The Queen's Lady Read Online Free

he is a man without any urge to flirt – not with our sex at least.’
    ‘Shhh! I know the court has lax ideas about such things, but round here you must not mention it. He’s a dear and I don’t want to get him into trouble. Where was I? Oh yes: the marquess’s man of business – he holds the lease on my behalf, so really I have little to worry about on that score. I’d say that most of the tailors in Cheapside now welcome my finishing services as I am known to refer new customers on to them.’
    Jane was relieved to hear this news. It was almost impossible for a woman to set up in business; only the protection of a marquess had made it a reality for Milly, and Jane had worried that his death would be felt badly by her protégée. But they were not out of the woods yet.
    ‘I hope Master Rochester continues to follow Jonas’s instructions. My stepson, the new marquess, may not notice this little detail in the Rievaulx holdings, but if he knew you were my friend he would make trouble just to spite me.’
    Milly waved the matter away. ‘I count my blessings each day and try not to worry about the morrow.’
    ‘And your father?’
    Milly huffed a sigh. ‘Some improvement there, praise the Lord. He has been released on condition he serve in the Low Countries campaign as adviser to the Duke of Anjou. If he proves himself loyal, he may be allowed back from exile.’
    ‘Did you see him before he left?’
    Milly shook her head. ‘Nay, it chanced that I was away from town on a commission for Lady Norton when he was sent out. They decided they needed him after the fall of Dunkirk. That disaster proved a blessing as even military gentlemen under a cloud are in demand. They say the war has reached a crisis and the poor Dutch are being crushed.’
    Jane had always rather liked Milly’s bluff soldier father, despite the fact that he had been a fool for being talked into his treachery and lucky still to have his head. ‘I wish I could exile my father and bring yours back.’
    ‘Has your father bothered you since your husband’s death?’
    Jane fingered the amber beads on her doublet, a nervous habit she wished she could conquer. ‘No, but it’s only a matter of time. He will seek me out either to make use of me or remind me of my failings – he can’t resist the chance to bully someone.’
    Milly picked up a piece of bone-work trimming from her workbasket and threaded a needle. Jane liked the sign that Milly had forgotten her guest’s new, exalted rank and was behaving again as she once would have done on any previous cosy gossip.
    ‘I think, my dear Jane, you need to marry again. Find yourself a strong gentleman to protect you from your family – not a fatherly old lord this time, but a lusty young lover.’
    Jane tried in vain to dismiss the image of James as she had last seen him – an imposing figure in his favourite blue doublet and hose, dark eyes and brown hair, effortlessly charming and capable. But then, she reminded herself, she had also been attracted to Ralegh’s handsome appearance at first, and look where that had led her.
    ‘I’m not sure my judgement is all that it should be in matters of love,’ she admitted. ‘The one lover I’ve known turned out to be a great disappointment.’
    Milly pricked the cloth, a frown wrinkling her forehead. ‘Well, Master Walter Ralegh may look very fine but he has no heart. You deserve much, much better – and, they say, once bitten, twice shy.’
    ‘Meaning I’ve learnt from my mistake?’
    ‘Mmm-hmm.’ Milly held pins in her mouth as she fixed the bone work to the neck of a gown.
    ‘And what about you?’ probed Jane, leaning forward. ‘Any suitors after that pretty new seamstress?’
    Milly smiled and stuck the last pin in place. ‘Maybe.’
    ‘Oh, don’t be coy – tell me!’
    ‘There’s the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker …’
    Jane threw herself back in the chair and laughed. ‘Oh, you tease! I thought you were being