In Defense of the Queen Read Online Free PDF Page A

fingers shaking a little.
    Parker had never seen him so angry, when the anger was directed at him.
    “Someone shot a bolt through my window tonight.” Parker looked up at the King as he spoke.
    Henry’s mouth thinned. “You do have a knack for enraging others.”
    Parker frowned. “Usually on your account, Your Majesty.”
    Henry picked up the dice and threw the opening play, but there was a softening around his lips, as if he acknowledged the truth of what Parker said.
    The dice fell.
    Double six.
    Henry smiled for the first time since Parker’s unfortunate comment. “Do you know who made the attack?”
    Parker hesitated a moment. There was no sign Henry knew anything. “Perhaps.” He leaned back. “The Frenchman who tried to steal the Mirror of Naples is reported back in London.”
    Henry paused. “Didn’t he drown?”
    Parker shook his head. “I never thought we would be so lucky.”
    Henry eyed Parker’s move, grunted and threw again. Six and five. “The Mirror is safe?”
    Parker nodded. “He’s not after the Mirror again. Unless he’s mad.” He looked at Susanna. She sat with hands folded in her lap, beautiful enough to steal his breath. The expression on her face was tranquil, detached, and Parker realized her mind was working on a painting in her head—she was not with them. “It’s my betrothed he’s come back for.”
    Henry stopped the game. Looked at Susanna as well.
    “What are you thinking of?”
    As if sensing eyes on her, Susanna blinked, coming back from the place in her thoughts.
    “Your Majesty?” She had to clear her throat, as if she had been asleep, and she glanced at Parker, puzzled.
    “What takes your mind away from us?”
    She snapped her head back to Henry, and bowed her head at his direct gaze. “A painting.”
    “And what is this painting?” Henry spoke without his usual jocularity.
    “It is of Elizabeth Carew, Your Majesty.” Susanna twined her fingers together. “Forgive my inattendance.”
    The name of his former mistress made Henry’s nostrils flare. He stared at Susanna, as if to discern some hidden barb in her words, and Parker held his breath.
    “As my painter, in my employ, you will not paint Lady Carew. Unless I give you too little work to occupy your time?”
    Susanna lifted her gaze to the King in astonishment, and Parker resisted the urge to put a hand on her arm. “No, I’m very busy. My idea for the Lady Carew was something quite apart. Not a portrait, but a fanciful scene.”
    Henry picked up the dice, and threw them over-hard. They skittered over the deep sides of the board and onto the floor, spinning and rolling between the dancers.
    “Fetch them.” He looked straight at Parker, his voice stone grinding on stone.
    Parker rose reluctantly.
    He was an intimate of the King. He had risen from nothing, and made himself invaluable by his service and loyalty.
    He suddenly regretted his success.
    He touched Susanna’s shoulder as he stepped around her, his finger trailing the smooth, bare skin of her neck. As he was swallowed into the swirling mass of dancers, he had a sense he was leaving her exposed at the very moment he should be standing watch.
    * * *
    Susanna turned her head to watch Parker go, disturbed by his face, by his reluctance. She had missed something while she’d been busy composing the painting of Elizabeth Carew. Something important.
    “What is Elizabeth Carew to you?” Henry did not look at her. He kept his concentration on the pieces before him.
    Susanna bit her lip. “Lady Carew is very beautiful, and since I first saw her, she put me in mind of a water sprite, or some magical creature. I have wanted to paint her that way since I met her.”
    “A water sprite?” He sounded bemused. Less angry. “Aye, she is cool enough, to the casual eye.”
    There was a smugness about the statement, intimating he knew her to be anything but cool, away from the casual eye.
    Susanna forced her hands to relax, stretching her fingers along her