Courting His Countess by C.J. Archer

Author:C.J. Archer [Archer, C.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

Rose had never been to a court Christmas before, despite living only a few miles from Richmond Palace, the queen's favorite winter residence. The festivities were said to last until Twelfth Night and were already well under way when Rose, Thomas and her father arrived. The enormous hall was decorated with a dazzling array of candles and garlands of ivy and holly leaves swaddled the pillars, the tables and chairs. A mummery was in mid-performance at the end of the room. From her position at the rear of the onlookers, Rose caught glimpses of a makeshift hill covered in green matting and festooned with white paper roses. Morris dancers in white dresses danced gaily around the hill as a young woman with long red hair descended slowly. She was supposed to represent the queen with her crown of leaves and golden scepter. The real queen sat on her throne on the dais at the opposite end of the hall to Rose, too far away to know if she enjoyed the mummery.

"Can you see?" Thomas asked her.

"Well enough."

"Let's go to the front." He took her arm but she resisted.

"I think I'll retire. I have a headache."

He frowned. "Can I get you anything? Wine? Something to eat?"

She shook her head. "No, thank you. A little rest will do me good."

"Let me walk you to your rooms. The palace can be difficult to navigate until you're used to it."

So he knew his way around. How many times had he come to court here?

He took her arm and led her through the crowd of courtiers. One by one, heads turned and soon whispers followed their progress. Some people paused to nod or greet Thomas but he didn't stop, telling them he would find them later. It wasn't until they were almost out that Rose saw Temperance, Lady Mossdale.

The tall, dark-haired beauty didn't see Rose but her gaze clamped onto Thomas. Rose felt his arm tense beneath her hand. Lady Mossdale stood near the doorway and there was no way around her.

"Thomas, darling," she said in a smooth, silky voice. She curtseyed and he bowed shallowly. "I didn't know you were back. When did you arrive on our soil?"

"A few days ago."

"In the middle of winter." She clicked her tongue. "Foolish man, what are you traveling in this weather for?"

"I wanted to get home to my wife."

"Who?" Lady Mossdale asked without missing a beat.

Oh she was good. As good as the false queen descending the hill. She'd not once looked at Rose, hadn't even flicked those black lashes at anyone except Thomas.

"Stop the play-acting, Temper," he said. "It's beneath you. You know very well the beautiful woman at my side is my wife, Lady Avondale. It seems you two have spoken on quite a number of occasions in the past."

Lady Mossdale unfurled her fan and flapped it rapidly, but it didn't stop her cheeks flushing. No doubt she'd heard the anger threaded through Thomas's words, and realized he knew about her lies. Rose was

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.