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when he comes to Queen’s Malvern , Velvet. I’m sure he’ll understand and be reasonable,” Lord Bliss promised, silently hoping that he was right.
    Velvet kissed her uncle’s smooth cheek, then slipped from his lap. Though she led him to believe otherwise by her docile submission, she had no intention of sitting quietly and waiting for fate to sweep her up. She knew very well that if she allowed the earl to make the decision he would insist on celebrating the marriage immediately. She had seen how men looked at her of late, and it would be no different with this betrothed husband she had suddenly found she had. She was not that big a fool! Men thought they owned women.
    “I am not getting married,” she muttered mutinously to herself. “At least not yet, and not ever unless I love the man!” Then she smiled mischievously. Uncle Conn had seemed so very relieved, innocently believing that everything was settled. Sweet old Dame Cecily thought Velvet was an angel, and would never suspect that she could be devious. There was no one to bother or interfere with her for several days, of that she was certain. It was time enough to put into action the plan she had been thinking of ever since she had digested the news of the Earl of BrocCairn’s impending arrival.
    Although Velvet’s sister, Deirdre, was six years her senior, they had always been very close. Deirdre and her husband, Lord Blackthorn, lived just a few miles away at Blackthorn Priory. On the first of May they would be entertaining the queen, who was beginning her annual summer’s progress. Velvet had never met the queen that she could remember, although her mother said Elizabeth Tudor had seen her as a baby. The English queen was one of her two godmothers, the other being Queen Margot of France.
    Deirdre had been half-promising for months that Velvet could come and get a peek at the queen when Elizabeth stopped overnight at Blackthorn Priory. Velvet’s scheme involved meeting the queen and becoming one of her maids of honor. The Earl of BrocCairn could scarcely go against Elizabeth Tudor’s wishes and take a royal maid of honor from court without the sovereign’s permission, and Velvet knew the queen’s attitude toward gentlemen stealing her maids away. She chuckled to herself, quite pleased with her owncleverness. In the queen’s service she would be safe until her parents came home and the matter of this betrothal was straightened out.
    “I’m going to ride over to Blackthorn Priory to get a glimpse of Her Majesty,” Velvet told Dame Cecily on the morning of the first of May. She had just come in from gathering an armful of flowers, and they were still wet with the dew. “Perhaps I may be of help to my sister, for she is surely very busy right now.”
    “What a love you are, Velvet pet,” returned the old lady, “but have your forgotten, child? It’s your birthday. Do you want to spend it helping Deirdre with last-minute chores?”
    “Deirdre is breeding again, Dame Cecily. She has been very tired of late, and I am sure she will welcome my help today. Besides, I really do want to see the queen. I never have, and here I am fifteen!”
    Dame Cecily chuckled. “Run along then, child, and have your look at Bess Tudor,” she said. “With your parents still away ’twill not be much of a birthday for you again this year, I fear.”
    Velvet almost shouted with joy as she rode the few miles between her home and her sister’s. It was an incredibly lovely morning, a perfect May day, and her big chestnut stallion galloped along easily. She reached the hall without incident and, slipping down from her horse’s back, tossed the reins carelessly to a waiting groom.
    Inside, the priory was just as she had expected. Chaos reigned everywhere, and in its midst was Deirdre Blakeley, Lady Blackthorn, looking harassed and forlorn by turns, her fair skin flushed, her black hair half undone from its chignon.
    Deirdre’s blue eyes lit up at the sight of her