The King's Concubine

By Matilda Martel

Crown Prince Richard has been stuck in a loveless marriage for 12 years and to make matters worse, that marriage has failed to provide him with any heirs. Although he has a legitimate cause to seek an annulment, his cruel father will not hear of it. After all, he has younger brothers who can inherit his throne if he remains childless.
When his father suddenly dies and Richard is made the new king with absolute power, his first official order is to revive an ancient law that allows the sovereign to take a legal concubine as a second consort if the queen is barren.
But the only woman the King wants is his younger brother’s betrothed, the very beautiful, Lady Astrid. Can his love and devotion to her make up for turning her into the King’s Concubine?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Matilda Martel
• Release date: Aug 26, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463371213

Matilda Martel

Matilda loves many things---her husband, dachshunds, cats, the two terrible Chihuahuas who live with her, Paris, New York, a few select friends and family, Nutella, books, lots and lots of books, and writing sweet, steamy romance for nerdy girls-- because that's who I am.If you like your romances steamy but sweet. Sexy, but on the shorter side. With smart and sassy heroines who fall for soulful Alphas- then you might like my books.I write A LOT of OMYW, cause that's just my bag. But no matter what kind of story it is, my ladies are always adored and my endings are always HEA.Please head to my blog: www.matildamartel.com, to learn what's in the final stages and will be coming out soon!Want a free Ebook? Join my mailing list to get my monthly newsletter at : www.matildamartel.com/mailinglist/

Book preview

The King’s Concubine

Copyright © 2018 by Matilda Martel

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, including electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.

Cover Design by Covergirl Design

Want a free Ebook? Join my mailing list to get my monthly newsletter!

Vellum flower icon Created with Vellum

Full Page Image

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Conclusion

Follow Me

Also by Matilda Martel

Chapter One

From the day Prince Richard was born, his entire life had been dictated to him. Duty was everything and his own needs and desires meant nothing. His ruthless father, King Geoffrey III, had made his life a living nightmare for as far as he could remember. Every act of brutality and discipline was meant to make him stronger. Sending him away from home as a child, far from his loving mother, was meant to keep him from being coddled. His military training and service, which had taken up most of his life, had forced him to kill more men and see more horrors than he could ever hope to erase from his memory.

When he was 20, his father made him marry Princess Victoria, the eldest daughter of one of his allies, a woman he didn’t set eyes on until the day they married. It was a political alliance and a completely loveless marriage on both sides. To make matters worse, after 12 years of marriage, they remained childless and he still did not have his heir. He knew he was perfectly within his rights to ask for an annulment, but his father wouldn’t hear of it. He was told it would insult her father, their ally and he still had younger brothers to succeed him if no heir was produced. The prospect of leaving his throne to his brothers instead of a son infuriated Richard, but he hardly expected his father to give a damn about what he wanted. Luckily, shortly before his 33 rd birthday, King Geoffrey died and Richard was set to become the new king. Without his father around, his fate would be his to decide.

Chapter Two

Richard had two younger brothers, Prince Alexander and Prince Edward. Alexander, like he, had been coerced into marrying a princess he’d never met from a neighboring country. But fortunately for him, they fell in love and already had two sons and a daughter to show for it. However Edward, whom no one ever expected to become king, was allowed to court a non-royal bride of his choosing. And the woman he chose was the most beautiful woman ever presented at court, the youngest daughter of the Duke of Montcliff, Lady Astrid.

Lady Astrid was renowned for her beautiful blue-green eyes, dark hair and flawless skin. She was the epitome of feminine beauty, slender but with an hourglass