Thy Name Is Love (The Yorkist Saga) Read Free Page A

died—"

He moved closer to her, forcing her out of the chair. She had to
     move, lest he touch her, and her body betray her once more.

"I tried to help with the best of intentions," he said, "but they
     backfired. Yet so help me God, Dove, I give you my word, I am not
     in league against you with the Queen. I don't know what Elizabeth
     has said about me, but surely you know her for a vicious, scheming
     woman. How can you believe her over me?"

"Because I don't even know you!" she fired back, pacing in front
     of the hearth now in agitation.

"You do ,"

     he insisted. "Richard does. Anne does. Meet my friends, and
     colleagues. Find out who I really am. Now that we are betrothed,
     with the sanction of the Queen, there is no need to hide in the
     shadows any more, my Dove, or in locked rooms."

He strode over and flung the door open with an impatient gesture.
     "My life, my character, is an open book, and I don't care what the
     Queen or anyone else says."

She paused in her pacing, impressed despite herself at his
     protestations of innocence, and honesty.

He saw her wavering, and sought to press home his point. "I don't
     know what the Queen has said, but I don't care. I am not going to
     beg and plead for you to see my way. All I ask is that you listen
     to your heart, Denys, my dove. Do you really think that Richard or
     the King, your uncles by marriage, would willingly harm you? Marry
     you to a murderer?"

"This is a man's world, and we women are mere pawns," she said
     stiffly.

"Nay, not a pawn, my wife, and hopefully the mother of my
     children." He put his hand on his heart now. "I swear to you,
     Denys, I don't care if you are base-born or the richest woman in
     the known world. I want to marry you, make a home for you, give
     you the family you always wanted, even if you never know your true
     name. I want to give you laughter, and romance and tenderness, be
     lover and husband to you as long as we both shall live."

"Some of us may live longer than others," she pointed out sharply.

He crossed himself as he declared, "God forbid anything should
     ever happen to you. And the devil take all these damnable
     suspicions. When I marry you, I will be promising before God to
     love, honor and cherish you, to be your protector and helpmeet.
     Any man who does less is no man at all.

"Do you really think I am so lacking in honor, or so, what,
     dazzled by whatever carrot Elizabeth is supposedly dangling in
     front of me, that I would damn my immortal soul to perdition for
     it? If you really think that, Denys, then it is true, you know me
     not one jot."

Now it was his turn to pace as she stared at him, impressed by his
     words despite herself. He was either the most cunning of men, or
     the most innocent.

And one point he had made was valid, and worth considering. As his
     wife, he was her protector. As the Queen's ward, well, she would
     be at Elizabeth's mercy forever if she did not escape now.

And not just escape by fleeing Richard's castle to take to the
     roads to find her family, though she did not have a single clue at
     the moment to aid her.

No, she needed to remove any chance of Elizabeth forcing her to do
     anything, including force her to make an even worse match than the
     one being thrust upon her at the moment.

She had her suspicions of Valentine, but he was not a brute beast
     like some of the knights…

Valentine rumpled his normally perfect golden hair with the
     fingers of one hand, making him look like a disgruntled hedgehog.

Despite herself, she smiled inwardly. Liar and flirt he might be,
     but he was right about two things. She knew Elizabeth for a lying
     bitch, and knew not Valentine. Not yet. But perhaps in time…

She also admitted that her anger at Valentine all along had
     stemmed from the duel to woo her, which had been Richard's idea in
     the first place.

Finally, she did know Richard. For all his lack of understanding
     of human emotions, he had never tried to harm her. He