The virgin's lover

Summary: In autumn of 1558, church bells across England ring out the joyous news that Elizabeth I is the new queen. One woman hears the tidings with utter dread. She is Amy Dudley, wife of Sir Robert Dudley, and she knows that Elizabeth's ambitious leap tp the throne will pull her husband back to the very center of the glamourous Tudor court, where he was born to be. Amy had hoped that the merciless ambitions of the Dudly family had died on Tower Green when Robert's father was beheaded and his sons shamed; but the peal of bells she hears is his summons once more to power, intrigue and a passionate love affair with the young queen. Can Amy's steadfast faith in him, her constant love, and the home she wants to make for them in the heart of the English countryside compete with the allure of the new queen? Elizabeth's excited triumph is short lived. She has inhereted a bankrupt country, riven by enmity, where treason is normal and foreign was a certainty. Her faithful advisor, William Cecil, warns her that she will only survive if she marries a strong prince to govern the rebellious country, but the one man Elizabeth desires is her childhood friend, the irresistible, ambitious Robert Dudley. Robert revels in the opportunities of the new reign. The son of an aristocratic family brought up in the palace as the equal of his royal playmates, Robert knows he can reclaim his destiny at Elizabeth's side. Elizabeth cannot resist his courtship and as the young couple slowly falls in love, Robert starts to think the impossible: can he set aside his wife and marry the young queen?