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Chapters (54)
  1. Cover
  2. The Summer Queen
  3. Dedication Page
  4. Family Tree of King George III
  5. Family Tree of Queen Victoria
  6. PART ONE
  7. Chapter One
  8. Chapter Two
  9. Chapter Three
  10. Chapter Four
  11. Chapter Five
  12. Chapter Six
  13. Chapter Seven
  14. Chapter Eight
  15. Chapter Nine
  16. Chapter Ten
  17. Chapter Eleven
  18. Chapter Twelve
  19. Chapter Thirteen
  20. PART TWO
  21. Chapter Fourteen
  22. Chapter Fifteen
  23. Chapter Sixteen
  24. Chapter Seventeen
  25. Chapter Eighteen
  26. Chapter Nineteen
  27. Chapter Twenty
  28. Chapter Twenty-One
  29. Chapter Twenty-Two
  30. Chapter Twenty-Three
  31. Chapter Twenty-Four
  32. PART THREE
  33. Chapter Twenty-Five
  34. Chapter Twenty-Six
  35. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  36. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  37. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  38. Chapter Thirty
  39. Chapter Thirty-One
  40. Chapter Thirty-Two
  41. PART FOUR
  42. Chapter Thirty-Three
  43. Chapter Thirty-Four
  44. Chapter Thirty-Five
  45. Chapter Thirty-Six
  46. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  47. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  48. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  49. Chapter Forty
  50. Chapter Forty-One
  51. Acknowledgements
  52. Select Bibliography
  53. The Summer Queen
  54. By Margaret Pemberton

The moment was so fantastical that she wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. She wanted to shout from Luton Hoo’s rooftops, ‘Yes, Eddy! Nothing would make me happier than to marry you. It’s all I’ve ever, ever wanted.’ But he wasn’t asking her to marry him because he was in love with her, and such a shamelessly enthusiastic response would be embarrassingly inappropriate.

Instead, although joy was flooding through her from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, she said with great restraint, hardly able to believe she was awake and not dreaming, ‘Yes, Eddy. I would be honoured to accept your proposal.’

Sagging with relief, he rose to his feet. Pulling a small jewellery box out of his trouser pocket, he took from it a magnificent ruby-and-diamond ring. Taking hold of her left hand, he slid the ring onto her fourth finger, saying as he did so, ‘Thank you, May darling.’ And then, a sudden note of uncertainty in his voice, ‘You don’t mind my calling you “darling”, do you, May?’

She shook her head, too full of emotion to speak.

‘I believe,’ he said, his voice thickening, ‘that on such occasions it is customary for the gentleman to kiss his fiancée?’

She flushed scarlet. It was the first time they had been alone in a room together. It was the first time they had held hands and Eddy was quite certain that, when he kissed her, it would be her first kiss. Aware that, under the circumstances, it was tenderness and not passion that was needed, when he drew her into his arms, he did so with great gentleness.

A tremor ran through May, and for a hideous moment he wondered if it was caused by her reluctance to be kissed, and then her arms slid up and around his neck, her fingers tightening in his hair.

With her heart beating fast against his, he lowered his head to hers. Her lips were warm and soft and, to his pleasure and stunned surprise, they parted beneath his, her body bending into his as if doing so was the most natural thing in the world.

The following moments were among the most pleasurable he had ever experienced and, when he finally lifted his head from hers, his eyes were dazed by the discovery that beneath his fiancée’s always cool, self-possessed composure lay a passionate hidden fire.

He took hold of her hands and, as their fingers locked tightly, he said unsteadily, ‘I think this arrangement is going to work out amazingly well, May.’

‘Yes.’ There was shy and joyful certainty in her voice. ‘It is. And how surprised people are going to be!’

Chapter Twenty-Two

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DECEMBER 1891, MARLBOROUGH HOUSE