“You let her think me a w***e,” I said the moment Will’s door was closed behind us. He lit a lantern and placed it on the window ledge. “And what is this about bastards up and down the land?”
Will looked at me, and I could see from his narrowed eyes and tight mouth that he was reining in his temper. “I have one child, I have already told you that, and just because the King is inclined toward his own s*x, and because the men at Whitehall f**k who they wish, willing or not, it does not mean that a man cannot be hanged for buggery if the courts decide it. You can thank Henry the eighth for that. It’s best Mistress Hamnett thinks me merely desperate.”
“Are you desperate? Is that why you want me?” I prayed he’d say no. I wanted him to like me. In truth, I wanted him to love me.
“I’m not desp
