Free This Heart of Mine by Bertrice Small Page B

them gently.
    “Getting up? We shan’t even go to bed, sweetheart! Sleep is something one catches when one can at court. You’ll get used to it.”
    * * *
    Dame Cecily, warned by a message from Deirdre of what Velvet had managed to gain from the queen, was waiting along with Velvet’s nursemaid, both wearing a disapproving frown as Velvet rode up to Queen’s Malvern in the company of the earl, Sir Walter, Bess, and Angel the next morning. Small and plump, Dame Cecily was a neat little soul, with sharp blue eyes and silvery curls. Still, she could be quite formidable and even now her foot tapped irritably.
    “Your mama is going to be very angry at you, Velvet, and what are we to say to his lordship when he comes?” she scolded as the girl dismounted from her stallion.
    “Nonsense, dearest Dame Cecily,” returned Velvet. “Remember, she promised me that I should not marry without love.”
    “How can you know if you will love your betrothed or not if you are not here to get to know him? You were well aware of his impending arrival when you left for your sister’s home. Now I hear of this business of going to court as a Maid of Honor!” Having helped to raise Velvet, as well as most of her siblings, Dame Cecily was looked upon as a grandmother by Skye’s children. That, she felt, gave her the right to speak out and to interfere where she thought necessary.
    “I could scarcely refuse the queen,” said Velvet innocently.
    “You asked the queen for it, and well I know it!” came the sharp reply. “You are a wicked lass, and your papa should have taken a switch to your bottom from the beginning. But no! Adam de Marisco simply dotes upon you, and look where it has led us!”
    While she fussed on, Velvet’s companions listened with interest until suddenly, realizing their presence, the old lady stopped in midsentence.
    Velvet sweetly introduced them in a sugary voice. “The Earl of Essex, Sir Walter Ralegh, Mistress Bess Throckmorton, and Mistress Angel Christman; and this is Dame Cecily Small, the sister of Sir Robert. She is as a grandmother to me.”
    “You are all welcome to Queen’s Malvern,” said the dame politely, dropping a scant curtsy. “Come into the house for biscuits and wine, my lords, ladies.” Turning, she led the way.
    “Why, what is this, Velvet?” teased Ralegh. “You have not met your betrothed husband? How old-fashioned, an arranged marriage.”
    “It is not important,” Velvet muttered, feeling reduced to a child once more by the old dame’s scolding. “I was matched with the son of my father’s friend when I was so little I cannot even remember the gentleman. Besides, my mama said I need not marry him if I do not love him.”
    “Yet,” persisted Ralegh, “your Dame Cecily says he is coming shortly, and you won’t be here to greet him, will you?” He began to chuckle. “You are rather a sly puss, aren’t you, Velvet de Marisco?”
    “I rather admire her spirit.” Essex grinned. “Give me a lass with a mind of her own!”
    “Give you a lass, period!” snapped Angel. “I never knew you to be particularly discriminating in your appetites, my lord earl!”
    “My lords, Angel! Stop this instant,” cried the gentle Bess. “Angel, you and I have come to help Velvet and to advise her what she will need at court. You gentlemen will sit quietly and have your wine while we do so,” she finished firmly.
    Both men smiled agreeably, and then followed the rapidly disappearing skirts of Dame Cecily down the hall. Elizabeth Throckmorton was one of the queen’s favorite ladies, both well liked and respected. At twenty-four, she had been at court some years and was the oldest Maid of Honor. Now she turned to her new charge and said, “Will you take us to your room, Velvet?”
    Velvet nodded, then led the way upstairs to her chambers.
    Angel Christman slipped an arm through hers and said, “If Bess has decided to take you under her wing, you’re a lucky lass. She is so very nice