To Court, Capture and Conquer. Amanda McCabe

Oh, I do wish I could go to Court and see it all for myself!”

      “It’s very dull at Court, Jane. There’s naught to do all day but read and play primero, and listen to idle gossip.” And watch Edward Hartley whenever she thought he would not catch her at it. He didn’t need any more boosts to his vanity. All the young beauties at Court already chased after him, and he didn’t need a sensible widow doing the same.

      Yet somehow she did not feel so very “sensible” when he was around. He made her wonder what it would be like to be in the bed of a man like that, instead of her old, wrinkled, grasping husband. What it would be like to kiss him, touch him, to have a lover she wanted? With one careless smile he made her feel…

      Well, he made her feel things she never had before. Certainly not with her husband, whose fumblings and proddings under the sheets made her feel only cold and nauseous. But Court gossip said Lord Edward was most skilled.

      Elizabeth dared to glance at him from under the narrow brim of her hat. He watched the stage now, and she could study him in safety for a moment without fear of discovery. He was known as one of the most handsome men in a palace filled with good-looking, well-dressed men, and with good reason. He had waving, glossy dark brown hair worn a little too long, brushing the high collar of his purple satin doublet. His face, all sharp, elegant angles, was bronzed, as if he spent much time in outdoor exercise and not just lurking in palace corridors. Though he was clean-shaven there was a shadow of beard along his hard jaw, and a gleaming pearl earring dangled there, white next to the dark skin.

      The doublet was cut fashionably close to his body, hugging his strong shoulders and lean, muscled chest. He was no pale, doughy courtier, but a warrior.

      A warrior who, it was rumored, spent much time on battlefields of romance, making conquests in the bedchamber.

      Well, Elizabeth had no use for romance, or men who were too attractive and blatantly sensual, no matter what stray fantasies came into her mind. Her marriage had been a miserable disaster, and she was free at last to live her own life.

      But surely life could include passion without marriage, if a woman was careful.…

      Nay! Not for her. Not with Edward Hartley.

      “How can Court be dull, Aunt Bess?” Jane said. She watched the stage with a dreamy glow in her eyes. The clown had been dragged offstage by a tall, furious-looking man and replaced by the pair of young lovers whose elopement started the action. They held hands and gazed into each other’s eyes as they uttered sweet vows of eternal love.

      That surely wouldn’t end well.

      “You hear tales of balls and pageants, Jane, and think every day at Court must be like that,” Elizabeth said. “Yet it seldom is. Mostly it is just passing time.” And that was surely why she was having such ridiculous daydreams of Edward Hartley—she was bored. She needed to travel again, refurbish her house, distract herself.