replied patiently. “He will come back to court when his period of punishment is over filled to the brim with even more mischief. Who knows what scandals he will cause then? Ye must marry him to a respectable woman before he even leaves court, and then send him off to his estates for at least a year. Let him beget a legitimate heir on his bride while he cools his very hot heels.”
    “He has no property to which I may banish him,” the queen said.
    “He has gold, madame, and comes of a good Irish family. He is a member of your own guard. He is a most eligible young man. Find him a wife with property.”
    “That is not as easy as ye make it sound, William. It cannot be a great name for his blood is not blue enough for a great name. It cannot be a nobody for he is too good for just some anonymous wench. It cannot be a Protestant lord’s child for he was raised a Roman Catholic, although I have not known him to seek a priest while in England. He seems content to follow the Church of England, but one cannot be certain. Each one of these things narrows our field of search, and I cannot think of one girl who would be suitable as a wife for Conn O’Malley,” finished the queen.
    “I can.”
    For a moment both the queen and Lord Burghley thought that they had imagined the voice that spoke those words, and then their eyes swung to the figure seated by the queen’s knee.
    “Was it ye who spoke, Aidan St. Michael?” demanded Elizabeth.
    “Yes, madame.”
    “Who is this young woman, madame?” asked Lord Burghley, his eyes interested and bright.
    “She is the daughter of the late Lord Bliss, and one of my royal wards,” said the queen looking hard at Aidan.
    Aidan flushed, and her heart hammered fiercely within her chest, but her gaze never wavered.
    “Tell us then, Mistress St. Michael, who in your opinion is suitable to be wife to Conn O’Malley?”
    “I am, madame.” There! She had said it. Nothing could change the words whatever the queen said or did.
    “You?!” The queen looked surprised.
    “Tell me, Mistress St. Michael,” said Lord Burghley in a kindly tone, “what makes ye think that ye are an eligible partie for Master O’Malley? Do ye know him? Are ye perhaps in love with him?”
    “I am of a good family, my lord, but my lineage is not that of a great line. It was my