Alonsa’s heart plummeted.
Günter’s jaw tightened. “Then I’ll take my wife and return to my home in Wittenberg, where she will be welcomed with open arms by my family.” He clasped her to his side. “She is, and will always be, my wife—and nothing will keep me from her again.”
Don García nodded. “Then you are indeed the son-in-law for whom we have both prayed.” He smiled then, his worn face lit from within. “Welcome to our family, Günter Behaim of Wittenberg. Welcome home.”
Alonsa burst into tears. “Oh, oh …”
Both men turned to her, alarmed.
“But Alonsa, this is good news,” Günter said, awkwardly patting her shoulder.
“I-I know! It is just that I am so hap-hap-happy,” she blubbered, and cried even harder.
Günter sent a panic-stricken look her father’s way.
He merely shrugged. “It is her condition, no doubt. My own wife was much the same way when she carried Alonsa.”
The color in Günter’s face drained away to palest white beneath his tanned skin. “What condition? What are you saying?”
Don García, always one to desire the upper hand, merely smiled at him. “Come, son. You have had an interesting day thus far. It is about to become even more so.”
EPILOGUE
THE WARMTH OF GüNTER’S BODY LEFT ALONSA’S BRIEFLY as he rolled his heavy weight off her and drew her close, tucking her into his side. Despite his weariness from travel and his lingering injuries (she’d traced with her fingers the fine lacing of scars across his chest and shoulder, as well as the healed wounds on the side of his forehead and down his left leg), he had made love to her two times already this night. They slept in her bedchamber, but her father promised tomorrow he would draw up plans for a new home for them on the family lands.
Alonsa did not care if they slept under the stars, as long as they were together.
Günter molded his hand to her rounded belly, not for the first time. He did not seem to mind the changes in her body. In fact, he reveled in them.
“My son,” he murmured, his tone one of awe.
“Or daughter,” she added with a sleepy smile, and nestled closer.
He yawned. “It doesn’t matter. If it isn’t a boy, we can make more when this one is done.”
She choked back a laugh. “You speak as though she were a loaf of bread!”
“And I so admire the oven in which he is baking,” he drawled, and laughed when she pinched him on the arm.
He leaned over and kissed her, tasting her slowly and thoroughly before finally drawing back. “Alonsa, I need to ask you something.”
“Yes?” She ran her finger along the cleft in his jaw. He had shaved before coming to her tonight, and she loved the clean, strong lines of his face.
His eyes glittered. “When you thought I had died, why didn’t you go to the convent, as you said you would?”
She thought for a moment, staring into the night beyond the single lit candle which sputtered by the bedside. She rested her chin on his chest. “When I believed you dead, I realized I had let so many moments between us go to waste. The true curse was not in believing Miguel had the power to hurt us from the grave, but in letting my fears control my destiny.” She looked at him. “I knew you would not want that of me. I knew, too, there would never be another like you, curse or no. I believed the curse was broken on that day, despite the evidence of your death. God had given me true love, and no evil could survive it. Evil cannot win against the love God gives to honest hearts. I decided to live in the world, to return to my father. When I learned I carried your child, I knew I had made the right decision.”
Günter nodded. “God honored it.”
“Yes. As he will honor us for the rest of our days.”
He looked at her, brushed the hair back from her shoulder, and kissed her skin there. “You don’t fear it anymore, then? The curse, I mean?”
She lifted her chin, stared into his eyes. “I fear nothing with you by my side. And I will make
you
a promise, my love. One I will keep forever, until the day we die—whether it is tomorrow, or thirty years from now.” She reached down to where his staff was already beginning again to stir against her hip, and squeezed gently.
“Umm. Yes?” He appeared distracted, his eyes closing at her touch.
“I will say the words ‘I love you’ at each sunrise, and repeat them at every sunset. What do you think of that?”
He smiled then and opened his beautiful eyes to gaze at her with longing. “I think you’ve fallen behind and must make haste to catch up.”
She laughed. “Then let me begin at once … I love you, I love you, I
love
—”
He silenced her words with a soft, sweet kiss.
THE END
AUTHOR’S AFTERWORD
I DISCOVERED THE WORLD OF THE
LANDSKNECHT
SOLDIER while writing my debut novel,
The Legacy.
One of the Behaim brothers, Günter, became a mercenary soldier because I was fascinated with the idea of the mercenaries hired by emperors, popes, and princes alike to fight their never-ending battles of territorial disputes across Europe during this period. Several nonfiction works published by Osprey helped me to flesh out this world and the Battle of Pavia, a climactic turning point from medieval to modern warfare:
Pavia 1525: The Climax of the Italian Wars and Campaign Series 44: Pavia 1525,
by Angus Konstam;
Landsknecht Soldier: 1486 — 1560
by John Richards; and
The Landsknechts,
by Douglas Miller. These books were invaluable in giving a sense of the times, characters, and strategies employed by military commanders to win the battle. Thanks also to the numerous reenactment societies with homes on the Web, in particular
Gerry and Julie’s Landsknecht Site
(
http://home.znet.com/savaskan/germans/
) and
The Guild of St. Michael — South
http://www.guildofstmichael.org/
) for their insights into the difficult life of a camp follower.
Some of the commanders depicted in this book actually lived: Georg von Frundsberg, General Lannoy, and Mark Sittlich all had a hand in the campaign, as did, of course, the French King Francis I. All other characters depicted in the novel are fictitious. For literary purposes, I have altered some historical facts and played loosely with time and space in a few minor instances, for which I hope I can be forgiven. Of course, any errors in fact are mine and mine alone.
TJ BENNETT
The
Legacy
When her brief, disastrous marriage to a fortune hunter ends in scandal, Baronesse Sabina von Ziegler’s vengeful adoptive father imprisons her in a cloister. Nine years later, however, following the teachings of the reformer Martin Luther, she arranges a daring escape. She is free at last—for the moment—a noblewoman of conscience, and has learned a lesson about trusting men she will never forget.
Wolfgang Behaim, a widowed commoner, is a tradition-bound printer from the rising middle class with a secret that threatens to destroy everything he holds dear. Burdened by the mysterious circumstances surrounding his father’s death, he has no heart for love. Yet he finds himself suddenly betrothed to Sabina, the Baron von Ziegler’s adopted daughter.
It is a marriage neither wants. Sabina again finds herself imprisoned by the Baron, in a dungeon this time, being slowly starved to death. Her only key to freedom is marriage to Wolf. And Wolf must marry Sabina, or the murderous Baron will reveal the secret from his past.
Though neither comprehends the dark purpose behind the Baron’s machinations, they are forced into a union they never plan to consummate. But as they fight to discover the truth of the mysteries surrounding them, they find themselves challenged by a fiery passion they cannot resist. Can they overcome their past and find love even as lies, war, and an unexpected enemy conspire against them?
ISBN# 978-193383636-2
Mass Market Paperback/Historical Romance
US $7.95/CDN $9.95
Available Now
www.tjbennett.com
Fire at Midnight
Lisa Marie Wilkinson
It is 1703, and Rachael Penrose is confined to Bedlam Insane Asylum in London after discovering her uncle Victor plans to kill her brother in order to inherit the family fortune. Victor leads a gang of criminals and uses French privateer/smuggler Sébastien Falconer as the scapegoat for his crimes. When Victor spreads the lie that Rachael informed the authorities of Falconer’s smuggling activities, Falconer vows revenge on the girl.
A dangerously ill Rachael finally escapes from Bedlam, only to find shelter in Sébastien’s carriage, and ends up in his care. It is a twist of fate that will alter both their lives forever.
Believing she is in danger from Sébastien, Rachael meets up with his estranged twin brother, Jacques, a customs officer intent on bringing his brother, the famous privateer, to justice. But the real criminal is still at large, and she and her brother are still in danger. Will she discover the truth and save both their lives … and her heart?
ISBN# 978-193383654-6
Mass Market Paperback/Historical Romance
US $7.95/CDN $8.95
MARCH 2009
www.lisamariewilkinson.com
BROKEN WING
Judith James
Abandoned as a child and raised in a brothel, Gabriel St. Croix has never known tenderness, friendship, or affection. Although fluent in sex, he knows nothing of love. Lost and alone inside a nightmare world, all he’s ever wanted was companionship and a place to belong. Hiding physical and emotional scars behind an icy façade, his only relationship is with a young boy he has spent the last five years protecting from the brutal reality of their environment. But all that is about to change. The boy’s family has found him, and they are coming to take him home.
Sarah Munroe blames herself for her brother’s disappearance. When he’s located, safe and unharmed despite where he has been living, Sarah vows to help the man who rescued and protected him in any way she can. With loving patience she helps Gabriel face his demons and teaches him to trust in friendship and love. But when the past catches up with him, Gabriel must face it on his own.
Becoming a mercenary, pirate and a professional gambler, Gabriel travels to London, France, and the Barbary Coast in a desperate attempt to find Sarah again and all he knows of love. On the way, however, he will discover the most dangerous journey, and the greatest gamble of all, is within the darkest reaches of his own heart.
ISBN# 978-193383644-7
Mass Market Paperback/Historical Romance
US $7.95/CDN $8.95
Available Now
www.judithjamesauthor.com
There be Dragons Healther Graham
Illustrated by
Cherif Fortin & Lynn Sanders
Nico d’Or was a kind and gentle man who lived in the age of dragons. Through a simple twist of fate, Nico married the lovely Princess Elisia, and the couple were blessed with a beautiful daughter, Marina. Would they live happily ever after?
Well, not quite. The neighbor’s wife, Geovana, was neither sweet nor lovely, but a devious sorceress who spent her time casting dreadful spells, devising vile tricks, and mixing powerful potions with eye of newt and the horn of a toad.
Geovana used one of her favorite spells—strategically hurling rocks through windows to smash into the heads of her victims—tragically killing both Nico and Elisia, and leaving the beautiful Marina all alone. To make matters worse, Geovana became Marina’s guardian and, greedy for power, arranged a marriage between Marina and her own evil son, Carlo Baristo.
But Marina was in love with someone else. And as Christmas Day approached, Marina was faced with a terrible choice: save her land and her people, or follow her heart and believe in the magic of Christmas and true love.
ISBN# 978-160542071-4
Illustrated Romantic Masterpiece/Illustrated Romance
US $29.95/CDN $32.95
SEPTEMBER 2009
www.theoriginalheatliergraliam.com
Jasper Mountain
Kathy Steffen
Two lost souls struggle to find their way in the unforgiving West of 1873…
Jack Buchanan, a worker at the Jasper Mining Company, is sure of his place in the outside world, but has lost his faith, hope, and heart to the tragedy of a fire.
Foreign born and raised, Milena Shabanov flees from a home she loves to the strange and barbaric America. A Romani blessed with “the sight,” she is content in the company of visions and spirit oracles, but finds herself lost and alone in a brutal mining town with little use for women.
Surrounded by inhumane working conditions at the mine, senseless death, and overwhelming greed, miners begin disappearing and the officers of the mine don’t care.
Tempers flare and Jack must decide where he stands: with the officers and mining president—Victor Creely—to whom Jack owes his life, or with the miners, whose lives are worth less to the company than pack animals. Milena, sensing deep despair and death in a mining town infested with restless spirits, searches for answers to the workers’ disappearances. But she can’t trust anyone, especially not Jack Buchanan, a man haunted by his own past.