Love Everlasting

Royce, the baron of Wortham cherishes the memory of this first wife, to whom he was famously faithful. But King Henry I wants him to wed Julianna in order to keep her vast properties out of the hands of King Louis VI of France. Henry is uncertain of Julianna’s loyalty and he trusts Royce, his long-time spymaster, to keep the lady out of trouble.
Julianna, twice forced to marry men who cared nothing for her, is even less eager to wed than Royce. When the two meet they agree they must obey the king, so they will treat each other honestly and, once the marriage is consummated, they will continue a polite but distant relationship.

However, Royce cannot resist a mystery and Julianna is plainly a lady with secrets. On their wedding night Royce discovers one of those secrets: Julianna was sorely neglected by her previous husbands. Though not technically a virgin, she remains ignorant of the pleasure that men and women may find together. She is first astonished, then beguiled by Royce’s tender treatment of her But there is so much she cannot tell him….

Thus begins a contest of secrets and opposing agendas between a husband and wife who, despite their pledge of honesty, dare not tell each other the truth.

Julianna cannot escape the web woven by her late second husband and his nephew, Sir Kenric.

Royce wants to trust his wife, while knowing that she is hiding something important from him. Worse yet, he is beginning to care for her, an emotion he sees as a betrayal of his first wife, Avisa.

As the two follow the royal court from Caen in Normandy to Norwich in England, plots and danger surround them.