Read Online The Perfect Royal Mistress by Diane Haeger - Free Book Online Page B

killed. Alone, vulnerable, and entirely impoverished, Charles had been forced to depend upon the loyalty of a simple country family, one that disguised him and helped to spirit him out of England. He had been aided by Richard Penderel, a brave Royalist, and his small party of supporters. Charles was exhausted by hunger and pain when the group headed down the steep edge of an embankment to the sandy shore where there was only hope of swimming to safety. “I cannot swim, Your Majesty!” came the voice of one of the Royalist followers, the simple man who had risked his family’s safety, and his own, to help the king escape. Charles had led his guide through the water that day, and toward the safety of the other shore. The opulent life of excess and entitlement he now lived remained startling to him in contrast to that dark memory, and a dozen others like it. They were never gone, nor buried beneath comfort, privilege, and debauchery.
    Charles never forgot the loyalty of the Penderel family. When his throne was restored, he saw to it that they were made comfortable for the rest of their lives.
    “Come on, the lot of you stragglers,” he called out now, the dark memories put away. “I’ll not keep Mr. Wren waiting! I am told this great young architect has a plan for rebuilding London!”
    Ahead of them, sitting beneath a bristling evergreen, dressed in volumes of pale blue and gold brocade, was the most recent object of his attentions, Frances Stuart. He had hoped to find her here. Beside her, on a tufted stool, built just noticeably higher, Lady Castlemaine sat. She was now the object of his greatest regret. He paused for a moment between two huge urns, the gateway to a small flight of stone steps. Then he approached the two women with utmost caution. Barbara never did anything without a purpose. By her presence, she meant to say that she knew precisely what was transpiring. Buckingham came ahead of the others, meeting the king’s stride, then, seeing the women, he leaned over to whisper, with a clever smile, “Did Your Majesty ever consider monogamy?”
    “I did once, actually. But I’ve since recovered from it quite nicely.”
    Both women rose, then fell to deep curtsies.
    “Pray, Lady Castlemaine, tell us in what sort of conversation might you be engaging so young and impressionable a girl as Lady Stuart here?”
    “Anything Lady Stuart could glean from my many years at court would be time well spent on her part, Your Majesty. The details are unimportant.”
    “Did someone not once say that the devil is in the details?”
    “Your Majesty knows I have always been devoted to you.”
    “In deed, if not always in your words.”
    “One would never be wise to say any but the most glowing things of Your Majesty.”
    “Since when was wisdom one of my Lady Castlemaine’s great assets?”
    “Since spending eight long years at Your Majesty’s side and, if I may say so, surviving.”
    A soft murmur of amusement ruffled the air behind him, and irritated Charles. He did not like to be outshone in front of his court, and certainly not by such a fading star as Barbara Palmer. Charles turned to the girl who had become his obsession. “Lady Stuart, you would be wise to take with a very fine grain of salt every utterance of the lady before you.”
    “Yes, Your Majesty.” Frances Stuart blushed and then curtsied again. Charles saw that she had decided wisely not to enter a fray of such long and tangled standing.
    Looking from one woman to the next, Charles suddenly began to laugh. Having Barbara so well entrenched at court was murder on his love life, and she knew it. As he nodded to each woman and then proceeded away, Buckingham leaned over once again. “Perhaps some things are worth trying twice in a lifetime, Your Majesty.”
    “For the right woman, George, I think I actually might.”
     

    “Something must to be done about that old fool! We are at a crucial juncture, and Clarendon could ruin it all,” Buckingham