by Maria Ling
Mary caught her breath. "You'd never."
"Oh, not for myself." He gave a negligent shrug. "Someone far higher in his favour than me, I should think. But you'll be a fair prize, and the boy a surety for your good behaviour. It's the way these things are done." He straightened abruptly and strode towards her. "Now, if you please."
Mary swung around, with Will bodily in front of her. But it was too late, she was surrounded. Men on all sides now, lazy and confident.
"Come." Hugh's hands closed on her arms. She shook him off, or tried to, but his grip tightened so hard she yelped. "No more trouble. It won't be the first time I've whipped a woman. Or a child either."
"Don't you dare." She fought against him, he was strong as rock. "If you touch my boy -- "
"Then do as I bid you, for the last time."
She slumped in his arms. She'd lost before ever he spoke to her, and she knew it. "Provided I have your word." For what good that would do, she had no reason to trust him, no reason to think he stood high in favour with the king. From his own words, rather the reverse. His guarantee was a weak and feeble thing, she dared not place her faith in it. But she was caught, she and Will both, and if her obedience secured Will's good treatment, that would be enough.
"You do." His grip eased, enough that the pain dripped from her arms. He pulled her towards him, not too hard, more encouragement than command. She yielded to it, let him lead her away, shushed Will when he complained.
"A fair catch," Hugh said as he led them back onto the charred ground, and circled around to the rear of the force. "I wish all my hunts were as speedy and successful as this."
Forced to marry brutal warlord Hugh de Vion, widow Mary of Rowes thinks only of survival. But when Hugh's overlord John de Bois demands her young son as hostage, she must trust her husband to protect them both - if she pays his price. Medieval romance novel set in England during the Angevin wars.
Available now from Smashwords or your preferred ebook retailer.
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Also by this author:
Knight's Wager
by Maria Ling
"We don't have much time," Eustace interrupted. "Please. I can guess what it means to you. Just run free for a moment. You'll be clipped and cooped again soon enough."
She gave him one brilliant smile, all sunlight on snow. "You're wonderful," she said, and was off. Whizzed through the snow in a spray of sparks, fearless and beautiful and bold. His heart ached to see her, because he wanted to watch her like this always, wanted her to belong to him so he could set her free entirely, and she never would. Never could be his, because he was a poor knight in service to her guardian, and she was a lady who must marry well.
She swooped like a falcon, sped past him on the turn and drenched him in flying snow. He laughed then, urged his own horse on, caught her and held her level. They sped across the open ground, hooves pounding, neck by neck. Turned and swooped again, fetched up near the gap in the trees, beyond which the path ran quiet and sedate.
"Enough," Eustace called. "Forgive me. But we'll be missed if we don't leave now."
She came to hand, breathless and glowing, her dark hair spraying out from her temples and glinting with shards of ice. "I won't plead," she said. "I know you've done your best for me."
"Always," Eustace said. "And I always will."
He could kiss her now, lean across the gulf that separated them, touch those tempting lips. Just this once, before she slipped from his grasp again, and for good.
Her smile faded. Dark eyes widened in thought.
Eustace leaned over, as far as balance would let him, and she met him part way, touched mouth to mouth.
Aline, devastated by the loss of her entire family to fever, is forced to leave her home and join the powerful earl who is her new guardian. Eustace, the knight sent to escort her, proves to be a cheerful, handsome man who shares her passion for horses. They fall in love, but the earl intends to profit by marrying her off to a far wealthier man. Together they must find a way to overcome his opposition without gaining a deadly enemy. Medieval romance novel set in twelfth-century England.
Available now from Smashwords or your preferred ebook retailer.
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Also by this author:
Cloistered Bride
by Maria Ling
"You might want to fetch your cloak out." Richard pulled his hood up to shadow his face. "It's going to rain."
So it did, a torrent that lashed down and soaked through her pretty cloak, soaked the boards and streamed up under her skirt. She was drenched long before it passed, sat hunched and miserable as the rain poured over her and obliterated all vision.
"Sorry about this," Richard said. "I would have been happy to wait until I could convey you better."
As if he wasn't a man, free to dispose of himself as he chose. He should try being a woman, a mere chattel to be passed from one man's care to another, without regard for her wishes or feelings or needs.
"I am content," Clarice said, because she could win nothing by grumbling, and God would have His own way. He was a man too, after all.
"Are you?" Richard replied. "Bloody hell. I wouldn't be."
Clarice stifled a laugh, and then was shocked that she found such a remark amusing. "A true Christian is always content with God's will."
"Right," her husband said. "Of course." And then added, so quietly that she guessed he thought she couldn't hear: "Christ. I married a nun."
When convent-educated heiress Clarice is married off to an impoverished knight, she is certain he only wants her for her money. But Richard desires her body, and with him Clarice discovers a passion she never knew she possessed. Medieval romance novel set in twelfth-century England.
Available now from Smashwords or your preferred ebook retailer.
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