A Dangerous Love by Bertrice Small

Middleham Castle, Yorkshire, in December of 1473. He was a frail child, as was his mother, and the duke worried over both of them.
    Adair rarely saw the king, for with stability and peace he was free to indulge himself with his many mistresses, of whom a goldsmith’s wife, Jane Shore, was his particular favorite. And yet he loved his queen. Their family grew in size to ten children, most of whom were daughters, although three were sons, two of whom survived infancy. Adair had been in the royal household four years when the king took an army ten thousand strong into France, where he was to be met by his brother-in-law, Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and another ally, the Duke of Brittany. Edward meant to conquer France.
    But neither Charles nor the Duke of Brittany appeared as they had promised to back up the ten thousand English. Fortunately King Louis XI was a shrewd man, and had no desire to squander his resources in a war. And Edward, without his allies, could do little more than cause damage to the French countryside. So when Louis offered to buy him off, Edward accepted, and returned home again to his life of feasting and women.
    Three years later, when war between England and Scotland threatened, the king mounted a large army, but was unable to lead it, as he seemed to lose his strength. The authority was given to Richard of Gloucester, who kept the Scots at bay.
    And afterward, when he visited court for the first time in several years, he was amazed to find that Adair was now verging on womanhood. Richard was a pious man who, like his mother, had a deep devotion to the church. Unlike his elder brother George, he was utterly loyal to the king. His own motto was “Loyalty binds me.” He adored his wife and son. He deplored drunken-ness and overindulgence, and if he kept a mistress it was not known who or where she was. Now he looked at the little girl he had rescued some ten years ago and found himself reminded of how much time had passed since that dreary day he had come upon Adair Radcliffe and Elsbeth and the great wolfhound, Beiste, wandering on the high road.
    “How old are you?” he demanded to know as he detached her from around his neck. “My God, you are practically a woman, my lady Countess of Stanton.”
    “I’ll be sixteen just after Lammas,” Adair told him.
    “Do I really look grown-up, Uncle Dickon? Am I pretty? No one ever says it, if I am. Lady Margaret says a woman should not be prideful if God has made her beautiful.”
    “You are beautiful,” he told her. “Why, you were all arms and legs the last time I saw you, Adair. Now, however, they must be considering which match would suit  you. You will bring your husband an earldom, so you are to be considered a prize.”
    “I don’t want to marry yet,” Adair said. “Bessie and I have decided we will marry in the same year. And Lady Margaret seems content with that too. The queen doesn’t care, and neither does the king. They live their own lives, and we live ours. Now tell me, how is the Lady Anne? And little Neddie?”
    “Both well at the moment, praise God and his blessed Mother,” the duke told her.
    “Good! Now come and greet your other nieces and nephews, Uncle Dickon. They are quite jealous when you come, for it is obvious that I am your favorite,”
    Adair said a trifle smugly.
    The duke laughed aloud. “That is something I have always loved about you,” he told her. “You say what you are thinking, poppet.”
    “Not always,” Adair said. “Only to you, for I know you understand me.”
    The duke chuckled. “Aye, I believe I do understand you, my lady Countess of Stanton. And you are still a proper minx.”
    Adair slipped her arm into his. “Come along now,”  she said. “The others are waiting for you.”
    “Where is the queen?” he asked her.
    Adair laughed. “Not waiting for you,” she told him.
    “She likes you no better than you like her, my dear lord.”
    “Are you as blunt with the others as you are