Adorna scooped up the petals and replaced them with the rest. ‘Father,’ she said, ‘I don’t want her to get any ideas about a connection simply because he’s escorted me home a few times. It was not looked for, I assure you. It’s no more than a coincidence.’
‘Ideas about Sir Nicholas, love? Too late, she’s already got them. Look,’ he said, removing her hands from the bowl and taking them in his own, ‘stop worrying about it. I shall be there, too, with hundreds of others. Safety in numbers. So why not go in and start packing? If you and Hester need some extra gowns, I’ll borrow some from the Wardrobe for you. Now, go in and tell your mother and Hester.’
‘Is the earl’s household to go up to Kenilworth with us at the same time?’ She tried to sound only mildly interested.
‘Ah no, lass. They’ve gone. Early this morning.’
‘What—all of them?’
Sir Thomas looked intently at her expression of surprise. ‘Well, the earl is the host at Kenilworth, you know, and he’ll be escorting the Queen. But his men have had to take the horses up ahead of them. Didn’t Sir Nicholas tell you?’
For all she knew, he might have done while she, once again, had been in no position to remember much of what he’d said, though she found it strange that the memory of his hands upon her was sharp enough to send waves of weakness into her legs. ‘No, he didn’t,’ she said. ‘But it doesn’t matter.’ By the time I arrive, she thought, he’ll have found others to keep his mind off me. Yet the picture she painted did not give her the satisfaction she had expected it to, nor did Hester’s controlled enthusiasm for the venture convince her that this was the right course to follow.
One who did come to make a more specific farewell was Master Peter Fowler, who felt it to be his duty whilst barely concealing his dismay at the part she had played at the masque. He had little time, for his party was ready to move off, and there were many venues where the locks on the doors must be changed, en route, for Her Majesty’s security.
As kindly as she could, Adorna reminded him that she was free to choose her own companions and that to meet them however she wished was of no concern to anyone but herself.
‘And presumably Sir Nicholas Rayne’s?’ he said, coldly, before immediately relenting. He took her arm. ‘Can we talk reasonably for a moment? I have to join the party before we cross the river. Will you walk with me?’
Adorna lifted her golden-yellow skirts, placing her fingers briefly over his. ‘Peter,’ she said, ‘we must not quarrel over this. I’m not responsible for what Sir Nicholas says to me. He probably says exactly the same things to many other women. But nor am I answerable to anyone except my parents for what I do or don’t do. If you cannot accept that, then I shall be sorry for it, after being your friend since Easter.’
He trapped her hand over his sober grey sleeve. ‘I had hoped to be allowed more of a place in your life than merely a friend of three months, Adorna, but I suppose I shall have to either accept your terms or lose you altogether. I’m prepared to wait. It’s too soon, I see that now.’
‘Yes, Peter. Much too soon. Despite what you believe, I am no nearer committing myself to a man than I was when we first met.’
‘Yet you appeared to be approaching some kind of relationship with Sir Nicholas after Lady Marion’s dinner party,’ he said softly. ‘Or was that my imagination, too? And again at the masque. Does he know of your attitude towards non-commitment?’
She removed her hand. ‘You have no right to ask me that, Peter. Sir Nicholas knows of my friendship with you and yes, if you must know, he has been told that I am not available. But I’m having as hard a time convincing him of it as I am you.’
‘From what I’ve heard, Adorna, his purpose in pursuing a woman is not the same as mine. He is not best known for his fidelity with women, you know. Perhaps it’s as well that he’ll be away from you for a few weeks, too.’
‘Neither of you will, Peter. I go up to Kenilworth with my father on Wednesday.’
He stopped abruptly, leaning one hand on the gateway to the courtyard. ‘You…you’re going?’ he blinked. ‘Oh, I had no idea.’
‘I’ve only just found out myself. Will you look out for me? I shall be glad of an escort.’
‘Of course I will. So Sir Nicholas doesn’t expect you?’
‘No,’ she said, airily, already seeing the handsome figure leading the Queen’s horses, glancing in her direction, keeping company with her father, no doubt.
When Peter had departed, however, she felt a pang of regret that she would not have the pleasure of his company on the journey, for it would have been a comfort to her. Not only that, but the effect of arriving at Kenilworth with Peter would have gone some way towards getting her own back on the one who had, apparently, taken some kind of liberty with her and then left her to think about it while he went off to enjoy the company of other women for several weeks. And if that was what she had secretly predicted, dreaded, and warned herself of, she had only herself to blame for allowing it.
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