Anna Markland

The third son returns to Montbryce after an absence of eight years. He's been in England, masquerading as a de Quincey and trying to infiltrate King John's inner circle. Sent by John as an emissary to a council of war in Flanders, he is unmasked as a spy....

Patsy Crompton, the Earl of Farnworth's beloved stepdaughter, is now a young lady headed for her first London season. It will be a different life from the one she's used to in the north of England....

Having escaped the besieged castle in the guise of a nun, Marguerite d'Aigremont must find a way to get back to her native England—without anyone discovering she is King John's cousin. She despises the Normans who sided with their enemy to bring about king John's ouster as Duke of Normandy....

Earl Griffith Halliwell is a rakehell with two passions-thoroughbred horse breeding and blondes. Lady Susan Crompton is a raven-haired, crusading bluestocking appalled by Halliwell's neglect of his impoverished tenants. Griff thinks members of the fair sex are useful only as mistresses....

Gabriel makes his first mistake when he falls in love with his predecessor's beautiful young widow, Lady Emma Crompton. He faces a second hurdle—he is slowly being poisoned with arsenic....

Ram de Montbryce is an ambitious warrior, greedy for glory and power in the service of his friend, William the Conqueror. His heroism at the Battle of Hastings helps secure the Norman victory....

Captain Morgan Pendray is a career soldier, a Welshman serving in Cromwell's English army sent to invade Scotland. As if life isn't complicated enough....