LITMIR.BIZ

      Chapter Four

      Sophia looked up from her kettle of thick soup as Jessica entered the tiny kitchen at the back of the house. The savory aroma of simmering chicken and onions comforted the young woman. Still out of breath from her dash through the maze of alleyways and squares between the great piazza and the safety of her little home north of the Rialto Bridge, Jessica sank onto a short-legged wooden stool. Tossing back her hood, she plucked the mask from her face.

      Sophia planted a hand on her ample hip. “How now? I thought you went to church?”

      “I did,” Jessica replied. Her heart still raced within her bosom.

      “Then why have you returned looking as if you were pursued by a demon?”

      Drawing in a deep breath, Jessica leaned back against the cool plaster wall. “He was at Saint Mark’s.”

      The little woman’s eyes widened. “Who? Il diavolo in a house of God? Tell me, does he truly have horns and cloven feet?”

      Despite her recent fright, Jessica smiled. “No, Sophia. I speak of the English lord from yesterday.” She sat up straighter. “He was there and he stopped me as I was leaving.”

      “And?” Sophia cocked her head like one of Venice’s gray-feathered pigeons.

      Jessica twisted her fingers in her lap. “How did he know I would be there?” she whispered. “Unless he had me watched. Did he station a man outside my door to see if I consorted with Jews? Perchance he hopes to trap me, to prove that I am not a good Christian woman.”

      “Mayhap he expects you to fly over the rooftops on a broomstick,” Sophia remarked wryly. “Or invite nine or ten alley cats to a dance.”

      Jessica glared at her. “Tis no laughing matter. Why do I feel that I tread upon eggshells when Lord Bardolph is near? He frightens me.”

      Sophia snorted. “Only that? Are you sure there is nothing else he does to you when he is standing next to you?”

      Closing her eyes, Jessica allowed herself to explore the myriad unfamiliar feelings that had assailed her when Sir Francis had held her hand. Though he had worn gloves, she felt his heat penetrate her skin. Setting her blood afire. Leaving her breathless. Making her giddy with a strange emotion that she had never experienced.

      “He is not like other men,” she responded lamely.

      Sophia turned back to the soup that threatened to bubble over into the fire. “Agreed. He is as tall as a ship’s mast.”

      Jessica rolled her eyes. Sophia could be so annoying at times. “I mean he is not like the others who have sought my help. I know how to slip away from the searching hands of those Lotharios old and young who seek to press their advantage upon me. They laugh and shrug and tell me that there will be another day. And I know how to listen to those sad-faced men who complain of their aches and pains when it is really their wives and their dull marriages that make them feel ill. They leave happier and call me sweet names that they will not remember by the time they reach the canal. But this man…”

      Shivering, she hugged herself as she recalled his low gentle voice and the infinite beauty of his face. “He is so different. He dresses as if he had not a care in the world, yet he bears a weight inside of him greater than all the henpecked husbands of Venice.” She caught Sophia’s gaze. “He told me this morning that he had just learned of his grandfather’s death.”

      The little woman paused in her soup stirring and sketched a hasty sign of the cross. “Poor man!”

      Jessica stared at the glowing red coals in the hearth. “And I think that is the truth, yet he was sad yesterday when he did not know of his grandfather’s passing. Is he sad because he must disguise his true self? Sophia, I cannot banish the fear that he is really a secret agent of the Holy Office.”

      Sophia tasted her concoction and added a pinch of salt. “And yet?”

      Jessica massaged her temples. “I swear I must be going mad for I cannot wait until he returns here tomorrow. Just thinking about him makes my heart pound. Do you suppose I am coming down with a fever?”

      Sophia turned slowly around and surveyed Jessica. She crossed her arms over her breasts with an odd gleeful look in her eye. “Just so, cara mia. I think you have been bitten by a strange malady that usually comes in the springtime.”

      Jessica gasped. “The plague? Please, Sophia, tell me it is not so!”

      Sophia chuckled. “No, my sweet girl, you are safe from that scourge. Let us speak no more about it today for I could be wrong and I do not wish to alarm you further. Wait and see. Perhaps tomorrow I can better tell.”

      Jessica felt her forehead and cheeks with her palms but found that she was not unusually hot. “Is it a fatal illness?”

      Sophia laughed behind her hand. “Not usually. Enough of this idle prattle. Go attend to your business and allow me to tend to mine. Little Miriam is due to arrive at any moment and she needs all the soothing care that you can give her.” The small woman shook her head. “If you ask me, fourteen years is too young to have a baby, no matter what her dolt of a husband thinks. Bah! Men!”

      Jobe regarded his young friend with a keen interest. He was heartened that the most serious member of the Cavendish family had finally given evidence of his passionate nature. “Be of good cheer, Francis. You said you will see your elusive dove on the morrow. For today, let us walk about this delightful city and share goodly talk. I confess I am consumed with curiosity. Why these gaudy garments that are better suited to a rake than to a man of intelligence and somber wit?”

      Francis curled his lips. “You do not approve of my rags? They are the very last word in fashion, I assure you.”

      The African arched his dark brow. “If those are the last words, then put a period to end their sentence.”

      A ghost of a smile hovered on Francis’s lips. “Tis for the future of England’s foreign trade that I play the fool. I am dressed to blend into the background.”

      Jobe snorted. “Aye, as the red nose of a drunkard blends in with his green face.”

      Francis waved away this observation. “When I was in Paris, I played the part of a roving jongleur. Thank God, Lady Alicia insisted that I learn how to play a lute and recorder! That disguise served me well for over two years. In Padua, I became a

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