Reluctant Queen: Tudor Historical Novel About Mary Rose Tudor, the Defiant Little Sister of King Henry VIII by Geraldine Evans

its cramped confines and dressed in a gown of cloth of gold on crimson so heavily plated with goldsmith’s work that she could hardly move. Imprisoned in such an armour-like outfit, with a shaggy hat of crimson silk perched in a jaunty manner over one eye, as she was assisted with difficulty onto her white palfrey, Mary felt more as if she was about to ride into battle than to meet her new/old bridegroom. The animal, unaccustomed to bearing such weight, staggered awhile till he adjusted himself to his suddenly burdensome mistress. Then the party set off again.
    The Maids of Honour were becoming more excited. Mary could hear their chatter behind her and knew that Francis had won at least one heart. Now, they all craned their necks for the first sight of the royal ‘hunting’ party. However, it wasn’t till the Duke of Norfolk, back in his earlier role of guide, told them they were approaching the Forest of Ardres, that they encountered King Louis. As the king and his party approached over a wide plain, Mary discovered Francis at her side once more. In between increasingly intimate sallies that wholly ignored etiquette and completely discomfited Mary, he identified each of the king’s companions for her. She struggled to concentrate as she tried to commit the names to memory.
    As was the fashion when kings and queens appeared in public together, King Louis was dressed in a short riding dress of the same stuff as Mary and looked even more burdened than she by the weight of it.
    Expected to dismount and pay homage, Mary struggled to get herself and her cumbersome gown to the ground. Louis, seeing her rising embarrassment, begged her to remain mounted. Mary, only too glad  to obey him, doffed her hat and kissed her hand at the king, supposing the equally encumbered Louis must sympathise with her plight.
    Louis must have taken this for encouragement for he brought his gleaming Spanish mount with its barb of cloth of gold and black satin in chequers close up to Mary on her palfrey. She almost backed away, but then, remembered this was her husband and she must not. He had the right to do whatever he pleased. After a few whispered words spoken so softly that she failed to understand them and was unable to give an appropriate response, Louis threw his arm around her neck and kissed her soundly. Startled, conscious of the sardonic looks of Francis, Mary blushed, which brought a delighted laugh from Louis.
    He turned to his noble companions and cried, ‘Well, my lords, what think you of our new Queen? Is she not exquisite?’
    Although the cardinals of Auch and Bayeux kept their expressions pious, the admiring stares of de Vendôme, the Duke of Albany, the Count Galeazzo di San Severino and the rest of the nobles echoed their enthusiastic words for Mary’s delicate skin and golden hair. And as they gazed from her back to the gouty Louis, Mary could imagine the ribald comments they would exchange in private as they speculated whether the king’s manhood would be up to the challenge she represented. Louis’ lustful expression warned her that he intended to do his best to rise to the occasion. It was not a pleasant thought.
    Louis turned back to Mary, grasped her hand and kissed it. She could feel drool on her skin and had to force herself not to snatch her hand back.
    ‘Lucky for me, my beautiful Mary, that I happened to be out this way hunting. To think I might have taken a different route and missed you.’ Louis shook his head in wonder at the fates’ sudden kindness and smiled at her.
    In her dream, Mary remembered, Louis had been toothless. In reality, he was not entirely so, but what few he had were black with decay. She suppressed a shudder at his remembered kiss and just stopped herself from wiping a hand across her lips. She was Queen now. Louis’ Queen. She must, somehow, find the strength to endure his embrace.
    ‘I feel, my lady, you and I shall be happy together. Do you not agree?’
    What could she say? Bemused,