The Flawed Mistress — Margaret Brazear

Lady Rachel Stewart is stunningly beautiful but that beauty has always been a curse. Her beauty and poverty have made her a target for exploitation and she resents any attention from men. When she meets Lord Richard Summerville she cannot believe that here is a man whose only wish is to befriend and protect her. He lets it be known that she is his mistress and under his protection. When he marries he insists that he will keep his mistress, to which his new bride agrees until she falls in love with him and begins to resent this beautiful woman who will eventually take her place at the court of Queen Mary I. While Rachel risks a charge of treason to repay Richard for his friendship, and to protect his wife from persecution for heresy, his wife is left to believe that he is risking the same for love of another woman. Set in sixteenth century England amid the brutal persecution of protestants by Bloody Mary, this is the second book in the Summerville Journals series.