The Virgin’s Lover v1.1 by Philippa Gregory

Author:Philippa Gregory [Gregory, Philippa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-10-19T07:00:00+00:00

That night she slipped through the secret doorway into Robert’s adjoining chamber. He was waiting for her, a warm fire in the grate, two chairs drawn up before it. His valet, Tamworth, had put out wine and little pastries for them, before leaving the room to stand guard outside the door.

Elizabeth, in her nightgown, slid into Robert’s arms and felt his warm kisses on her hair.

“I had to wait forever,” she whispered. “I was sleeping with Laetitia and she chattered and chattered and would not sleep.”

Resolutely he turned his mind from the picture of the exquisite young woman and his mistress in bed together, combing each other’s copper hair, their white nightgowns open at the neck. “I was afraid you could not come.”

“I will always come to you. Whatever anyone says.”

“What has anyone said?”

“More scandal.” She dismissed it with a shake of her head. “I can’t repeat it. It’s so vile.”

He seated her in the chair and gave her a glass of wine. “Don’t you long for us to be together openly?” he asked softly. “I want to be able to tell everyone how much I adore you. I want to be able to defend you. I want you to be mine.”

“How could it ever be?”

“If we were to marry,” he suggested quietly.

“You are a married man,” she said, so low that not even the little greyhound sitting at her feet could hear. But Robert heard, he saw the shape her lips made, he never took his eyes from her mouth.

“Your father was a married man when he met your mother,” he said gently. “And yet when he met her, the woman that he had to have, the woman that he knew was the great love of his life, he put his first wife aside.”

“His first marriage was not valid,” she responded instantly.

“And nor is mine. I told you, Elizabeth, my love for Amy Robsart is dead, as is hers for me, and she means nothing to me. She lives apart from me now, and has done for years, of her own choice. I am free to love you. You can set me free, and then you shall see what we shall be for each other.”

“I can set you free?” she whispered.

“You have the power. You are head of the church. You can grant me a divorce.”

She gasped. “I?”

Robert smiled at her. “Who else?”

He could see her brain working furiously. “You have been planning this?”

“How could I plan such a thing? How could I dream that this would happen to us? Parliament made you supreme governor and gave you the powers of the Pope without a word from me. Now you have the power to annul my marriage; the Commons of England gave you that power, Elizabeth. You can free me, Elizabeth, as your father freed himself. You can free me to be your husband. We can be married.”

She closed her eyes so that he could not see the whirl of thoughts in her head, her immediate frightened rejection. “Kiss me,” she said dreamily.

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