The Perfect Royal Mistress by Diane Haeger

Author:Diane Haeger [Haeger, Diane]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780307383402
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2007-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

Later that same afternoon, Nell sat beside the king in His Majesty’s black coach, with six pure-white horses out in front, as they neared Windsor Castle. Gilded and emblazoned with the royal crest, and outfitted in red velvet within, it was a luxurious conveyance, and Nell sank against the seat, still not quite able to fathom her good fortune. She had asked to have her sister come along for support, and the king, who had yet to deny Nell anything, happily obliged, giving Rose and Jeddy a place in the coach directly behind his own.

Like Newmarket, Windsor was one of the king’s favorite places to pass the warm months of summer, those too dangerous to remain in London for the constant risk of plague. His gaze out the coach window was distant as she took his arm and leaned against his shoulder.

“What troubles you?” she asked, pressing two fingertips onto his furrowed brow.

“I don’t believe you’d want to know that.”

“Then you’d be wrong. I’ve an interest in everythin’ about you.”

“Even if it concerns another of my mistresses?”

“So long as you’ve no idea of me lyin’ with her, I’ll gladly ’ear.”

A smile played at the corners of his mouth as the coach jarred and swayed. “My Nelly. You do lighten my burden, you truly do.”

“Then from now on, I’ll consider it my official job. When I’m not troddin’ the boards at Your Majesty’s theater, that is.”

“I’ve broken my ties with Lady Castlemaine. I asked her to leave Whitehall.”

“Did you now?” She paused for a moment as the coach turned, and swayed, onto a more narrow, shadowy tree-lined lane. “Did you do that because of me?”

Charles looked over at her again, then took up both of her hands in his. “It was time. That is all. I do not love her.”

“Did you once?”

“I believed I did.”

“For years, they say.”

“Aye, and other loves as well, even so. Several others.” He lowered his eyes and was silent for a moment. “This is not an excuse, knowing what your own life has been, because there isn’t one. But rather, it is an explanation. My youth was a miserable one, full of far too much sacrifice for anyone’s liking.” He closed his eyes then; images that pushed forward from the back of his mind were there now. But he would not let them forward. He could not. “The world of a king is responsibility and decisions.”

“A fair bit of privilege, as well, I’d say.”

“My goal since the day of my father’s murder has been to sample every possible pleasure that I can, and, yes, with as many others as I can. It is the variety that wins me, and it is a fearsome, relentless draw. That is the cold truth of it.” He looked at her then, his dark eyes distant and a little wary of her feelings. “Does knowing it make you care for me less?”

“I’m no one’s innocent, Charlie. I know your ’eart and your prick are very different parts of you, indeed.”

“If you really do understand, you would be the first.

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