The Queen's Secret by Jean Plaidy

Author:Jean Plaidy [Plaidy, Jean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical
ISBN: 9781400082520
Publisher: Broadway
Published: 1990-02-14T13:00:00+00:00

DANGEROUS LOVE

I knew I had changed. I knew that Agnes and the Joannas looked at me incredulously and that there was a hint of fear in Guillemote’s eyes.

But they said nothing. Nor did I.

I was happy…as happy as Jane on her journey to Scotland. I was happy as I had never thought to be in the whole of my life.

I could think of nothing but Owen. I wanted to hear about his life, of those early days in Wales. I wanted to hear about Cadwaladr, an ancient ancestor who had defended Wales from King Henry II. I wanted to hear more of his father, the outlaw, who had fled from the neighborhood when he had killed a man. It all seemed so wildly romantic and I loved to hear him recount those stories in his beautiful musical voice.

I was obsessed by Owen.

“We must not show our feelings,” he warned me.

“You must not look at me as you do when people are present,” I admonished him.

“Do you not like it?”

“I adore it. No, no, forget what I said. I care not. Please look at me like that.”

“How do I look at you?”

“As though you love me.”

“Which is no more than the truth.”

Lovers’ talk. Lovers’ ways. I could not help it. Life was wonderful suddenly.

I was losing my baby, but I had my love to comfort me. Owen was making life wondrously happy for me.

I will not lose all, I reasoned with myself.

Guillemote was strangely silent. She seemed a little aloof. I had betrayed too much and she was wondering what would come out of this. She would guess the truth, I knew. I had been so desolate at losing my child; and she would know that I must have something in my life to help me replace that loss.

She said nothing, though I knew the time must come when she would.

The household had been taken over now. Dame Alice Butler and Mrs. Astley were in charge of it. There was no place for me. Henry’s Court moved to Windsor, and I stayed on in Hertford.

It was easier here for Owen and me to meet, for the King must necessarily be under constant scrutiny; and it would be more so now that he had his own household. Thus I could live more or less privately, for a time at least. I should be grateful for that.

I became more and more aware of that anxiety in the looks which my dear ladies cast in my direction, and they appeared to be a little embarrassed when Owen’s name was mentioned.

Guillemote could contain herself no longer.

She came to me one day and I guessed what was on her mind, because for the first moments she was silent and she looked at me in a puzzled sort of way.

“My lady,” she said solemnly at length, “are you aware that you have changed and that it is…noticeable?”

“Changed? In what way, Guillemote?”

“Something has happened. I knew it…and what matters is that others know it.”

“We all know that the King has his own establishment now.

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