A Royal Love Match Read online

  ‘I have found him! I have found him at last!’ she thought to herself excitedly.

  Forgetting about her stepmother and Lord Pronett who were not in sight, she ran back into the Royal Palace and up the stairs that led to their own Apartment.

  Nanny was there looking much older, but she was still as neat and tidy as she had been all the years she had spent in service.

  “What do you think, Nanny!” cried Alissia. “I have just seen Clive More – I mean the Marquis of Morelanton! I hoped he was somewhere in the Palace, but although I have looked and looked it is only now I have seen him. He looks very much the same as when he came to our nursery and you hid him in your bed.”

  “I’ve been prayin’ ever so hard that he’d find you sooner or later, dearie, but her Ladyship made me promise her on the Bible that I’d not tell you he was in the Royal Palace of Whitehall.”

  Alissia looked at Nanny in sheer surprise.

  “Why should she do that?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine, dearie. You knows the answer without me tellin’ you.”

  Alissia stared at her.

  Then as if Nanny had spoken aloud, she said,

  “You mean Stepmama wants him to marry Nancy?”

  “That’s what she wants, and that’s what she’s been plannin’. It’s only because I wouldn’t break my word that I didn’t tell you days ago what she were after.”

  Alissia drew in her breath.

  “I never imagined she would feel like that.”

  Then she murmured almost to herself,

  “At least I have found him now – ”

  At the same time she was afraid it might be too late.

  Later that day her father returned from a meeting he had been summoned to attend at the Royal Palace.

  Alissia contrived to be alone with him.

  “Why did you not tell me, Papa,” she asked, “that Clive More, whom we have talked about so often and is now the Marquis of Morelanton, is here in the Palace.”

  “I wanted to tell you, my darling Alissia, but your stepmother was so insistent that you were still too young to attend the more formal parties at the Royal Palace.”

  “Nancy only yesterday let the cat out of the bag, without meaning to, that when she and Stepmama went out in the evening and told us that they were going to friends, they really attended small intimate parties organised by the King at which there was dancing!”

  His lips tightened.

  He knew it was a mistake to make trouble between his wife and his daughter.

  But he was only too well aware that because Alissia was much more beautiful than Nancy, his wife was jealous of her and tried to put her down in his estimation whenever she could.

  But he was too wise to argue.

  He just let her talk and talk and then ignored what she had said to him.

  He was sure that as they had now met again that Clive would find Alissia as attractive and as beautiful as he did himself.

  He dismissed the idea of Clive marrying Nancy as he had thought, when it was very obviously suggested by his wife, that she was reaching far too high and asking too much for her daughter.

  Equally he had no intention of restricting Alissia in any way.

  Only now did he understand how he had been made a fool of and it annoyed him.

  Yet if possible he did not want to quarrel with his wife as she always became hysterical.

  If it ended in tears, he always had to apologise and say it was all his fault.

  Now he realised that he should have made certain as soon as they arrived that Alissia was not shut out of any of the festivities that she could be invited to.

  He had been foolish in believing his wife when she had told him that they were just dining with or meeting up with friends.

  But she was his wife and he had no intention, if he could help it, of fighting over the two girls.

  Nanny on the other hand had a great deal more to say to Alissia.

  “If you asks me,” she had pontificated, “a man of the Marquis’s age should choose his own wife and not let them other women pick one for him.”

  “Perhaps he really does want to marry Nancy – ”

  “I don’t believe it,” retorted Nanny. “It was you he were asking for and I heard her mother say not once but several times, ‘Oh, Alissia’s quite happy in the country, and anyway it’s only possible for us to bring one girl to the Court at a time’.”

  She slapped her bundle noisily down on the table and went on,

  “If his Lordship believes that, then he’ll certainly believe anythin’. If you asks me he’ll be really angry at bein’ bamboozled.”

  “I do hope not,” said Alissia, “because that would upset Papa. But I would love to see Clive again and I am longing to find out if he still has the two locks you cut off my hair.”

  She gave a sigh of satisfaction and added,

  “They certainly brought him luck!”

  “That be true,” answered Nanny. “I’ve found out that now he’s the Marquis of Morelanton after his father’s death, he has a vast Castle over the border in Scotland, and a very fine house, if he wishes to use it, in London.”

  “I hope I will be able to see it, Nanny. I expect you would like to see it too. You have often talked about the London houses you worked in before you came to us. You told me they had large nurseries on the very top floor.”

  “That be true enough, dearie. In them days children had to be seen and not heard.”

  Alissia laughed.

  “I expect it’s the same today. Pushed away at the top of the house, so that no one can hear them cry!”

  Nanny’s eyes softened.

  “Your mother always wanted you with her, dearie, and a lovelier lady never walked this earth.”

  “I so often think about her, Nanny, and I know just how happy she made Papa. Although I do know that he is very fond of Stepmama, she certainly does not mean the same to him as Mama did.”

  “No, of course not, dearie. You mark my words, if two people really love each other and that be true enough of your father and mother, there’s no one else who can ever take their place.”

  “That is what I have always thought, Nanny, and if I ever do marry, I want a man who loves me and who never looks at anyone else.”

  She was thinking how much the poor Queen must resent Barbara Castlemaine in the entourage at Hampton Court, and that she was now firmly established in a large number of grand rooms in the Royal Palace.

  “I just know what you’re thinkin’,” said Nanny. “If I was the Queen, I’d go straight back to where I’d come from and tell His Majesty he can keep his ‘fancy’ women, but not under the same roof as me!”

  Alissia laughed.

  Then she put her finger to her lips.

  “Be careful, Nanny. If you talk like that we will all be sent back to the country in disgrace. Everyone knows that the King adores Barbara Castlemaine and she really is extremely beautiful.”

  “Beauty is as beauty does,” grumbled Nancy. “If you asks me, it ain’t at all respectable and it’s not the way a decent woman behaves.”

  Alissia knew it was no use arguing – Nanny had her principles and she actually agreed with them.

  Equally Barbara Castlemaine had to be accepted by everyone who waited on the King from the lowest in the scullery up to the highest Peer.

  Yet she had no particular desire to think about it at this moment.

  It was so exciting to have found Clive – or rather the Marquis, as he now was.

  It was very difficult to think of him except as Clive More, as she had for the past nine years.

  Alissia felt that they had so much to talk about and so much to remember and she could only hope that when he came back from playing tennis with the King, he would somehow contrive to see her again.

  ‘I do wish I could go and watch them,’ she thought wistfully.

  Then she knew it would look as if she was running after Clive and he might be embarrassed by her.

/>   At the same time she felt that her father would help her to see Clive and talk to him as she longed to do.

  She opened the door of the room that Nanny called ‘the nursery’ because it was in here that she washed and ironed Alissia’s clothes.

  As she did so, she heard one of the servants saying,

  “This way, my Lord.”

  Peeping discreetly over the banisters she saw Lord Pronett walking into the drawing room.

  Without his hat his hair looked very dark and rather greasy and she watched his head until it was out of sight.

  Then she felt a little shiver go through her.

  Alissia did not know why, but there was something about him that she believed was definitely wrong.

  Yet she could not put it into words.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Alissia was in her element.

  She had seen Clive again last night, when there had been an orchestral concert at the Palace.

  She thought how incredibly handsome he was and how different in some ways from the young man who had hidden in Nanny’s bed.

  Nanny was delighted as well because he had called during the afternoon when she had been the only one in their Apartment.

  Alissia had gone out in a barge with her father and the Countess had taken Nancy to attend some gathering in the Royal Palace.

  According to Nanny’s view, and Nanny was always right as she knew, Clive was even finer and better-looking than the King himself.

  She was flushed and excited with all the kind things he had said to her and he had given her a present, which she mentioned only to Alissia.

  In a way Alissia was glad she had not been there to spoil the reunion of Nanny and the young man whose life she had saved.

  At the same time she wanted to see Clive herself.

  It had been impossible to talk to him at the concert because he was sitting by the King and anyway she and her father were quite some way from them.

  However, he had come up to them when everyone was leaving and made some flattering remarks to her father before he turned to Alissia.

  Clive had thought to himself she was looking even more beautiful in her evening dress than she had been in her day gown.

  Later when Clive and His Majesty went upstairs to his private sitting room, the King remarked,

  “I have to decide whose bedroom I go to tonight – ”

  Clive knew he was speaking of his wife, the Queen, and Barbara Castlemaine.

  The King made a wide gesture with his hands as he added,

  “Whoever I may choose, it will result in pouts and recriminations by the one who is neglected!”

  Clive had laughed because he could not help it.

  “I am seriously sorry for you, Sire, but it is a puzzle no one can solve except yourself!”

  “And I am quite incapable of solving it, Clive,” the King chuchled.

  When Clive said goodnight and went back to his own Apartment, he was thinking that he did not envy the King.

  He himself was glad that he was not married.

  He had been hounded, begged and implored by his family to take a wife and thus make sure of an heir to the Marquisate.

  If he did not have a son the title would go to some obscure cousin in Surrey, who was getting on in years and, failing him, the title would die out.

  “You must be sensible, Clive,” one of his relations had said, “and realise it is your responsibility to carry on the title which after all is a very ancient one.”

  “I am aware of that,” he had replied. “But naturally I do not wish to marry until I am in love.”

  The relative had then looked at him in surprise as if it was the last thing he had expected him to say.

  “But surely, Clive, you must realise that you have to marry someone of our own rank,” his grandmother had lectured him on frequent occasions, “and preferably a bride with a large dowry.”

  It was just what the King had said to him so often and Clive was growing tired of hearing it.

  *

  The Queen was soft, gentle and apparently already devoted to her husband and yet she had made a scene when she first encountered Barbara Castlemaine.

  There was no doubt at all that Barbara was causing confrontations day after day until the King was weary of them.

  Equally he had a great affection for her that Clive realised was very sincere.

  What was more she had borne him a son and he felt responsible for her.

  ‘The best thing I can do,’ Clive said to himself as he climbed into bed, ‘is to remain a bachelor. When I am older and my hair is going grey, I will perhaps marry to produce an heir, but until then I intend to enjoy myself.’

  He spoke to himself defiantly – as if the very walls of his bedroom were talking to him, as his relations had, of his duty towards his family.

  He told himself somewhat cynically before he went to sleep, that if he ‘played the field’, he would find it far more enjoyable than being tied to one woman.

  If he did finally marry, his wife would doubtless be jealous of every woman who even looked at him.

  When he saw Alissia and her father at the concert, he had greeted them affectionately.

  Alissia had said to him in her sweet gentle voice,

  “I have a favour to ask of you, Clive. Please do not think I am a bore, but I do want to see you and His Majesty playing tennis.”

  Clive had expected something quite different.

  “Of course you can. I will tell the gatekeeper at the tennis court that you are always to be admitted and there will be no trouble. But I should tell you that His Majesty and I are playing at six o’clock tomorrow morning.”

  “I will be there, and thank you, thank you,” Alissia sighed. “It is a game I have always wanted to watch.”

  “Then I will certainly try to beat my opponent,” he smiled.

  He was about to say more when the King beckoned him and he had to leave.

  “Goodnight, my Lord,” he turned to Bruce, “I am anxious to have a long talk with you as soon as possible. I need your advice.”

  “I am always at your service,” replied Bruce.

  And then Clive had hurried off to obey the King’s command.

  Alissia gave a little jump for joy.

  “I have been longing to watch them play tennis,” she enthused, “and I do know that His Majesty plays very early because he dislikes an audience, but I will hide in a corner so that he will not notice me.”

  “I am sure he will not mind your being there even if he does see you,” her father added. “I am told that Clive is a very good player too.”

  *

  Alissia was ready long before it was six o’clock the following morning.

  She watched from the window till she saw the King and Clive walking together towards the tennis court.

  She gave them a little time to start playing, feeling that she would not be noticed if they were intent on their game.

  Then she went to the gate.

  The gatekeeper, who was under strict orders to keep everyone else out, smiled at her.

  “His Lordship said you’d be comin’, my Lady,” he said, “and there be plenty of seats to choose from.”

  Alissia laughed.

  “I will make myself as inconspicuous as possible.”

  She did this by sitting a long way back where she had an excellent view and yet she was not near enough for them to suspect that she was there.

  She saw her father was so right in saying that Clive was an exceptionally good player.

  At the same time the King was equally proficient.

  The game was even until the King won on the very last rally and Alissia suspected that Clive had allowed His Majesty to do so.

  The King was delighted at his success and he was smiling as he and Clive walked towards the court door.

  It was only then that they became aware that there was a spectator present.

  As they both stood looking up at Alissia she hurried down and made a low curtsy to th
e King.

  “I hope you enjoyed the game, Alissia,” said Clive.

  “It was very exciting and I thought that both you and His Majesty played brilliantly. I have always wanted to watch tennis and now it has actually happened to me.”

  Both men laughed.

  “We cannot possibly ask for a greater compliment,” remarked the King. “Of course we are grateful for such an appreciative audience. But please do not talk about it, or we will have a large number of busy-bodies staring down at us and doubtless giving us instructions as to how to play better!”

  “I think it would be impossible for them to do that,” Alissia replied. “And, Your Majesty, I promise that no one will know I have had such a wonderful privilege of being able to watch you both play.”

  The King smiled and then he and Clive hurried out of the court to change as he had an urgent appointment for immediately after breakfast.

  Alissia went back to her own Apartment.

  It was unfortunate that, as she was going to her own bedroom, her stepmother came out of her room.

  “Why are you up so early?” she asked suspiciously.

  “It is such a lovely day, Stepmama. The sun woke me and I thought it was a shame to stay indoors – ”

  As her stepmother seemed unconvinced, she added,

  “You forget I am a country girl.”

  “Yes indeed you are,” the Countess retorted, “and it strikes me that you would be far happier if you went back home to Worcestershire instead of wasting all your time in London.”

  “I will go back when Papa does.”

  She saw by the expression on her stepmother’s face that this was not the answer she wanted.

  There was little doubt that her father was enjoying himself in London after having been in the country for so long – there were only a few people there of his own age or distinction to talk to and he therefore appreciated every moment of his stay at the Royal Palace.

  He had always been exceedingly popular with his contemporaries when at school and later when he was in London as a bachelor.

  When everything had changed so drastically under the Cromwellians, he had certainly missed the men he had been brought up with.

  It had at times been very dull in the country and at others times nerve-wracking when he was scared of doing anything that might attract the attention of the enemy.