Knight of Passion (39 page)

Eleanor Cobham, the daughter of a mere knight, became Gloucester’s mistress while serving as lady-in-waiting to his wife.
After Gloucester’s first marriage was invalidated, she became his duchess. Once Gloucester’s older brother died, making Gloucester
next in line to the throne, Eleanor could almost see the crown on her head. It appears she decided to act before the king
married and begat an heir.

In 1441, Eleanor Cobham was convicted of using sorcery and witchcraft against Henry VI, after one of her close associates,
John Hume, turned informant. Eleanor admitted to witchcraft but denied the allegations of treason. For her penance, she was
made to walk through London with a lit candle and then was imprisoned for life on the Isle of Man. Because Eleanor allegedly
used sorcery to trick him into marrying her, Gloucester was conveniently “unmarried” a second time.

Eleanor’s co-conspirators did not fare so well. Margery Jourdemayne, who had been imprisoned for sorcery once before, was
burned as a relapsed heretic. Thomas Southwell, a cleric and physician, died in the Tower before a sentence could be carried
out. Roger Bolingbroke, a cleric and well-known Oxford scholar, was hung, drawn and quartered; afterward, his head was displayed
on London Bridge.

“T
omorrow I am to be married.”

The surge of disappointment in William’s chest caught him by surprise. Although he was told the castle was crowded because
of a wedding, it had not occurred to him that this achingly lovely girl could be the bride.

“I do not expect this will be a happy marriage for me,” she said, lifting her chin. “But tomorrow I will do what my father
and my king require of me and wed this man. From that time forward, I will have to do as my husband bids and submit to him
in all things.”

William, of course, thought of the man taking her to bed and wondered if she truly understood all that her words implied.

“Lady, I would save you from this marriage if I knew how.”

He spoke in a rush, not expecting to say the foolish words that were in his heart. He was as good as any man with a sword,
but he had no weapon to wield in this fight. Someday, he would be a man to be reckoned with, but as a landless knight, he
could only put her at risk by interfering with the king’s plans.

Impulsively, he reached out to trace the outline of her cheek. Before he knew what he was doing, he had her face cupped in
his hands.

Very softly, he brushed his lips against hers. At the first touch, a shot of lust ran through him, hitting him so hard he
felt light-headed and weak in the knees. He pressed his mouth hard against hers. Dimly, through his raging desire, he was
aware of the innocence of her kiss. He willed himself to keep his hands where they were and not give in to the overpowering
urge to reach for her body.

He broke the kiss and pulled her into his arms. Closing his eyes, he held her to him and waited for the thundering of his
heart to subside. God have mercy! What had happened to him? This girl, who trusted him blindly, had no notion of the danger.

Swallowing hard, he released her from his embrace. He could think of no words, could not speak at all. With deliberate care,
he pulled her hood up and tucked her long hair inside it. Then he let his arms fall to his sides like heavy weights.

“I did not want his to be my first kiss,” she said, as though she needed to explain why she had permitted it.

She took a quick step forward and, rising on her tiptoes, lightly touched her lips to his. In another moment, she was running
across the yard, clutching her cloak about her.

For many years, William dreamed of that night. In his dreams, though, he held her in his arms by the river in the moonlight.
In his dreams, he kissed the worry and fear from her face. In his dreams, he rescued her from her unhappy fate.

In his dreams, she was his.

THE DISH

Where authors give you the inside scoop!

From the desk of Margaret Mallory

Dear Readers,

Am I unkind? I made Sir James Rayburn wait until the third book in my All the King’s Men trilogy to get his own story. First,
as a toddler, he watched his mother find love with her KNIGHT OF DESIRE, William FitzAlan. Then, as a young squire, he played
a supporting role to his uncle Stephen, the KNIGHT OF PLEASURE, in his quest for true love. And now, when I finally give this
brave and honorable knight his own book, I let the girl he loves stomp on his heart in the prologue.

After that unfortunate experience, all Jamie Rayburn wants—or so he says—is a virtuous wife who will keep a quiet, ordered
home waiting for him while he is off fighting. Instead, I give him the bold and beautiful Linnet, whose determination to avenge
her family is bound to provoke endless tumult and trouble. Worse, this heroine is the very lady who stomped on Jamie’s heart
in his youth.

Why would I do this to our gallant knight? After he has shown such patience, why not reward him with
the sweet, undemanding heroine he requested?
Although that heroine might prove to be a trifle dull, she would be content to gaze raptly at our hero as he told tales of
his victories by the hearth.

Truly, I meant to give Jamie a softer, easier woman. But when I tried to write Jamie’s story, Linnet decided she
had
to be there. And when Linnet sets her mind to something, believe me, it’s best not to stand in her way.

Besides, Linnet was right. Who better to save Jamie from a staid and tedious life? No other woman stirs Jamie’s passion as
she does. And what passion! If our handsome knight must contend with murderous plots, court intrigue, and a few sword-wielding
sorcerers before he can win his heart’s desire, then so be it.

I am sure Jamie forgives me. Our KNIGHT OF PASSION knows a happy ending is worth the wait—and it’s all the more satisfying
if it doesn’t come easy.

I hope you enjoy reading Jamie and Linnet’s adventurous love story as much as I enjoyed writing it!

www.margaretmallory.com

From the desk of Cara Elliott

Dear Readers,

Oh, dear.
Just when all the gossip about Lady Sheffield and the Mad, Bad Earl of Hadley (you may read their story in TO SIN WITH A
SCOUNDREL)—has died down, the Circle of Sin series is once again in danger of stirring up scandal. This time, it’s Lady Sheffield’s
fellow scholar, the lovely and enigmatic Alessandra della Giamatti, who is caught up in a web of lies and intrigue.

Well, luckily for her, Hadley’s good friend, the rakish “Black Jack” Pierson, comes to the rescue in TO SURRENDER TO A ROGUE
(available now). A decorated war hero, Jack is also a talented painter… not to mention highly skilled in the art of seduction.
(Apparently, he is intimately acquainted with all the creative ways a man can use a soft sable brush to… er, I really ought
to allow you to discover those colorful details for yourself.)

At first blush, archeology might not seem like a subject that inspires heated passion. However, I chose to plot my story around
an excavation of ancient Roman ruins in England because I have always been fascinated by how, throughout history, the idea
of buried treasure has resulted in both serious scholarship and serious skullduggery. In Regency times, the
“science” of archeology was in its infancy. Napoleon deserves credit for taking a host of scholars with him to Egypt, along
with his invading army, and encouraging them to preserve artifacts of the past for academic study. On the English side, Lord
Elgin carefully crated up marbles from the Parthenon in Athens and removed them to London, where they became the nucleus of
the British Museum. (Today, there is quite a vociferous debate between Greece and Great Britain about whether the artistic
treasures were, in fact, looted from their rightful home—but that is a topic I shall leave to the diplomats to decide.)

In TO SURRENDER TO A ROGUE, things really heat up as the digging begins outside of the spa town of Bath, which is, in fact,
set on the site of an ancient Roman outpost. Someone is threatening to expose a scandalous secret from Alessandra’s past if
she doesn’t betray all the principles she holds dear. Does she dare confide in Jack? She has good reason not to trust handsome
rogues, so it’s no wonder that she views him as dangerous.
Oh so dangerous.
But if ever a lady needed a hero to fight for her honor…

And speaking of dangerous men, Alessandra’s cousin—that unrepentant rake otherwise known as the Conte of Como—is rattling
his own sword… so to speak. Not content with playing a secondary role in my first two books, Marco saunters into an adventure
of his own in TO TEMPT A RAKE (available in winter 2011). As you know, he is a rather arrogant, abrasive fellow, and he is
used to having females fall
at his feet. So when the free-spirited Kate Wood-bridge—the most rebellious member of the Circle of Sin—resists his flirtations
at a country-house party, he can’t help but be intrigued. Like her fellow “sinners,” Kate is both beautiful and brainy—and
hiding a dark secret that occurred in her past. When things take a sinister turn at her grandfather’s estate, seduction is
no longer a game, and she is forced to decide whether a rakehell rascal can be trusted…

Please visit me at
www.caraelliott.com
, where you can sneak a tantalizing peek at all three books in my Circle of Sin series.