Summer said, softly, “I could never think such. You are not such a man. Have I not said so before? I wish I could say, I will cease to love you, but I cannot. God has shaped me so, to love you, for your kindness and your wisdom.” Kneeling again, she seized his hand and kissed it. “You cannot take advantage of the willing heart. And I give you all mine.”
He knelt down beside her and he took her hand, “Please, do not do such things, I do not like to consider myself as a King when I am with you – but you know of such things, you know how the weight of the crown would ruin such things.”
Henry looked down at their hands.
“I do,” Summer sighed. “But surely God does not mean us to — to,” she broke off, unable to find the right words. “My lord, may I … I wish that you would kiss me again … “
He looked at her as she said those words, in slight apprehension and in slight confusion, she knew now that he did not know how to feel about her, and he would not know – but he knew he wished to kiss her again.
Henry touched her face softly, his eyes glancing to her lip but he shook his head.
“I cannot,” he said, “I will not lead you into something that I know not where it shall go.”
“What lead?” Summer asked. “What /lead/, my lord? Am I not already there? What then will you have me do? I cannot leave your city, my lord, for that there is no one to escort me. I cannot stay, seeing you every day.” She pulled away, rising and taking a few strides along the shore. “If there is no hope — and you say there can be none, which I must believe — then I would you did not know. ‘Twould be simpler.”
Whirling, she looked at Henry. “Am I to have no choice at all?”