The Knight Chronicles

The Complete Series

Rue Allyn

• Publisher: Crimson Romance
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781507201381

There's danger by day and wild conquest by night when Scottish and English nobles clash in this medieval romance bundle. Don't miss a moment as these knights in shining armor launch valiant quests and discover love where they least expect it. Knight Errant: Lady Juliana Verault joined the religious Beguine community to seek safe haven, but when she's entrusted with a letter from the pope that could radically change the church's stance on women, her life is thrown in turmoil. Knight errant Sir Robert Clarwyn has been sent by King Edward I of England to marry her off as political leverage. If he can't find a way to compel her to return to England, he'll lose any chance of regaining his family lands and redeeming his heritage. Can Juliana find a way to use this godsend for her own agenda--without risking their hearts, too? Knight Protector: Blackmailed into marrying her family's enemy, then swiftly widowed by illness, Lady Sorcha Marr must take charge of a clan who hates her. But fate intervenes with the return of her husband's twin--Sir Colin Marr, who betrayed her and led to her downfall. A decade later, he's back to root out the Scottish traitors who have infiltrated his family stronghold, and he must persuade Sorcha to set aside her hostility and treat him as her husband in his brother's place. He needs the cover not only to save Scotland but to protect her inheritance, which his resentful clan would gladly confiscate. Has fate set them up to even an old score, or embark on a beautiful new beginning? Knight Defender: Sent alone to wed a wild Scot to serve the needs of her father and her king, Lady Jessamyn intends to escape the marriage for a nunnery. But her intended is not the monster she imagined--just Baron Raeb MacKai, a man struggling to provide the best for his clan...even if that involves attacking the king's ship that bears her brother. The Scot's secret plot to keep King Edward I from getting a foothold on their rugged coastline will secure his family's future. If Raeb must deny himself the spirited woman who would warm his bed, so be it. But can he truly deny his heart? Sensuality Level: Sensual

Knight Errant

Rue Allyn

Avon, Massachusetts

Copyright © 2015 by Rue Allyn.
All rights reserved.

This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.

Published by

Crimson Romance

an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

57 Littlefield Street

Avon, MA 02322

www.crimsonromance.com

ISBN 10: 1-4405-9261-6

ISBN 13: 978-1-4405-9261-4

eISBN 10: 1-4405-9262-4

eISBN 13: 978-1-4405-9262-1

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, corporations, institutions, organizations, events, or locales in this novel are either the product of the author's imagination or, if real, used fictitiously. The resemblance of any character to actual persons (living or dead) is entirely coincidental.

Cover art © iStockphoto.com/DianaHirsch

Contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Disclaimer
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 10
• Chapter 11
• Chapter 12
• Chapter 13
• Chapter 14
• Chapter 15
• Chapter 16
• Chapter 17

To my readers and all those who tilt at windmills, thank you.

Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction. With the exception of Edward II of England, none of the characters portrayed are real or based on real persons, and the events related in this book, although possible, never happened. The dates referring to the first papal abdication and the inciting incidents of what would later be called the Inquisition parallel or refer to actual incidents chronicled within papal history, but to my knowledge no letters ever existed such as those related in this novel.

Chapter 1

Northwest of Genoa, July 1294

A harsh rumble and a chorus of screams tore Lady Juliana Verault’s attention from directing her small party up the riverbank. Only steps away, a bridge collapsed, raising a shower of mud and havoc. Moments before she’d declined to follow the rest of the caravan across the clearly unstable structure.

She must save as many folk as she could.

“Gretle, Berthild, find the salve and bandages we packed.” As the shout left her mouth, Juliana plunged down the slope. She’d covered half the distance to the shore when a mounted knight raced past her.

By the time she reached the river’s edge, the man, still on horseback, had doffed his surcoat and mail shirt, plucked two women from the current, and tossed a rope around the large chunk of bridge stone that pinned the caravan’s screaming guide up to his neck in water.

Downriver in midstream, a small boy clung to the pointy tip of a rock. The water rushed around him, drowning his cries for help. Busy with rescuing others, the knight could neither see nor hear the boy.

Juliana could not allow an innocent to die. She shed her tunic and boots, tied the skirt of her shift around her hips, leaving her legs free, and waded into the icy stream. Without warning, the river bottom dropped. She sank, her mouth filling with muddy water. She couldn’t see. Desperate to breathe and get to the boy, she kicked against the current, praying she aimed for the surface. Air and light hit her at the same instant. But relief died in the moment it took her to push her hair from her eyes. Where was the boy?

A weak “help” jounced to her over the roaring water. Fighting the current, she turned her head toward the voice. The boy still clung to the pointy rock, thank heaven!

Numbing cold threatened to drag her under, but she refused to yield and focused on the boy’s face. Closer now, Juliana gave up her fight against the current. Allowing the stream to carry her, she stroked toward the rock. Though her lungs and body ached, she swam for her life and the child’s.

She hit a submerged portion of the stone before she could reach him. The impact jarred her bones and flattened her along the hidden rock face. The boulder was larger beneath the river’s surface than she expected. Water pushed along the length of her, pressing her down onto the slick rock. She lifted her arms but could not grasp the child.

“Grab on to me,” she urged. “I will take you back to land.”

The boy whimpered and shook his head. “Mama.”

“She waits for you on the bank. Come, I will take you to her.” Pray heaven I speak true, and the woman still lives.

The child let go and reached for Juliana. She stretched. A crest of water splashed over her and smacked the boy backward. He teetered. She lunged for him, catching his foot as he fell into the river. He flailed against the current. Pain wrenched her shoulder, but she managed to haul the boy up and wedge him between her body and the rock before her arm fell useless to her side. He clung, coughing from the water he had inhaled, shivering with cold.

“You are safe now, lad. I have you. You will soon be with your mother. Just hold tight.”

The boy nodded and wrapped his arms about her neck in a near stranglehold, burying his face beneath her chin.

Juliana looked beyond him to the riverbank. Her shoulder throbbed so much she could scarce lift that arm. The short swim from the bank to the rock now stretched to an insurmountable distance. How could she get to the riverside with only one good arm and hold on to the boy at the same time? She wanted to weep but said a silent prayer instead.

“Are we going back now?” The child lifted his head and looked at her.

Her vision grayed. Juliana fought back the effects of pain and exposure. The boy needed reassurance. “Yes, child.” She did not know how, but she would keep him safe.

The only possible course would be to have the lad climb onto her back. They would float with the current until she could drift close enough to shore to find her footing and then carry the boy by land to his mother. She prayed she would not drown them both and shifted to let go of the rock.

A wet rope smacked the water in front of her face. Instinctively, she grabbed for the lifeline with her injured arm. Pain arced through her shoulder and limb, yet she managed to wrap the rope around it, anchoring the line in place. With her good arm, she maintained a sure grip on the tip of the rock, securing the boy against the stone with her body.

“Tie the rope around you both. When you’re done, tug on the line, and I will pull you to shore.” The strong, clear voice struck her ears.

She could no more tie knots one-handed than she could swim upstream. In either case, she would have to let go of the boy. The force of the water would snatch the child to a certain death the minute she released him, and that she refused to allow.

“What is your name, child?”

“Piers.” He gulped.

“And I am Juliana. You’re a good, strong lad, Piers. Can you tie a knot?”

The boy nodded. “Me da says I allus tie ’im in knots.”

Juliana grinned. “Can you tie a knot in a rope?”

“I think so. I watched Da do it.”

“Good. I need you to tie this rope around your middle. I will keep you safe while you do so.”

“You will not let go?”

“No, Piers, I will keep hold of you.”

When the boy had ...

Table of contents

• Knight Errant
• Knight Protector
• Knight Defender
• Sneak Peek