Free This Heart of Mine by Bertrice Small

with Bess,” he noted dryly. “Bless the little vixen for finding a way out of this herself.”
    “Why, Uncle, you sound as if you approve of Velvet’s behavior,” Deirdre replied, not a little shocked.
    “Frankly, Deirdre lass, I didn’t like the idea of giving our Velvet over to BrocCairn in marriage without Skye and Adam here. Velvet’s actions have solved the problem for me. The queen will only give up her new Maid of Honor to her parents, certainly not to a Scots earl, especially with the maid objecting.” The matter settled in his mind, Lord Bliss escorted his wife and niece down to the Great Hall for the feasting.
    Elizabeth Tudor was just arriving as they hurried into the big room, which was lined with arch-shaped windows. The spring sunset turned the hall crimson, a brilliant hue echoed by the bright red flames in the four big fireplaces that took the chill from theroom. Stepping forward, Conn knelt and raised the queen’s hand to his lips to kiss it slowly. A warm light sprang into her gray-black eyes.
    “Conn, you devil,” she murmured, remembering a romantic evening they had spent several years back before he had married Aiden.
    “Bess, you’re as beautiful as ever,” he said softly. “Still breaking hearts, lass?” He stood, relinquished her hand, and glanced at Essex and Ralegh.
    Elizabeth Tudor shook her head wonderingly. “God’s foot, Lord Bliss!” she said. “You’re still an Irish rogue with a quicksilver tongue.”
    “And a quicker wit,” he parried, to the queen’s delight. “I hear my niece is to become one of your Maids of Honor.”
    “Ah, Velvet. A lovely child! I am delighted to have her.”
    “She has never been to any court, madame,” he said softly. “She has never even been to London.”
    “Nor Paris either?” the queen queried him.
    “Nor Paris either, madame. She is, despite her beauty, an innocent maid. She has been most sheltered.”
    “Is she betrothed?”
    “Aye, to the son of a friend of Lord de Marisco’s, but the wedding is not scheduled until after her sixteenth birthday.”
    “I will be most careful with Velvet, my lord,” said the queen, understanding his fears. “I will treat her as I would my own child, and in a sense she is just that, being my goddaughter. Did I not take good care of your wife, Aiden, when she was in my charge?”
    “Aye, and thank you, madame,” Conn said quietly. He had now done all he could, and they would simply have to wait for his sister and Adam to come home from their voyage. The responsibility was no longer his, and he sighed almost audibly in his relief.
    Across the hall, Velvet had suddenly found herself swept up in the society of the court. Her head whirled from all the outrageous compliments she was bombarded with from the gentlemen of the royal party, who were intrigued by this new Maid of Honor. She did not simper like the other girls, but was rather outspoken in her speech without being forward or suggestive. Add to this the fact that she was extravagantly beautiful and an heiress to boot, and the gentlemen were willing to brave the queen’s wrath—at least as long as Elizabeth was across the room. Just when Velvet thought she could bear no more of the courtiers’ silliness, Sir Walter Ralegh and the young Earl of Essex arrived to take her away from the noisy crowd.
    “So sorry, gentlemen,” Essex said, laughing, “but Wat and I have taken it upon ourselves to protect this maiden and her virtue from all of you. Be warned that we think of her as we do our own dear sisters and woe to any of you who should dare to trifle with her. Unless, of course,” he amended to general laughter, “she wishes to be trifled with!” Taking Velvet firmly beneath the elbow, he hustled her off to sit with Ralegh before the fire.
    “You’re mad,” she proclaimed.
    “Aye, Mistress de Marisco, but admit that all those silly popinjays were boring you to death. I promise you that Wat and I shall be far more fun. Are you