The Other Countess Read Online Free PDF Page A

appearance at court may have made her look as beautiful as a rosebud waiting to be gathered by some rich suitor, but she couldn’t forget that she had already been plucked and well swived. Tweaking her bodice even lower, she comforted herself with the thought that thoughvirginity was supposedly prized at court, few expected it these days in any but the Queen.
    ‘The servants say that many more noble gentlemen have arrived this afternoon,’ Nell said, feeding her mistress’s appetite for gossip, which was the main reason for her employment.
    ‘Oh? Anyone we know?’
    Nell turned her attention to the discarded clothes, folding them neatly. ‘Master Walter Ralegh is lodged near the Queen’s apartments they say.’
    ‘How fortunate for him,’ Jane said sourly.
    Worse than no longer being untouched, in Jane’s book, was the knowledge that she had been a fool, gulled by her brother’s lustful best friend, Walter Ralegh. She scowled in the mirror, trying to dismiss her unwanted memories of the titillating courtship, culminating in a sweaty coupling in the home farm barn. With what she now knew was girlish naivety, she’d thought he had been intending a declaration of love and a proposal of marriage; instead, she’d got a lost maidenhead and a moment of wild release before the horrid fact sunk in that she was just another warm body as far as Ralegh was concerned. He’d kissed her and patted her rump before riding away without a second glance.
    I know better now , she told her reflection, confident that there was no outward sign of her lapse. Her monthly courses had come on time so she did not need fear any further repercussions. Ralegh was a gentleman, or so he claimed, and comrade-in-arms of her brother, making his way as a soldier and adventurer; he surely would not reveal their secret? What would it gain him but her father’s wrath and much shame for her?
    Men are not to be trusted. They are to be used as they use us , she thought, drawing this teaching from her bitter experience. If she had not been so blinded by his dark good looks and sweet talk, she would have realized he was thinking with his codpiece, not his heart.
    Her heart hadn’t been involved either. It had been flattery that had wooed her; stupidity that had her allowing him to take it further. She’d learnt her lesson. Now it was time to make Ralegh and his ilk pay. She was going to be so dazzling, so desirable, he would be panting to have her again, and she would take great pleasure in refusing any further favours.
    Jane fastened a string of matched pearls around her neck. Once she was wed, she might think again. Ralegh would make a good paramour for a woman with a rich old husband – for Jane was determined to marry someone who would conveniently die and leave her a wealthy widow while she was still young. Perhaps she would be like the Countess of Essex, who had managed to catch the handsome Earl of Leicester for her second marriage. Achieve wealth and power first time at the altar; choose the compatible bedfellow for later. If a woman didn’t play the game to win, she would be trampled. Jane had no intention of being anyone’s wifely rug.
    ‘Tell my brother I’m ready to go down,’ Jane ordered Nell.
    ‘Yes, my lady.’
    Nell picked up the linen towel, now soiled with smears of cosmetics, and went in search of Sir Henry. Lady Purity Perceval may think she deceived everyone with her behaviour, but Nell knew the truth. Her mistress had taken a tumble in the hay with that Devon-born jackanapes last month and didn’t want anyone to know it. Nell could’ve found some pity forher mistress being fooled by the man if Ralegh hadn’t been so obviously a lusty buck after a quick swive. In truth, it was pleasing to see her mistress humbled.
    The lady had always looked down her nose at others; now she’s no better than the rest of us , thought Nell. The rigid ranks in their world were rarely breached, but a reminder that the Lady Jane was human would