Diana blushed.
“Do not fret, sweet cousin,” Fancy said. “There is no guarantee that the king, having been refused, will ask me to supper again.”
They had reached their carriage where Jasmine sat waiting for them. Liveried footmen helped them into the vehicle and the doors shut. The coach lumbered off out of the Great Court and through the Whitehall Gate onto the street.
“The king asked Fancy to supper!” Cynara burst out.
“Did he?” Jasmine said. I must be getting old, she considered. I did not see that coming at all. “And you refused him, of course.”
“For now,” Fancy replied.
“I had thought you would remarry one day,” Jasmine said to her granddaughter. “There is little future in being a king’s mistress.”
“I find it a more preferable fate to being another man’s wife,” Fancy told her grandmother. “I find the king an attractive man, and he is said to be kind to the ladies who please him.”
“Yes, he is that,” Jasmine admitted, “and if you give him a child, he will acknowledge it. The Stuarts always accept their paternal obligations as I certainly well know. Your uncle has teased me about it, but it would seem he is correct when he says the Stuarts have a tendre for the women in this family. I was once Prince Henry’s mistress, and your aunt Autumn, my youngest daughter, was for a brief time this king’s mistress. You look nothing like her so whatever the allure is that we seem to possess, it is not in our similar features. Well, let us wait and see if you have whetted the king’s appetite, or if your refusal has but put him off.” She looked at her other two granddaughters. “You will say nothing of this to anyone,” she instructed them both. “Diana, I know I may rely on you. But Cynara, my gossipy wench, if you should allow your tongue to wiggle-waggle, you could cause not just your cousin, but the entire family, great damage. Do you understand why, dear girl?”
“Yes, Grandmama, I do. I shall speak on this to no one,” Cynara promised Jasmine. “Especially not Papa or Mama.”
Jasmine’s eyes met those of Cynara’s. “Ahh, you do understand,” she said, well pleased. Then she sat back, and closed her eyes. “I am far too old to be spending half the night up with you three wenches,” she told them. “You have been properly introduced. I shall not always go with you after tonight. You have Charlie and Barbara there to chaperon you. I may, however, come to some of the masques. In King James’s day the masques were marvelous, and I took part in many of them.” She sat back and closed her eyes, not speaking again for the rest of their journey back to Greenwood House.
“Why does Grandmama not want Uncle Charlie and Aunt Barbara to know the king approached Fancy?” Diana asked when they were home again and seated in Fancy’s dayroom with their shoes off.
“Because Papa would probably speak to the king invoking family obligations. Then the king would not approach Fancy again. He would forever be annoyed at Papa for having interfered with his desires and with Fancy for not having said yes to his first offer. If the king invites our cousin again, and she pleases him, her fortune here in England is made.”
Diana sighed. “I’m glad the king did not approach me,” she said. “All the young men who importune me but confuse me. If the king made advances toward me, I do not know what I would do.”
Cynara laughed. “The day her parents left her here to be civilized from a Highland wench into a lady she said she could not wait to meet the king,” Cynara explained to her other cousin.
“Well, I have met him,” Diana said. “But I wouldn’t want to be his mistress. I want a husband. I just can’t make up my mind upon whom to concentrate.”
“We are just come to court,” Cynara said. “There is time to make those decisions. For now it is our duty to have fun.”
“When shall we go back to court?” Fancy asked.
“Why tomorrow as soon as we are rested,” Cynara said. “Perhaps we should get there in time to accompany the king on his afternoon walk along the riverside. Fancy, can your Bess bring our gowns for the evening? Then we will change our clothing in my father’s apartments. I know he and Mama will not mind. It is such a convenience that he is housed at Whitehall,” she noted.
“I’ll bring the gowns, and I’ll remain to help you all dress,” Bess spoke up. “But now you must go to your own chambers, my ladies, and get some rest. You shouldn’t have no purple circles beneath your beautiful eyes if you want to be the most beautiful young ladies at the king’s royal court.”
“You are so sensible!” Cynara said. “I wonder Bess that our grandmama did not give you to me instead of to Fancy.”
“She didn’t give me to you, my lady, because she knew I wouldn’t put up with your nonsense like your good Hester does,” Bess said pertly.
Fancy and Diana laughed, but Cynara looked very aggrieved.
“You are probably correct, though you are much too bold that you say so,” Cynara snapped as she flounced from the room.
Diana kissed her cousin good night and, green eyes twinkling, followed after Cynara.
When they had gone, Bess escorted her mistress into her bedchamber saying, “Was you the belle of the court, mistress?” She began to unlace the turquoise velvet and the silver lace bodice.
“The king asked me to supper,” Fancy said softly, “but it must remain a secret for now, Bess Trueheart. You cannot gossip to your friends about anything I confide in you.”
“You have my word, mistress,” Bess replied.
“I think I shall be uncomfortable confiding in my cousins should the king’s invitation come again, and I accept it, which I will. Diana is a little shocked that I will go to supper with His Majesty.”
“And Lady Cynara is full of self-importance, and all advice based on her experience,” Bess noted with a small smile.
“Exactly!” Fancy responded. “Oh, Bess, I knew that you would understand! I am not a fine lady like my two cousins. I was not raised that way. You and I have more in common, though we be mistress and servant, than I have with my two cousins. I love them dearly, but I am not like them at all. You are a practical and prudent girl, as am I.”
Bess nodded. “Aye, I am, and that is a truth, mistress. Your two cousins have the advantage of being known by society. Their lineage and their dowries are no secret. They’ll find husbands quick enough when they wants ’em and decides to settle down. But you—well, to be frank, and meaning no offense, mistress—come from the Colonies, surrounded by scandalous tales. Most ain’t yet discovered that your grandsire was the marquis of Lindley. That your pedigree is as good as that of your cousins. You need a little advantage with the court. If you decorates the king’s bed and afterward retains his friendship, you will have that advantage,” Bess concluded.
“Precisely!” Fancy said. “Ohh, I’m so glad that someone understands. And there is something else too, Bess. Cynara says the king’s reputation as a lover is great. Is he a good lover, or do they say it of him because he is the king, I wonder? My . . . husband”—she shuddered visibly as she said the word—“was not a good lover. I might have been a virgin, but women know this instinctively about a man. I should like to have a good lover.” Fancy loosened
