Read Online Royal Harlot by Susan Holloway Scott - Free Book Online

falling over the white linen, and laughed derisively. “We’re well beyond jealousy, Barbara, you and I.”
    That stung: not so much that he denied being jealous of me, but that he so readily expected me to feel the same of him, and let him graze wherever he pleased without risk of reprobation.
    “I like his company.” I glanced back at my reflection in Philip’s looking-glass, putting from my mind the thought of how many other women had gazed into that same glass. “Roger shares his thoughts with me.”
    “His thoughts, Barbara?” asked Philip with mocking emphasis, stretching his muscular, unclad body across the bed in case I somehow missed his meaning, or the sight of his cock against his thigh. “Is that all the sustenance he offers you? And here I’d always believed you’d more a taste for meat.”
    A year before, and I would have blushed, but he’d so thoroughly broken me to his ways that I felt more regret for honest Roger to be so abused than for myself.
    “Roger sees me as a fit companion for his conversation,” I said, testy. “It is a pleasant change.”
    “Oh, Barbara, Barbara,” he said, reaching for more wine from the table beside the bed. “Let him whisper whatever he will into your pretty ear, but his goal’s the same as any other man’s, to lecture his way between your legs and up your cunt.”
    “Don’t judge every man by yourself, my lord,” I said tartly. “Roger speaks to me of important matters. He tells me of the growing efforts to overthrow Cromwell and his part in the plans to return King Charles to the throne.”
    Philip groaned with mock dismay. “There you are, sweet, exactly as I said. He paints himself to be a glorious hero in your eyes, the better to dazzle you onto your back.”
    “If that were true, then why has he told me of your doings as well?” I snapped, resentment making me use the secrets that Roger had sworn me not to share. “He’s informed me of the time you’ve spent in the Derby gaol for Royalist plotting, and how you’re likewise with him a member of the Sealed Knot, a group sworn to restore the king.”
    Philip went very still with the goblet before his lips. “He speaks to you of that?”
    “He does,” I said, realizing my sudden advantage. “Because he trusts me, and regards me as clever enough to understand such important matters. He has not only confided to me many of the activities of the Knot, but the names of members.”
    His eyes narrowed. “What makes you believe him?”
    “Because of his loyalty to his sovereign,” I answered. “And because unlike you, Roger has no reason to lie to me.”
    “Or to lie with you, either? Is that where all these confidences are made? In Palmer’s bed?”
    “You know none of that.” I pulled my smock over my head, determined to leave. In truth Roger was either so shy or so respectful that he’d yet to press his suit beyond a handful of dutiful kisses. It was pleasing to be treated with such reverence, yes, but also puzzling, and I did wonder what it was about me that could make all other men desire me in an instant, yet seemingly failed to inspire the same in Roger. “Nor is it any of your affair.”
    “It is when Palmer tells tales of me.” He lunged across the bed and caught the hem of my smock, holding me fast. “He’d no right to do that, Barbara.”
    “Why not?” I demanded, looking down at him. “Do you fear I’ll carry your name to Cromwell himself? Do you have so little use for my loyalty as that?”
    “Because you’re a woman, Barbara,” he said, as if needing no further explanation. “It’s against your nature to be loyal, or to keep a sworn secret. As a lot, you’re not to be trusted, especially not with secrets of such importance to the well-being of the country.”
    I tried to pull my hem free of his grasp without tearing the linen. “And I say that with a woman, a man will spill his secrets with his seed, and betray his dearest friend in the process.”
    “Because