Lady of Seville

By Louise Roberts

Will Elena’s secret relationship threaten to disrupt her marriage to Alfonso, or will it, in some unexpected way, strengthen the bond between all three?

Elena’s father, Gregario has sailed away on the Santa Theresa immediately following the death of his favorite nephew, Iago and the escape of Ferdinando to shores unknown.

The only sense of joy left at the Villa Sant’Angelo appears to be the preparations for her wedding to Alfonso.

Elena is ecstatic. With the two eldest sons out of the way, Alfonso remains the undisputed heir to the family’s estates.

Since Christmas the previous year she had successfully seduced her betrothed, and their relationship has only grown stronger. Elena is a complex individual who requires constant stimulation to keep her joie de vie alive.

Secretly she begins an affair. It is a relationship that captures her imagination. But will Elena’s secret threaten to disrupt her marriage to Alfonso, or will it, in some unexpected way, strengthen the bond between the three participants?

PUBLISHER NOTE: This Erotic Historical Romance contains explicit love scenes. M/F, M/F/M, F/F, F/F/M, M/M/F, 38,406 words.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Luminosity Publishing LLP
• Release date: Mar 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370216376

Louise Roberts

Louise Roberts grew up and was educated in London, England and has always held a passion for history and English Literature. She has been writing since her teenage years, but only began writing fiction in the 1990s having been inspired by her mother, Viviane Elisabeth Borg, who is a published author. Although Louise had immigrated to Sydney, Australia in 1988, she relocated to Europe in 2016 and today resides at the coastal town of Golfe-Juan in the south of France. Louise retains membership of Romance Writers of Australia; Australian Romance Readers Association; and Australian Society of Authors.

Book preview

LADY OF SEVILLE

The Sword and the Rose – Book 4

Louise Roberts

Will Elena’s secret relationship threaten to disrupt her marriage to Alfonso, or will it, in some unexpected way, strengthen the bond between all three?

Elena’s father, Gregario has sailed away on the Santa Theresa immediately following the death of his favorite nephew, Iago and the escape of Ferdinando to shores unknown.

The only sense of joy left at the Villa Sant’Angelo appears to be the preparations for her wedding to Alfonso.

Elena is ecstatic. With the two eldest sons out of the way, Alfonso remains the undisputed heir to the family’s estates.

Since Christmas the previous year she had successfully seduced her betrothed, and their relationship has only grown stronger. Elena is a complex individual who requires constant stimulation to keep her joie de vie alive.

Secretly she begins an affair. It is a relationship that captures her imagination. But will Elena’s secret threaten to disrupt her marriage to Alfonso, or will it, in some unexpected way, strengthen the bond between the three participants?

PUBLISHER NOTE: This Erotic Historical Romance contains explicit love scenes.

LADY OF SEVILLE

The Sword and the Rose – Book 4

LOUISE ROBERTS

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LUMINOSITY PUBLISHING LLP

LADY OF SEVILLE

The Sword and the Rose – Book 4

Copyright © March 2017 Louise Roberts

Cover design by Dawné Dominique

All cover art © 2017 by Dusktildawn Designs

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this literary work may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without the written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Dedication

For Galina and Sue

Chapter One

Elena stood naked on the balcony of her room staring out into the distance. It was very early morning, and the sun had yet to rise. There was nothing to regard except the vast expanse of water that made up the Mediterranean Sea. She wasn’t sure why the scene always captivated her, except that perhaps it was in the blood. After all, was her father not captain of the Santa Theresa? She often thought of him out there somewhere amidst the emptiness of the world’s oceans and seas. Her mind drifted back to the previous year when she too was aboard the family’s ship that brought her to visit their estates in eastern Spain.

It was so unlike Seville the city of her birth. Cullera was but a small village, a place she hardly ever visited. Not surprising as life since her arrival at the Villa Sant’Angelo seemed to be governed by the numerous responsibilities needed to keep the estates operating. From the start, she had made a point of familiarizing herself with most of them as she hoped to one day play a prominent role in their upkeep.

Alfonso, her betrothed, was so unlike his elder brothers in looks as well as in stature. Ferdinando had been good-looking but of a placid nature. His twin brother Iago, however, whom she had taken as a lover during the voyage from Seville, was stronger, stockier and far more handsome. Elena now smiled as she thought of their liaison and at their extremely satisfying sexual encounters during that short cruise.

Iago had been a soldier returning home after a grueling war in the Netherlands. She had soothed his troubled mind with her body. Something they had both been grateful for. As it turned out, however, appearances could be deceiving, and despite his declaration of love and offer of marriage, at the first possible opportunity, he was gone on yet another cruzada.

When Elena had arrived at the Villa Sant’Angelo in accompaniment of her servant, Magdalena Lorca, and her father, Gregario de Borja, the ambiance of the place had overwhelmed her. More so, when she first met her uncle Juan, and her aunt Ermelinda; Alfonso’s parents were the nicest of people that she felt completely at home in this new environment. Her relationship had strengthened with her aunt who had turned out to be a most powerful and influential person. Elena had found herself drawn to Doña Ermelinda in such a way that she felt she had been apprenticed to her. Elena’s mind absorbed the advice passed on to her by her aunt to such an extent that Elena grew confident, that the knowledge she had gained would in time secure her position as mistress of all she surveyed.

A movement from behind drew her from her reverie, and she turned around. The shape hidden under the covers on the bed stirred again, and Elena started to feel aroused as she remembered their passionate liaison of the previous night. She now stepped back into the room and padded to the bed, slipping under the covers to curl up next to her lover. She moaned pleasurably as a hand caressed her inner thigh, and fingers entwined the curls of her private place. She let out a short gasp as two of those fingers entered her. Her own hands traveled along the body next to her, their lips locking in a passionate embrace. Tongues battling for dominance until Elena could bear it no longer, and she rolled to sit astride her lover. She gazed into the dark brown, almost black eyes that were staring back at her. A smile appeared on her lips as hands now cupped her breasts, thumbs stroking her erect nipples.

I have to go before we are discovered, Dorotea whispered reluctantly.

Elena leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the lips. Don’t go just yet, she pleaded.

I must. My brother’s room is only a few doors away, he must not know we have been together, Dorotea said urgently, sitting up and swinging her long legs onto the floor.

My dearest, we have been doing this for several weeks, and so far, Alfonso is none the wiser of it, Elena said reassuringly. Besides, did you not tell me you were adopted into the family, so I don’t understand your concern.

That has nothing to do with it. I assure you I don’t want to leave, but I must. Dorotea picked up her clothes and began to dress quickly.

Will you come to me tonight?

If I can … yes, I will.

Dorotea eased the door to the bedchamber open and peeked out to make sure there was nobody about. With no one in sight, she turned and kissed Elena, and then hurried away in the direction of her own room.

Elena watched her stop and look back. She blew her a kiss and then closed the door as Dorotea vanished into her own bedchamber. Elena padded back to her bed and slid under the covers, and began to think on how complicated her family was. She had been led to believe that Alfonso and Dorotea had been twins, but not so. Dorotea’s real mother was one of the servants who died in childbirth. When the family’s housekeeper relayed the details to Don Juan de Borja, like his father before him, he felt a strong responsibility to those who served the family. In the same way as he had provided an education to Margherita Vincente, the then wine master’s daughter, he somehow felt compelled to ensure Dorotea’s success in life and adopted the baby girl. The child’s father did not object. And as Doña Ermelinda de Borja had just given birth to a boy the wet nurse was led to believe they were twins. It was an untruth that was conveniently ignored.

When she had reached the age of sixteen, her adoptive parents related to Dorotea her true heritage following an argument. It had happened when Don Juan had presented her with a suitor thrice her age because the man was a prominent business rival. The revelation came as a shock to not only Dorotea but also her siblings.

 Elena sighed. The Borjas were truly an amazing family. Kind in one respect, but utterly ruthless in another.

A smile appeared on her lips as she began to reminisce on how her affair with Dorotea had begun. This relationship hadn’t been her first with another woman. When she had been in Seville, she and her closest friends had one day decided to experiment on what it would be like to be naked in each other’s presence. At first, they had giggled at the absurdity of doing such a ‘wicked’ thing, but as Elena began to slowly unlace the bodice of Catalina, Isabella began to disrobe Elena. In a matter of moments, the pace at which they began to undress had increased in speed, and their laughter had also escalated. When the three young women stood naked not knowing what they should do next, Elena stepped in amongst them and held Isabella’s breast whilst kissing Catalina on the lips. The thought of it brought immense pleasure, and Elena now placed her hand between her legs to feel the wetness there.

With Dorotea, it all began soon after the demise of Alfonso’s two elder brothers with whom she was very close. Initially, Elena blamed herself for what had happened but then concurred that it was not at all her doing. It had not been her fault that Iago had ended up with nothing. If he hadn’t gone off to be a soldier, he would have inherited the estates, and perhaps it would have been he she would now be marrying, and not his younger brother Alfonso.

Just before Christmas of the previous year, Iago had returned from his second cruzada from Madrid with his twin brother Ferdinando, having gained justice for one of their laborers who had been murdered several years previously. His killer had escaped punishment by the cunning manipulations of the law by close associates, but they hadn’t considered the tenacious actions of the Borja brothers who exposed their misdeeds and had the culprits convicted. When Iago realized that he had been disinherited and that Elena was now betrothed officially to his younger brother, the only option left for him was the captaincy of the Santa Theresa, something he didn’t really want. Instead, he announced he would marry his childhood sweetheart, Margherita. Unbeknown to him, however, she had already accepted a proposal of marriage that had been made by his twin brother.

On Christmas Day 1622, Iago was so infuriated by his downfall that he challenged Ferdinando to a duel. Unfortunately for the two of them, dueling was a crime punishable by death. Iago being the more proficient swordsman of the two had successfully wounded his brother. When the household guard had managed to overpower Iago and had him detained in a cell to await trial, Ferdinando helped by his best friend Don Roberto di Lucera and Elena’s father escaped to shores unknown.

Dorotea, as were the rest of the family, was devastated when the following day Iago had been hanged.

Elena had felt sorry for Dorotea, as the young woman had been so kind to her when she had first arrived, and they had become the best of friends. They would do almost everything together, from reading, reciting poetry, strolling amidst the rose gardens that nestled the cliff edge, or riding with Alfonso when he was surveying the property’s numerous orchards, fields, and vineyards.

One evening in late February as the light was beginning to fade