Lion Heart A Novel (Justin Cartwright) by Justin Cartwright

Author:Justin Cartwright
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Historical
ISBN: 9781620401835
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Published: 2013-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

On Sunday, as I was leaving for Oxford in the Porsche, Venetia came down to see me off, near the magnolia tree. I apologised for my behaviour the other night. I told her from inside the car that she was fantastically attractive, but that my personal life has been so traumatic that I could not have lived with myself if we had gone to bed. I was very uneasy.

‘That’s all right. I was tipsy and wanted to sleep with you. You can’t imagine what it’s like here in winter. I was a model, with lots of boyfriends, and then I married David and came up here. At first I loved it, but I missed London. I missed all sorts of things, actually. I go to our place in London once a month, but it’s often full of mad Eurosceptics. My escape now is my three months in Argentina.’

‘Do you have sex with gauchos?’

‘What sort of question is that? Not gauchos, usually with the professional polo players or the estancieros. Richard, it’s worse to have once been young and beautiful.’

‘You are still beautiful,’ I say, but without the conviction required for effective flattery.

‘I know enough about men, too much, to know that if they really find you attractive the scruples aren’t an issue.’

‘I’m so sorry. Please, believe me, it’s more complicated than that; I didn’t want to offend you. I certainly didn’t mean to.’

‘I was hurt. But that is life. Off you go, dear Richard.’

The Porsche’s boot is in the front and it holds my bag, three precious folders of copied documents and a brace of pheasant. Huntingdon and his friends were impressed by my shooting, particularly by a couple of left-and-rights. After shooting speeding grouse, pheasants appear to be on a suicide mission.

Before I set off, Huntingdon told me again that the Robin Hood document, which my father lost, was probably a forgery, commissioned by his grandfather, who wanted to believe that he was descended from Robin Hood. I saw that Huntingdon was trying to boost his friend in my esteem. I was touched.

Still, Sherwood Forest is not far from the family estate, and Richard the Lionheart did ride out there one day in 1194.

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