Knight's Ransom
KIDNAPPED In a heartbeat, Catherine Sommerville's world had changed, transforming her from a cosseted heiress to a prize held for ransom by a battle-scarred knight. Reason demanded that she despise Gervase St. Juste, but her soul whispered that they had been born beneath the same star… .Though murderous blood flowed through her veins, the woman Gervase had stolen was not the coldhearted shrew he had been led to believe. Gentle as a spring rain, Cat brought on a fury of an entirely different sort, raising within him a tempest of forbidden desire… .
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Table of Contents
Praise for Suzanne Barclay’s previous titles
Lion’s Legacy
“Magical!”
—The Literary Times
“A Rare Treasure!”
—Rendezvous
“Absolutely captivating!”
—The Medieval Chronicle
“…enough romance, adventure and excitement to please any reader.”
—Romantic Times
“…fast-paced, action-packed historical romance…”
—Affaire de Coeur
Knight Dreams
“…a fun, fast-paced read with an intriguing plot…”
—Kat Martin
“I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
—Amanda Quick
“Suzanne Barclay is an exciting and talented new writer.”
—Susan Wiggs
Trapped. She was well and truly trapped.
Panting with exertion, Cat stared up at the face a scant inch from hers. ’Twas too dark to see, but she could feel their hearts beating in wild counterpoint to each other…and something more alarming. His manhood swelling against her thigh. “Nay,” she cried, renewing her struggles.
“Be still.” He let her take more of his weight, making her aware of the power he leashed. “Be still or you’ll goad me into doing that which you fear.”
Cat ceased fighting, but didn’t relax, couldn’t. “So…‘tis not just my father’s ruin you want,” she managed to say.
“I’d be a fool and a liar if I denied you stir me. I’ve been long without a woman and you’re uncommon fair. But your honor…such as it is…is safe with me. I’d sooner bed a pox-ridden whore as Ruarke Sommerville’s get!”
Dear Reader,
With the first three books in her series featuring the Sommerville brothers, Suzanne Barclay earned a nomination for Best Medieval Historical Romance from Romantic Times, a Bookrack award for Series Romance, a 5* rating from Affaire de Coeur and a 5* rating from Heartland Critiques. This month, we are very pleased to be able to bring you the next book in the series, Knight’s Ransom, the story of a French knight who captures the daughter of his enemy to avenge the murder of his family. Don’t miss this exciting return to the ongoing drama of the Sommervilles and the de Laurens.
In The Wedding Bargain, Emily French tells the emotional tale of a widow, Charity Frey, who defies her Puritan community and marries Rafe Trehearne, a bondsman who has been wrongly accused of treason.
Also this month, RITA Award finalist Laurel Ames is back with Tempted, her new novel that Affaire de Coeur calls an “exciting, unusual, and delightfully quirky Regency.” And Ana Seymour’s sixth title for Harlequin Historicals, Gabriel’s Lady, is the first of two connected books set in the wilds of the Dakota Territory.
We hope you’ll keep a lookout for all four titles wherever Harlequin Historicals are sold.
Sincerely,
Tracy Farrell
Senior Editor
Please address questions and book requests to:
Harlequin Reader Service
U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269
Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3
SUZANNE BARCLAY
has been an avid reader since she was very young; her mother claims Suzanne could read and recite “The Night Before Christmas” on her first birthday! Not surprisingly, history was her favorite subject in school and historical novels are her number-one reading choice. The house she shares with her husband and their two dogs is set on fifty-five acres of New York State’s wine-growing region. When she’s not writing, the author makes fine furniture and carpets in miniature.
If you would like to receive a more detailed Sommerville Family Tree, please send a large SASE to: Suzanne Barclay, P.O. Box 92054, Rochester, NY 14692
Bordeaux, France
August 10, 1375
“Which ones are we going to steal?” asked Maslin.
Bernard de Lauren glared at his henchman. “None if you keep shouting our intent for all and sundry to hear.”
“You couldn’t hear a catapult being launched over the din of so many beasts galloping about,” Maslin grumbled, but he stooped from his great height to whisper the words in Bernard’s ear.
Though he hated to be corrected, especially by a hireling, Bernard silently conceded the point. Between the thunder of so many steel-shod hooves and the whoops of the knights putting them through their paces, it was hard to hear. Still…He glanced surreptitiously at the other spectators.
Seasoned knights, veterans of the English campaigns in France, stood alongside youths eager to win a rich purse in the tourney being held two weeks hence to celebrate the peace treaty between France and England. The men’s attention was firmly fixed on the mock battle being staged so they might judge the merits of the stock Ruarke Sommerville had offered for sale.
Bernard had been judging, too, but he hadn’t come to buy.
“Sommerville charges a fortune for these grays, but from what I’ve seen, they’re worth every livre,” Maslin said.
“If a man intended to buy. Which I don’t. I’d not enrich these cursed English by one sou.” Bernard spat the last word.
