Promised to the Crusader

Gazing into his eyes, which looked dark and bottomless this morning, she felt a spasm of desire. Her mouth felt dry and her tongue moved over her lips as she tried to control the sudden leap of excitement. For one precious moment she had seen something in his eyes—something that reminded her of the youth that had left her to fight for his ideals.

She felt light-headed and almost swayed towards him. It seemed to her that his mouth softened, and she longed to kiss him, to be held in those strong arms as she’d been held so many years ago—but she had been a child then, and now the woman she had become longed for more.

When brave men set out to fight for their King and Christianity they knew they were leaving their homes, their families and their sweethearts for years. It wasn’t possible for them to come home on leave, as our wonderful soldiers do today; it would be years before they saw their homeland again. Wives and sweethearts were often left wondering if they would ever see the man they loved again in this life, while a young son might grow to manhood in his father’s absence. Little wonder, then, that a girl’s uncle might seek to marry her to a rich and powerful man, bidding her to forget the man she loved.

This is the story of Elaine, who was determined to stay faithful to her love, but when Zander returned he was not the same. Could she ever hope to find the love they had lost?

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Anne Herries

www.millsandboon.co.uk

‘Please don’t go,’ the girl cried and clung to the young man in desperation. ‘Don’t leave me, Zander. If you go, I think I shall die of a broken heart. I cannot bear it if you leave me.’ She loved him so much and her life would seem empty without him.

Zander was tall and strong, but still a youth, being no more than seventeen years of age. He bent his head to drop a kiss on the girl’s fair hair, hiding the pain her entreaty caused him.

‘I must go, my dearest heart,’ he whispered, his throat catching with emotion. ‘You know I love you and shall until the day I die—but my father was murdered and most of his lands have been sold to pay debts. My mother has gone to a nunnery to weep for him, but I must avenge his death. To become strong enough to demand justice for my father, I must join the crusade and become a knight. Only then may I avenge my family and claim you as my bride.’

She gazed up at him, her eyes as blue as the summer sky above them, her pale hair wild about her face. Somewhere a meadowlark sang, but she did not hear its sweet song. All she knew was that the person she loved most in all the world was going away and she might never see him again. She tugged at his simple short tunic, her face strained with grief.

‘What shall I do if you are killed?’ she asked pitifully. ‘How can you leave me so?’

‘You are not alone, Elaine. Your father loves you dearly and will care for you. If I am killed, then you must forget you ever knew me.’

‘I shall never forget you,’ she vowed passionately. ‘You are the only man I shall ever love.’

‘You are but fourteen,’ Zander said and smiled tenderly. His hair was the colour of night and his eyes grey with a silver light in their depths. She thought him beautiful, his sweet singing voice a romantic delight, for he sang songs of love to her and played with her in the meadows all the summer long, making her chains of daisies. ‘I do truly love you, but your father would not let us wed. He has promised that if I return a knight with a fortune I have won for my valour, then he will look kindly on us, but until then I can offer you nothing.’