Laughing, she protested, “Adam! What will people think?” But she was glad. She felt safe and warm and happy in this man’s arms. They undressed each other quickly and made delicious passionate love until, sated, they lay back amid the tumbled feather pillows, warm beneath an enormous fur coverlet. He reached for her hand, found it and held it tenderly in his grasp. “I wish to Heaven that you could love me, Skye O’Malley,” he said quietly. “I do, Adam,” she protested. “You’re one of my best friends.” But she knew it wasn’t what he wanted to hear and she felt suddenly sad, realizing that she could not go on using this gentle giant to ease her own sorrows when he felt so much more deeply for her than she did for him. “Adam de Marisco, I never meant to hurt you, but it seems to me that I have. I beg your forgiveness.” “No, little girl. I started this. I have been well punished for my arrogance. However, I am going to send you home now. I can no longer just spend time with you in bed and not have all of you.” She understood and, rising quickly, dressed. “I came today to ask you if you’d come to Lynmouth for Twelfth Night.” He looked up from buttoning his shirt. “I’ll come. They say lovers can’t be friends, but we are.”
Outside the sky was darkening fast. A single clear star hung overhead, and in the west the last of the sunset was a cold lemonyellow smudge on a stale-gray horizon.
“Snow coming,” he noted.
“I thought so too. Come with me now.”
“No, but I’ll come later tonight, for ‘twill start to storm by early morning.” He helped her down into the boat. “The wind’s from the west, little girl. You’ll be home quickly.” Untying the boat, he threw the rope to Skye.
“I’ll have the cave entrance well lit, Adam. Until later!” She blew him a kiss and he pushed her craft away from the stone quay. The breeze caught quickly at her sails and she was off. The fresh winds sent the little sailboat skidding swiftly across the tops of the waves and though it was dark when she reached her mooring, this was still, she was sure, the fastest passage she’d ever made from Lundy. She secured the boat tightly. Taking a torch from inside the cave, she lit the ledge beacons so Adam might find his way safely. Then she began climbing up into the castle. She thought she could hear sounds of revelry, which was indeed confusing. Arriving at the level of her apartment, she moved along the hidden interior passage until she reached the door that would admit her to her rooms. Flipping the hidden lock, she stepped into her antechamber, pulled the door shut behind her, and drew the tapestry back into place. She could now hear definite sounds of merrymaking below in the Hall. Puzzled, she moved toward the door that led into the public hall, but the door opened suddenly and Daisy flew in, slamming it behind her.
“Oh! Mistress Skye! Thank God you’re back!”
“What is going on down there?” demanded Skye. “Right after you left, milady, Lord Dudley and a group of his friends arrived. He was furious to learn you weren’t here, and then he just took over, ordering a feast, sending into the village for some girls.”
“What!?”
“Maids,” he said. “They had to be maids,” Daisy explained tearfully. “Oh my God,” said Skye. “Are the girls all right, Daisy? I’ll send them home immediately. They’re probably frightened to death. The Earls of Lynmouth haven’t allowed that sort of abuse in years. Trust Dudley, the fiend, to revive such an appalling custom!” “It’s too late, milady. The girls have already been ruined,” said Daisy.
“Are they all right, though?” asked Skye.
“All except little Anne Evans. She bled quite heavily.” “Christ’s bones! Anne Evans is but twelve! Damn! Damn! Dudley will pay for this! I’ll raise such hell with the Queen now that she’ll be forced to punish him this time!” Skye slammed into her bedroom. “I shall have to pay a bounty to the families involved. Were any of the girls walking out yet?”
“Four, milady.”
“And something to the young men to marry them immediately.
Damn!” She whirled on Daisy. “Don’t stand there gawking, girl! Get me a dress! I can hardly go below like this, can I? The lilac velvet should do. No farthingale, just three petticoats, I’m not at Court.” She tore off her sailing clothes. Dudley! her mind raged. The slimy snake that Elizabeth Tudor had dropped into her private garden. It was bad enough that he had power over Robin and that he could use her as his occasional whore, but to come into her home uninvited! And with his cronies, too! To rape innocent village girls entrusted to her care!
Thick-fingered, Daisy struggled with her mistress’s gown. Stumbling, she almost spilled the contents of a jewel case at Skye’s feet. “Easy, my girl,” soothed Skye, plucking an amethyst necklace from the box and clasping it around her neck.
“They’re fearfully drunk,” whispered Daisy, terrified. “Maybe you shouldn’t go downstairs, my lady. Lord Dudley is the worst of all. It was he who hurt little Anne Evans.”
Skye put a gentle hand on Daisy’s cheek. “Listen to me, my girl,” she said. “I know it would be easier to bolt my door and go to bed. Dudley would not know I’d returned, and God knows I dread facing him. But I am the Countess of Lynmouth. Lord Dudley has, in my absence, abused my hospitality and injured my charges. It is my duty to set things right. I should betray the trust Geoffrey left me were I to do otherwise, Daisy. D’you understand?” Daisy bowed her head, ashamed, then said, “I’ll warn the guard you’re back. If there’s any trouble, they’ll come.” “Good girl!” Skye hurried from the room and downstairs. The noise from her uninvited guests grew louder with every step she took, but even so, the sight that met her eyes when she entered the Hall brought her close to fainting. Dudley and his friends sprawled around the high board in shirt-sleeves and hose. At either end of the table were the remains of what had obviously been a very generous feast. Most of the unfortunate village girls were naked or almost so, and imprisoned in the laps of their drunken captors. But what brought Skye close to hysterics was the sight of poor little Anne Evans, naked, on all fours in the center of the long table. One of the big castle mastiffs had been brought to a state of sexual excitement, and was just now being positioned in such a way that the child would soon be ravished by the dog.
“Sweet Jesus.” Skye heard a voice behind her exclaim, and she turned to find the captain of the castle guard and his men all ranged at her back.
“Get the girls and that beast,” she said. ‘Take the maids to the housekeeper. Have her attend to their injuries and put them to bed.”
“And the dog, milady?”
“It’s not his fault. Send him to the kennels, Harry.” The men-at-arms and their captain jogged into the hall and, taking the half-drunken courtiers by surprise, began removing the weeping, frightened girls. The mastiff was yanked off the table and Anne Evans, her eyes blank, was borne from the room. Robert Dudley lurched to his feet shouting, “How dare you! I’m here in the Queen’s name as governor to the lord of this castle. How dare you?!”
“I dare, Dudley! My men obey only me. I wonder what Bess Tudor would think of this performance, my lord? Rape! The perversion of innocents! D’you think I’ll be silent this time? I’ll shout this outrage to the skies! How dare you come into my house and abuse my people? Shelter and food I gladly offer you, but nothing more. You are not lord here, Dudley!”