Defy Not the Heart

A KIDNAPPER'S PROMISE

Lady Reina de Champeney's cerulean eyes gazed with scorn as they fell upon the golden giant of a man before her. This was the knight Ranulf Fitz Hugh, her kidnapper, who was pledged to deliver her into the worst kind of bondage -- marriage to the craven Lord Rothwell.

But Reina was no acquiescent girl to accept fate's whim. To save herself from the union forced upon her, she offered Ranulf a bargain: Become my husband yourself. In exchange for your protection, I will make you a great lord.

The nuptial bed was not part of the bargain. And the haughty Ranulf soon made it clear that he would accept no marriage of convenience: Come to me of your own free will -- or I will take you!