The Kadin - Bertrice Small [194]
It was therefore with some surprise that she noted her chamber door opening to admit the king. She sprang from her bed. “My liege! Is aught amiss?”
James smiled charmingly. “My bed is cold.”
“But I assigned several pretty lasses to prepare yer majesty’s rooms,” she said severely.
“They dinna suit.” His amber eyes flicked over her scantily clad body.
“I must again remind ye, my liege, that I am old enough to be yer mother.”
“Yet ye fie wi’ Lord Hay.”
Surprised at his intelligence, she nevertheless coolly replied, “Lord Hay is my contemporary.”
“Is it the same as when ye were young?”
She swallowed hard. “Aye.” Then catching his thought, she bit back her laughter.
“Then God’s nightgown, madame! If ye lie wi’ Lord Hay, and ‘tis the same as it ever was, why will ye nae lie wi’ me?”
“Because, sir, I am no wanton. I dinna lie wi’ boys, and when I take a lover I prefer to do my own choosing.”
“I never thought ye were the wanton, my dear. Ye keep telling me ye could be my mother, yet ye are not my mother. From the moment I first saw ye at court seven months ago, I wished to sleep wi’ ye. Why do ye think I broke my journey at Sithean? Now, madame, I have had enough talk, and I am cold Get into bed!”
She dared not disobey. Blowing out the bedside candle, the king took Janet in his arms. Stripping the sheer robe off her, James fondled her ripe breasts. Murmuring happily, the king buried his face in her body. She lay quietly neither encouraging, nor discouraging him. Forcing his knee between her legs he spread them wide, and mounting the body beneath him, he thrust up her.
She tried very hard not to respond, but her body betrayed her, and she moved smoothly under him in perfect rhythm. Sighing contentedly he sought his release, and finding it, he rolled off her and immediately fell asleep. There was nothing else for her to do but fall asleep also. When she awoke the following morning, the king was gone from her bed.
That morning after a mass celebrating the feast of Saint Margaret, they hunted stag in the hills around the loch. The king behaved courteously towards her as he had previously. That night she gave a banquet for the neighboring families of rank. Lord Hay was among them. Afterwards there was dancing, and leading her through a figure Colin asked ‘Tonight?”
“Nay, hinny! He goes tomorrow. Tomorrow night, my love!”
And after all was quiet that night James appeared again in her rooms, took his pleasure, and slept Janet didn’t know whether to be glad or sad that she had forbade Lord Hay to visit The following morning the king took her a final time, and then departed.
As they stood in the main hall of the East Wing, James smiled and said, “Lady Leslie. Ye hae given forty years of yer life, and more, to Scotland I canna let such devotion go unrewarded. Sithean is far too lovely for a mere ‘Sir” Charles Leslie. I am therefore creating yer son earl of Sithean, and ye madame,” his eyes twinkled at her, “will be known as the dowager countess of Sithean.”
Kneeling, she kissed his hand “My lord once again ye hae rendered me speechless.”
He nodded graciously and raising her up said softly, “Were I ten years older, the master of Grayhaven would nae have a chance!” In a louder voice, “Farewell, madame! We hope to see ye at court again some day.”
After the king had left, Janet went to her own apartments and indulged herself in a long and lovely bath in her Turkish bathroom Lying on the marble bathbench, the steam hissing on the stones, she thought how fortunate it was that she was not of childbearing age. Then she thought of her warning to Lord Hay concerning other women. Suddenly the incongruity of the situation hit her, and she began to laugh.
Dearest Colly, she thought I shall nae tell ye of the two nights James Stewart spent in my bed. Not only would it hurt ye, my love, but ye’de nae believe that despite the fact the Stewarts have a reputation for being supurb lovers, our