The Bride of Windermere by Margo Maguire

Author:Margo Maguire
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin Treasury
Published: 2011-06-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Lady Maude Teasdale informed Kit that the Earl of Langston, Edward Markham, would be calling on her that evening. She told Kit that the earl was one of Henry’s most trusted diplomats, who had returned from France only weeks before, and had arrived at Westminster with the king and his party that afternoon.

Langston was a white-haired man, old enough to be Kit’s grandfather. In one hand, he held a document rolled up and tied with a gold ribbon. “My dear Lady Kathryn. How good it is to meet you at last,” the gentleman said when she entered the room. “I must say—you are the very image of your mother.”

Kit’s nerves were already wound as tight as a bowstring, and his statement didn’t help. His words shocked Kit, but she maintained her composure. Just barely. No one ever spoke of her mother except Bridget.

“How do you do, sir?” she said quietly as she curtsied. She trembled slightly in anticipation of what the earl had come to say. “You knew my mother?”

“I knew both your parents.”

She reeled at his words. Both her parents? There wasn’t a person alive who admitted to knowing her mother’s first husband. “I was told you wanted to speak to me,” she said in a quiet voice, full of expectation now.

“Yes. The subject matter is somewhat delicate,” Langston said as he led Kathryn to a chair. “Why don’t you sit while we chat?”

Kit sat in a comfortable chair near the window and was so preoccupied with Langston’s visit, she hardly noticed the dramatic flood of deep purple irises growing in a bed of black earth right outside. Kit had no doubt that the earl was about to inform her of the reason for her summons to London, and she tried to master a suddenly queasy stomach. She had an odd sense of foreboding after his words about her parents.

“I knew your mother when she was here twenty years ago. She was a lively thing, and a bit difficult as well. For her father, I mean.”

“Are you saying that my mother was willful, sir?” Kit asked, her nerves abating slightly. The earl’s manner was direct and friendly and helped to put her at ease.

“To say the least,” he chuckled.

“Disobedient?” The very idea was intriguing. Bridget had never said anything negative about Meghan. As far as the old nurse was concerned, Meghan had been perfect. But what did all this have to do with King Henry V calling Kathryn to London?

“Suffice it to say that your mother was a lively girl, and a much-welcomed addition to the king’s court. You must realize that it was a difficult time, when Henry Hereford took the throne from Richard. Not everyone was supportive.”

Kit wanted to laugh at the earl’s understatement. A group of Richard’s supporters, who were supposedly loyal to Henry, attempted to assassinate the new king and his sons a few months after the coronation. And then it had happened again nearly a year later. It must have been an explosive time.

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