One of the courtiers thrust his fingers into his ears and shook his head vigorously. “Jesus! I swear I’ll never be able to hear again! If there’s a man left in London who can use his voice tomorrow—he’s a traitor and deserves to be hanged.”
Charles smiled. “To tell you the truth, gentlemen, I think I can blame only myself for having stayed so long abroad. I haven’t met a man these past four days who hasn’t told me he’s always desired my return.”
The others laughed. For now that they were home again, lords of creation once more and not unwanted paupers edged from one country to another, they found it easy to laugh. The years gone by had begun already to take on a kind of patina, and now they knew the story had a happy ending they could see that, after all, it had been a romantic adventure.
Charles, who was being helped out of his clothes, turned to one of the men and spoke to him in a low voice. “Did she come, Progers?”
“She’s waiting belowstairs, Sire.”
“Good.”
Edward Progers was his Majesty’s Page of the Backstairs. He handled private money transactions, secret correspondence, and served in an ex-officio capacity as the King’s pimp. It was a position of no mean prestige, and of considerable activity.
At last they trooped out and left him alone, giving them a lazy wave of his arm as he stood there in riding-boots, knee-length breeches, and a full-sleeved white linen shirt. Progers went also, by another door, and Charles strolled over to stand by the open windows, snapping his fingers impatiently while he waited. The night air was cool and fresh, and just below ran the river, where several small barges floated at anchor, their lanterns pricking the water like so many fireflies. The Palace lay round the bend of the Thames, but the innumerable bonfires back in the city had cast a glow against the sky and he could see the flashing yellow trails of rockets as they shot up and then dropped hissing into the water. The booming of cannon came again and again, and faintly the sound of bells still ringing.
For several moments he stood at the windows, staring out, but the expression on his face was moody and almost sad. He looked like a tired, bitter, and disappointed man, far more than like a king returned in triumph to his people. And then, at the sound of a door opening behind him, he spun swiftly on his heel, and his face lighted with pleasure and admiration.
“Barbara!”
“Your Majesty!”
She bent her head, curtsying low, as Progers backed discreetly out of the room.
She was some inches smaller than he but still tall enough to be imposing. Her figure was magnificent, with swelling breasts and small waist, suggesting lovely hips and legs concealed by the full satin skirts of her gown. She wore a violet velvet cloak, the hood lined in black fox, and she carried a great black-fox muff with a spray of amethysts pinned to it. Her hair was dark red, her skin clear and white, and the reflection from her cloak changed her blue eyes to purple. She was strikingly, almost aggressively beautiful, creating an immediate impression of passion and a wild, lusty untamableness.
Instantly Charles crossed and took her into his arms, kissing her mouth, and when at last he released her she tossed aside her muff and dropped off her cloak, aware of his eyes upon her. She stretched out her hands and he took both of them in his.
“Oh! it was wonderful! How they love you!”
He smiled and gave a slight shrug. “How they’d have loved anyone who offered them release from the army.”
She disengaged herself and walked a little from him toward the windows, consciously flirtatious. “Do you remember, Sire,” she asked him softly, “when you said you’d love me till kingdom come?”
He smiled. “I thought it would be forever.”
He came to stand behind her, his hands going to her breasts, and his head bent so that his mouth touched the nape of her neck. His voice was husky, deep, and there was a swift demanding impatience on his face. Barbara’s hands had tight hold on the window ledge and her throat arched back, but she stared straight ahead, out into the night.
“Won’t it be forever?”
“Of course it will, Barbara. And I’ll be here forever too. Come what may, there’s one thing I know—I’ll never set out on my travels again.” Suddenly he put one arm under her knees and swung her up off the floor, holding her easily.
“Where does the Monsieur think you are?” “The Monsieur” was their name for her husband.
She put her lips to his smooth-shaven cheek. “I told him I was going to stay the night with my aunt—but I think he guesses I’m here.” An expression of contempt crossed her face. “Roger’s a fool!”
CHAPTER FOUR
AMBER sat looking at herself in the mirror that hung above the dressing-table.
She was wearing a low-cut, lace-and-ribbon-trimmed smock made of sheer white linen, with belled, elbow-length sleeves and a long, full skirt. Laced over it was a busk—a short, tight little boned corset which forced her breasts high and squeezed two inches from the twenty-two her waist normally measured. With it on she had some difficulty both in breathing and in bending over, but it gave her such a luxurious sense of fashionableness that she would gladly have suffered twice the discomfort. Her skirt was pulled up over her knees so that she could see her crossed legs and the black silk stockings that covered them; there were lacy garters tied in bows just below her knees, and she wore high-heeled black-satin pumps.
Behind her hovered a dapper little man, Monsieur Baudelaire, newly arrived from Paris and having at his fingers’ ends all the very latest tricks to make an Englishwoman’s head look like a Parisienne’s. He had been working over her for almost an hour, prattling in a half-French and half-English jargon about “heartbreakers” and “kiss-curls” and “favourites.” Most of the time she did not understand what he said, but she had watched with breathless fascination the nimble manipulations of his combs and oils and brushes and pins.
Now, at last, he had her hair looking glossy as taffy-coloured satin, parted in the center and lying sleekly over the crown of her head in a pattern of shadowy waves. Fat shining curls hung to her shoulders, propped out a little by invisible combs to make them look even thicker. In back he had pulled all the hair up from her neck and braided and twisted it into a high scroll, securing it there with several gold-headed bodkins. It was the style, he told her, affected by all the great ladies and it quite transformed her features, giving her a piquant air at once provocative and alluring. Like a cook decorating his masterpiece he now fastened one pert black-satin bow at each temple and then stood back, clasping his hands, tipping his head to one side like a curious little bird.
“Ah, madame!” he cried, seeing not madame at all but only her hair and his own handiwork. “Oh, madame! C‘est magnifique! C’est une triomphe! C’est la plus belle—” Words failing him, he rolled his eyes and spread his hands.
Amber quite agreed. “Gemini!” She turned her head from side to side, holding up a hand mirror so as to see both back and front. “Bruce won’t know me!”
It had taken six weeks to get a gown made, for every good tailor and dressmaker in London had more orders than it was possible to fill. But Madame Darnier had promised to have her dress finished that afternoon and his Lordship had told her that he would take her wherever she wanted to go. She had been counting the days eagerly, for so far she had had little amusement but hanging out the windows to watch the crowds in the streets and running down to make purchases from every vendor who passed. Lord Carlton was gone a great deal of the time-where, she did not know—and though he had bought a coach which was usually at her disposal she was ashamed to go out in her country clothes.