Margaret Moore Read Online Free PDF Page B

Charles observed with a dry chuckle. “That is not what we meant. That a woman would apparently find you undesirable must be something new in your experience, although how a man of your dark temperament attracts so many is quite a mystery.”
    Richard made a little smile. “It is a mystery to me, too, sire, unless one subscribes to the theory that most people want what they cannot have. Merely seeming impervious to a woman’s beauty or other attributes makes them determined to force me to notice them. Sometimes that determination is quite astonishing. I confess I have been all but attacked on some occasions.”
    “Such a hardship!” the king mocked jovially.
    “One does what one can to endure, Majesty,” Richard replied virtuously, and not untruthfully. “However, I must point out that if Your Majesty is nearby, women scarcely acknowledge my existence.”
    “You flatter us!”
    “Majesty, I daresay Mistress Longbourne was upset because she thought you had a more personal interest. It is no wonder to me that she looked horrified at your proposal that she marry me.”
    “Horrified
is surely too strong a term. She was surprised.”
    “As was I, Majesty.”
    The king chuckled, then grew serious. “We could think of no other recourse to get you home, Richard.”
    “I thank you again for your concern, sire,” Richard said, keeping his tone light and in no way critical. “However, if it is as the lady so adamantly claims and her son has clear title to the estate, even if I marry her, it will never be mine.”
    “Unfortunately, she is quite right,” the king concurred. “We have seen the documents ourselves. Her marriage settlement and the will are indisputable. However, the boy may die, and in that case, the estate reverts to his mother, who shall be your wife.”
    Richard tried to maintain a nonchalant expression. “Majesty, as much as I want what I believe to be justly mine, a child’s death would be too high a price to pay.”
    Charles smiled. “A noble sentiment. And then, your wife is quite rich in her own right. According to the marriage settlement, she kept control of all her dowry, and when Longbourne died, she was the heir to all his moneyand moveable goods. The son only got the estate itself, and the mother controls the income. So you see, Richard, when you marry her, you will become quite wealthy. You can purchase another estate.”
    “It would not be the same.”
    “It will have to do,” the king replied, a slight edge coming to his voice.
    “Majesty, I do not favor forced marriages for anyone.”
    “You write of them often enough,” Charles observed, again with a chill in a voice.
    Despite the king’s displeasure, Richard knew he must be honest, at least to a point. “When I do, Majesty, they are disastrous alliances,” he reminded him.
    “Come, Richard, it is not as if she is an old hag. To speak the truth, we had no notion she was so beautiful or we would have offered her a place at court. However, you are our good friend, who stood by us in troubled times, and we do not forget. Therefore, you shall have first claim upon her. If, however, you are adamantly opposed to marrying her, we shall have to make other plans. She is far too lovely a woman to waste away in Leicester.”
    Richard realized he was in the uncomfortable position of deciding Elissa Longbourne’s fate. If he continued to protest this marriage, she would have to stay at court, the prey for many lascivious men, including the king.
    On the other hand, he was determined toavoid a repetition of his parents’ unhappy marriage.
    He must choose between throwing a woman he had only just met to the wolves of King Charles’s court and the possibility that he was condemning himself to a life of bitter conflict and lasting regret.
    “I shall marry her, Your Majesty.”
    Elissa sat in a slender chair in the king’s anteroom. The opulent furnishings around her seemed to symbolize the court’s decadence, and even the scent of