My Lady's Choice
SHE'D SAVED HIS LIFE AND NOW SHE OWNED HIM!Lady Sara Fernstowe claimed as her due marriage with Richard Strode, the knight she'd rescued from death's icy embrace. For surely this marvel of a man could look past her scars to her warrior's heart and create both their lives anew!RICHARD AWOKE MARRIED TO A STRANGER–and under royal command to stay that way! But 'twould be a marriage in name only, he swore. Though could he keep such a vow when his own pulsing desire marked Sara of Fernstowe the most valorous, exotic woman in England?
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“How are we to manage a marriage between us if we never touch?”
Carefully he moved the wrist he held so that it rested against her own body, near her hip. Then he released her, his fingers unclenching slowly and then closing in upon themselves as his hand retreated.
In a measured tone, his desire now well concealed, he replied, “I shall fulfill the king’s wishes on the matter of the Scots. And I will see to your estates as if they were my own, so long as I remain here.”
“But we are not to cohabit as man and wife, is that what you are saying?”
He nodded once, his hands gripping the chair so tightly, his knuckles turned white. “You wish me to be blunt? Very well, I shall be. You made a bad move wedding a man who wants no wife…!”
Dear Reader,
Spring is in full bloom and marriage is on the minds of many. That’s why we’re celebrating marriage in each of our four outstanding Historicals romances this month!
There is a most unusual arranged marriage in My Lady’s Choice, a new medieval tale by the immensely talented Lyn Stone. This is the story of Sir Richard Strode, King Edward’s best knight, although some of you might remember him as a toddler in The Knight’s Bride. When Lady Sara of Fernstowe miraculously saves Richard’s life, the king grants her a boon. She demands the fierce knight’s hand in marriage…. You won’t want to miss what happens after Richard wakes fully to find that he’s now bound to a—beautiful?—stranger!
Award-winning author Cheryl Reavis brings us an emotional and fulfilling story about a second chance at love and marriage in The Captive Heart, when a British officer’s wife is imprisoned by her own husband, but rescued by a Native American frontiersman. Tanner Stakes His Claim, book two of Carolyn Davidson’s EDGEWOOD, TEXAS miniseries, features a marriage of convenience between a squeaky-clean Texas sheriff and the amnesiac—and pregnant—saloon singer he can’t stop thinking about. Don’t miss this wonderful story!
Rounding out the month is The Bride of Spring, book two of Catherine Archer’s terrific SEASONS’ BRIDES miniseries. Here, a noblewoman desperate to marry to protect her young brother orchestrates her own wedding, unaware that the man she has chosen will be her true love.
Enjoy! And come back again next month for four more choices of the best in historical romance.
Sincerely,
Tracy Farrell,
Senior Editor
Available from Harlequin Historicals and LYN STONE
The Wicked Truth #358
The Arrangement #389
The Wilder Wedding #413
The Knight’s Bride #445
Bride of Trouville #467
*One Christmas Night #487
My Lady’s Choice #511
Other works include:
Silhouette Intimate Moments
Beauty and the Badge #952
To my daughter,
Pamela Stone Clair, with love.
Thank you for all your encouragement,
ideas, inspiration and, most of all, for just being my Pam.
Contents
Chapter One
Northumberland, 1339
“Our thanks for making his death more comfortable, Lady Sara,” King Edward said softly, his blue eyes already misted with grief. “He looks to be at peace.”
Sara of Fernstowe smiled as she rounded the sickbed with the basin containing the bloody rags and arrowhead.
“Your knight is not dead, sire,” she assured him as she handed off the container to a maidservant and faced her king. “Nor will he die if I can bring him through the fever sure to take hold.”
The handsome blond giant who ruled England abandoned his regal pose beside the bed and leaned over, his ear to the knight’s lips, his large hand upon the uninjured shoulder. “’Tis true, he breathes! How is it that my physician declared this man beyond hope, and you have saved his life?”
Sara liked the king. When denied a thing—such as having his knight’s life spared—however, she imagined Edward III could be as fierce as his grandfather, the famous Longshanks.
She preceded her conjecture with a small laugh. “Mayhap your healer feared your wrath if he did not succeed in his efforts, my liege. You should not blame him. As you must know, few men do survive such a wound.”
She continued, unafraid to state the truth. “There is a chance I, too, shall fail, but I think not. He weathered the cutting out of the point with hardly a grunt of protest. Here is a strong fellow who bears a hurt well. I would say he has borne others in your service, judging by his scars.”
The king straightened. “Ah, you do not know the half, my lady. Twice now Sir Richard has thrown himself betwixt me and disaster. The first time we were lads—I, but a fledgling king, and Richard, only a squire.”
He continued, pride in his knight visible in the rapt expression he wore. It was as though he could see it all again, there in his mind. “Three assassins attacked me in our camp, intent upon my death. When Richard’s overlord fell in the attempt to save me, this one took up the old earl’s sword and slew the two remaining. Nearly died then from a sword cut to his thigh.”
