Lucianna Read Online Free PDF

Richard, Duke of York, took the throne. At that moment Richard had been the king’s only living brother. As for the little princes, they disappeared, leaving only Richard. Many believed Richard had murdered his nephews, especially among the Tudor adherents. Robert Minton did not.
    Richard loved all children, and he had always been the favorite uncle. Such talk was said to tar Richard’s memory, to make him a villain, to make Henry Tudor England’s savior. If anyone had killed those poor boys, it had been someone aligned with the Tudors’ aspirations. Robert Minton did not voice his private thoughts aloud. He had grown up with Henry Tudor, and he knew him too well. Henry was ambitious, but he was not a man who would stoop to murdering children. So Richard of York became the villain to Henry Tudor’s savior. After Richard’s death in battle, Henry became king, and all other possible suitors for England’s throne found themselves lodged in the Tower.
    Robert Minton had found among the Pietro d’Angelo silks a particularly fine dark ruby brocade, which he purchased for the king’s mother and sent along to the Lady Margaret Beaufort with his compliments. She was not a woman for bold colors, but the dark red brocade would both please and flatter her. She had always treated him with kindness when he was just a minor earl’s heir. Far more important boys had surrounded the young king back in those halcyon days when they were growing into men in Brittany, where Henry had been sent by his mother for his own safety.
    He wondered what she would think of his fascination with the beautiful Lucianna Pietro d’Angelo. She would smile and tease him, saying, “Are none of our English girls good enough for you, Robbie?”
    But she would like the young woman he suspected Lucianna was, a woman who valued tradition and was sensible, much like Lady Margaret herself.
    Robert Minton had never met a girl like Lucianna before. She was still young. She could not yet be twenty. God’s blood! He didn’t even know her age. But before he left Florence, he would know as much about her as he could.
    In the morning, he reached San Piero to find her already there. Boldly, he joined her, and their eyes met briefly. They stood together, saying the words of the service almost as one. The priest placed the Host in their open mouths. And afterwards Robert Minton took her arm and escorted her from the church. He saw the attention paid to them as they walked down the stone steps of the church together—the murmurs, the fingers pointing at her gown. It was no longer a color of mourning, but a sky blue that flattered her gold hair with its red highlights.
    She greeted those who greeted her, introducing him politely and moving on as quickly as she could, which amused him. She seemed well versed in how to deal with the curious. “We are likely to meet my mother next, for someone will already be on their way to tell her they saw us. We are making it easy for her, for we shall walk in the park by my family’s home, proving to my mother that there is nothing to be concerned about,” she told him.
    “Would she suspect otherwise?” he asked, amused.
    “Of course she would. I am a beautiful and rich widow. I will be sought after by men both unscrupulous as well as deadly dull and respectable,” Lucianna said in humorous tones. “Orianna Pietro d’Angelo is a woman who would see her children protected and happy, as she believes is proper. My two older sisters managed to push her from their lives, for she will meddle. It will be harder for me, for I am right here in Florence, where she may appear like some busybody faerie godmother at any time, alas. So ’tis best to let her believe she still maintains some small charge over me, my lord, even if she does not.”
    “Yes, on our brief acquaintance I considered your mother to be a lady of strong principles,” he said. “I find myself amused to see that you understand her so well, and know how to manage