In The Midst of Madness: Tudor Chronicles Book Two Page 8

  ‘Your Majesty,’ she whispered, looking up at him through her lashes and smiling slyly. Then she quickly rose and, bending over his seated girth, kissed him hard on the mouth. As Henry looked down at her curtsey, he smiled, and after her kiss he put his pudgy hand on her throat and tilted her head so he could whisper in her ear.

  ‘No shift beneath your gown, sweeting? I can see almost down to your feet!’ He licked his pursed lips.

  ‘Nothing, my Lord,’ whispered Kitty. ‘I thought you would like that, for when I dance with your attendants.’

  ‘Oh, my little love. Thank you.’ Henry replied quietly. Then, louder, he called to the musicians, ‘Play something cheerful, and fast. I would see the Queen dance. Come, Tom, dance with the Queen.’ Tom Culpeper stepped forward and bowed to Kitty, leading her on to the dance floor where they were soon joined by other couples. Each couple bowed and curtseyed, then began the swift dance.

  ‘You look lovely, your Highness.’ Tom danced towards the Queen, then away again.

  ‘Thank you, Tom.’ Kitty beamed at him. ‘The King is enjoying watching us dance.’

  ‘Will you be summoned to dance for him later?’ A whisper as the dance allowed them to clasp hands and turn.

  ‘No, Tom. He will drink too much wine tonight. I shall be in my chamber, alone. Speak to Jane after you have tended Henry’s leg, and she will let you in.’ Another whisper as the direction of the dance changed.

  The dance required them to change partners then, and Kitty found herself dancing with Tom Seymour.

  ‘You look like a little amethyst, your Highness.’

  ‘And you, Sir Thomas, are very tall. You should not look down the front of my gown like that,’ Kitty giggled as Tom Seymour flushed. ‘Did you think I wouldn’t notice?’

  ‘My Lady, please don’t be upset. I am mightily jealous of the finest jewel in the King’s treasury,’ He tried to squirm out of his transgression with flattery.

  ‘I’m not upset, although the King might be,’ Kitty whispered as they clasped hands in the turn. ‘I like being looked at!’ Tom Seymour’s face was incredulous as the Queen danced away to her next partner, a man unfamiliar to Tom, who was now partnered with someone else who took his breath away.

  ‘Lady Brough?’

  ‘Sir Thomas.’

  ‘I had not thought to see you here, my Lady. I thought you were in mourning for Lord Brough.’ Tom danced away and then came back.

  ‘My father thought it was time I returned to court. He has another husband chosen for me, so I must show that I am back in the marriage market before I actually marry.’

  ‘Marry me, Kate.’ he whispered as they clasped hands.

  ‘My father won’t allow it. Your reputation goes before you.’ Kate Brough smiled to take the sting out of her words as she danced to a new partner. Tom grimly turned to greet his own new partner, Lady Katherine Tylney who was another of Kitty’s ladies.

  ‘Lady Katherine,’ he smiled. ‘Allow me to lead you to the supper table.’ Tom pulled her abruptly from the dance floor and led her into the ante-room where a cold collation was displayed.

  Kitty carried on with the dance, looking over and smiling coquettishly at Henry, who never took his eyes off her, licking his lips and draining his wine cup. Her eyes widened when she changed partners again.

  ‘Good evening, my little Kitty.’

  She gasped at the familiarity of the greeting. ‘Sir Francis! Whatever are you doing here?’

  ‘I am hoping to gain employment as secretary to the Queen, Kitty. Do you think she will employ me? After all we were to each other at Horsham?’ He danced away and then came back, taking Kitty’s hand in his for the turn.

  ‘Well, Francis,’ Kitty smiled up into the eyes of Sir Francis Dereham, ‘the Queen still can’t read or write very much, so she does need a secretary.’ She curtseyed deeply as the dance ended and Francis’s eyes widened as she allowed him to look down the front of her gown.

  ‘Come and find me tomorrow, Francis, before we leave here.’ Kitty whispered as she went back up the steps to the dais, to sit in the King’s lap for a while before the next dance.

  Chapter 12 - 1540

  ay I help you, my Lady?’ Tom Seymour helped Lady Katherine Tylney fill a plate with cold meat and bread, then took her hand and led her out onto the terrace. He walked to the corner, still holding her hand, then spun her round so her back was to the wall, out of sight of the window and of people wandering in and out. Gently he took the plate from her hand and placed it with his own on the balustrade, then took both of her hands in his.

  ‘Lady Tylney, I haven’t been able to take my eyes off you all night,’ he whispered, breath ghosting over her cheek as he spoke into her ear. She sighed and shivered delightedly.

  ‘I thought you were more interested in Lady Brough, my Lord.’

  ‘Kate and I have been friends for years. But you, you are a new friend I’d like to get to know.’ He kissed her jaw and down her neck, while she buried her hands in his hair and sighed again.

  ‘Oh, Sir Thomas,’ she gasped as he started to kiss the tops of her breasts, then a startled squeak as he bent lower and his hand swept up her leg beneath her gown. ‘Sir Thomas, my husband is inside with the King.’

  ‘And I am out here, inside his wife,’ growled Tom, as he unlaced the front of his breeches with his other hand and lifted Katherine up so he could sheath himself inside her. Her eyes widened in astonishment at his strength as he braced his arm round her waist and thrust vigorously into her.

  ‘Oh my,’ she sighed, ‘Oh, Tom, this is so wicked. We will both go to hell.’ She clung tightly round his shoulders as she matched his thrusts with her own, then threw her head back for him to kiss his way down her neck as he reached his climax.

  ‘I will take us both to heaven first, Lady Katherine,’ as he helped her find her own satisfaction, gasping his name into his doublet in her ecstasy. He lowered her gently to the floor, righted his clothing, straightened her hood then picked up their plates and escorted her back to the dancing. Lady Katherine went to join the conversation where her husband was, and Tom Seymour leaned against the door jamb, watching Kate Brough as she spoke to some of the dowagers seated round the edges of the room.

  ‘Ah Kate,’ he muttered to himself, ‘look what you make me do!’

  ***

  Henry sent Kitty to dance almost every dance with one gentleman or another, and when she wasn’t dancing she was sat on his good knee, playing with the jewels on his doublet or tangling her tiny fingers in his beard, while he wished he could work his hand up inside her skirt without anyone noticing. Unfortunately there were just too many people about, and he drank goblet after goblet of wine. At last he gestured to Tom Culpeper to help him to bed. Kitty skipped over to him to kiss him goodnight, and he grasped her hard and kissed her deeply, before kissing her neck and breasts down to where her gown started.

  ‘Good night, sweeting. I shall not be summoning you to dance for me tonight. The wine has proved to be my undoing.’ He belched, and Kitty could smell the sour wine on his breath.

  ‘Then I shall see you in the morning, my Lord.’ Kitty swept to the ground in a curtsey, thinking the least she could do is let Henry see down her gown again before he went to bed. Tom Culpeper couldn’t take his eyes away. Kitty looked at Tom and smiled knowingly.

  ***

  Jane Rochford answered the scratch on the Queen’s door, opening it quietly so Tom Culpeper could creep inside.

  ‘You must be gone at dawn, Tom. And you must leave by the tower steps,’ she hissed. He took her hand and kissed it.

  ‘I promise I will, Lady Rochford. You have no need to fear.’ He was charming to the guardi
an of Kitty’s room. She smiled at him briefly, then went out of the room through the gallery door, locking it behind her. Tom turned and the vision of Kitty standing there took his breath away.

  She stood, illuminated in the candlelight, covered from chin to feet in a heavy cream brocade robe, which was lined in pale pink silk and edged with embroidered roses in a darker pink. He thought she looked like an angel, her hair almost to her knees as she slowly lifted her hands to him. He crossed the floor between them in an instant, sweeping her up into his arms and placing her gently in the centre of the bed. He undid the fastenings at her throat and brushed the robe aside, catching his breath at the beauty of her alabaster skin, naked as he knew she would be.

  He kissed her deeply, and she moved across him to unclasp his doublet and unlace his breeches. She bent her head and took him in her mouth, sucking and licking and nibbling. Tom eased himself flat on the bed and let his mind wander as she pleasured him, absently stroking Kitty’s hair. Tom was no stranger to a woman’s body; he had had more women than he could remember, but he had never had anyone as uninhibited in her lovemaking as Kitty.

  Each time they had an evening tryst such as this, she began their lovemaking by taking him into her mouth, because she said it slowed down all the other lovely things they did. Even when they were at supper, in front of the whole court, she would look directly into his eyes and lick her lips slowly, knowing what he was thinking. She loved everything he did with her, and would let him do anything he wanted to her, as long as he didn’t mark her where it would show above her gown.

  What had started as a bit of wanton fun on the stairs between a gentleman of the King’s household and a little maid in waiting to the Queen had grown into an obsession, with Tom not being able to see Kitty enough. He remembered how he had stolen a kiss from Kitty when she first came to court, tiny and invisible in dark gowns and awfully unfashionable hoods. He had been amazed when she had grasped him through his breeches and rubbed him with the flat of her palm as he kissed her neck.

  The next time they met on the dark stairs she had bent and unlaced him, and taken him in her mouth and sucked and nipped until he couldn’t control himself, then she’d smiled slyly and fastened him back up again, all the while lifting her skirt for his questing fingers.

  Now they had a wild, uncontrolled lust for each other every time they could meet alone. He knew it was dangerous, but he couldn’t get enough of her, and she was shameless.

  His head had started to spin as he neared this climax, feeling Kitty’s lips surrounding him and her little kitten-like tongue flicking backwards and forwards until a wave of sensation ripped up his spine and he shuddered into her, trying not to cry out too loudly. She wiped her mouth and smiled up at him, stripping off the rest of his clothing so he was as naked as she, then looping up her hair and knotting it at her nape so it was out of the way.

  ‘Now that’s done, we can talk a little,’ she said happily, sliding her silky body up his own and kissing him deeply, wriggling a little to get comfortable then lying flat along him. She was so slight that she weighed hardly anything, and his breath caught again as he felt her wondrous breasts pressing into his chest, and her silky damp pubic patch rubbing the hair along his belly.

  ‘Henry says I will go to hell for doing that!’ He could hear the satisfied smile in her voice as she squirmed deliciously upon him. He pulled his head back slightly so he could look questioningly into her pale green eyes as she looked up at him, chin on her folded hands.

  ‘I hate to think of you doing that to Henry,’ he said quietly, trying to push away images of his Kitty with the King.

  ‘Oh, I don’t,’ she beamed at him, ‘because if I do he says I will go to hell. I don’t do any of the lovely things with Henry that I do with you, because they are all wicked. With Henry I have to lie quite still and flat, on my back, while he does what he wants to me.’ She wrinkled her nose at the memory. ‘He likes to hold my wrists hard above my head with one hand, and push his fingers into me with the other,’ her mouth turned down, ‘and sometimes he hurts, because he doesn’t take off his rings. Then he pumps into me, but not really because he doesn’t fit, but then when he’s done he kisses me and goes to sleep. I can wipe myself and go back to my own chamber.’ She shrugged. ‘We won’t go to hell doing that, he says.’

  Kitty sat up, legs either side of his body, and stroked Tom’s length, smiling her little smile as he quickly became hard in her hand, before kneeling up to position herself over him and sinking down. He could hardly breathe, it felt so wonderful, but she began chattering again, all the while slowly and sensuously raising and lowering herself onto him. He took her buttocks in his hands to feel her beautifully soft skin and control her movements. He wanted this to last as long as it could.

  ‘Henry won’t let me do this either, because this is forbidden by the Church. It says so in the Bible, Henry says, but I don’t know if that’s true because I can’t read,’ she smiled cheerfully. ‘But if I do all these lovely wicked things with you, Tom, I can confess them all when I’m old and dying and then I won’t go to hell, will I?’ She moved more quickly now, throwing her head back as her own pleasure mounted. He stroked inside her thighs to heighten her pleasure and his own, and soon they were both shuddering to a climax.

  Kitty beamed at him, ‘We’ve years and years of all this wicked loveliness before we die, haven’t we, Tom?’ She rolled to his side and snuggled under his chin. He didn’t think he could speak until his heart finished pounding so he just squeezed her to him and stroked her breasts and kissed her hair. She stroked his chest for a while and then her hand started to wander downwards again. He grasped her wrist and she looked at him, hurt in her eyes.

  ‘Don’t you want me, Tom?’ Tears were welling up and she looked as if she would cry. ‘Don’t you love me anymore?’ A whisper. He kept hold of her wrist; he couldn’t manage a third time without a little respite, but he kissed her deeply, sighing and licking and nibbling his way round her neck and breasts until he felt her smile again. He reached onto the table at the side of the bed for a moistened piece of linen conveniently left for him by Jane, then he traced kisses down her naked body, over her belly and then positioning himself between her thighs, he parted her legs and used the linen to clean his emissions from her. He kissed his way up the inside of her thighs before he lifted her hips up and brought her moist triangle to his mouth, licking and nipping and stroking.

  ‘Oh, Tom. I love it when you do this, and show how much you really do love me. And I don’t care if Henry says this loveliness will send me to hell too,’ and she gave herself up to the hands and lips of her young lover.

  Chapter 13 - 1540

  eg! Meg, you came home!’ Cat was skipping alongside the wagon as the driver turned the horses in a tight circle and the wheels of the wagon crunched on the gravel of the stable yard.

  The still-room door was open and Mary stood haloed by the late afternoon sunshine. Cat bounced up and down, clapping her hands in her excitement and completely forgetting her dignity. The driver unloaded Meg’s clothes chest and then turned to help her down.

  ‘Yes, Mistress Cat, and I have news,’ Meg laughed, pleased that she was so welcomed back to the only home she had really ever known.

  ‘Oh, Meg. I’m so pleased you’ve come. I have news too! Important news.’ Cat could barely keep still.

  Mary took Meg’s hands in her own and pulled her into an embrace. ‘Oh, Meg,’ she whispered, ‘I’m so pleased you’ve come home too.’ Meg smiled, a question in her eyes.

  Mary let go of Meg’s shoulders and swept both of them into the house.

  ‘Ale and sweetmeats in my solar, please Geoffrey,’ as she passed the steward, trying to shepherd Cat as quickly as she could before all the family secrets were spilled in front of the scullery maids and pot boys. Geoffrey bow
ed and beckoned a kitchen maid to him.

  Once they were safely behind closed doors, Meg made her curtsey to Mary.

  ‘Lady Mary. Thank you for allowing me to come and help with Mistress Cat’s wedding. It is such an honour.’

  ‘Lovely Meg. We are so pleased to welcome you home,’ Mary smiled.

  ‘What is your news, Meg?’ Cat sat on a low stool by the side of her mother’s chair, her chin resting in her hand and excitement snapping out of her blue eyes.

  ‘Ralph has asked me to be his wife,’ Meg breathed, as if saying the words too loudly would tempt fate.

  ‘How wonderful!’ exclaimed Mary. ‘Allow me to make a gift of a dowry for you, Meg.’

  ‘Oh! No, my Lady. Thank you, but no. Ralph said he doesn’t need a dowry from me. He has sufficient funds to support us without me selling Lady Anne’s necklace,’ her eyes flashed to Mary, to make sure she hadn’t upset her with her unthinking words.

  ‘I’m glad, Meg. Anne wanted you to have that, so I’m pleased you are able to keep it.’ Mary smiled, to show the mention of her sister hadn’t brought back unpleasant memories.

  ‘It’s very romantic, Meg,’ sighed Cat. ‘You have fallen in love and are to be married!’ She looked quickly at her mother, ‘Not that I don’t love Francis. But I knew I was to marry him before I loved him. You and Ralph knew each other before you fell in love.’

  ‘Yes, Mistress Cat. Ralph has been a good friend for many years. I always felt safe with him, and I liked him the first time we met,’ Meg smiled, remembering how frightened she’d been, trying to find Norfolk in the vast palace. ‘I can’t remember when I fell in love with him, but when he asked me to be his wife, I was so happy that he loved me too.’

  Cat squirmed on her seat with the romance of it all, then a small knock came on the solar door and Geoffrey entered with the small ale and sweetmeats.