“Almost worth the… 99 11 When Cassandra came into the great hall a short 110 time… 12 Brightly colored fleets of leaves sailed toward the 116 distant sea… 13 As soon as Ariane heard Simon’s warning shout, 126 she hauled… 14 “’Tis like an oiled eel,” Meg muttered, turning to 139 Cassandra.

The hand… 69 9 Dominic swept aside the last scraps of the previous night’s… 85 10 “’Tis a beautiful day, lady,” Blanche said. Although… 20 4 A brazier sent warmth and a small bit of fragrant… 26 5 Between shouts of wind and bursts of icy rain, the… 34 6 The marriage toasts from the assembled knights grew more and… 43 7 If I cut my throat, how can I be certain… 55 8 Simon watched while his wary bride approached him. Elizabeth Lowell ENCHANTED for DEBBY TOBIAS first class all the way Contents Dear Reader v 1 “Which will it be,” Ariane whispered to herself, “a wedding… 1 2 The teasing words of the newlyweds filled the taut silence… 12 3 Melancholy, subtly clashing chords quivered through Ariane’s corner room. And then he learned there would be no peace unless loyalty and honor, were joined by something magical-love. A loyalty so great that he swallowed the insult to his honor, kept his non-virgin bride, and the peace of the land. She didn’t expect to find herself drawn so intensely to Simon, enchanted by a man whose loyalty was to his brother. She expected to die when Simon discovered the truth.

No longer a virgin, she had been sent by her father as a living insult to her future husband’s honor. A woman who no longer believed in anything, especially love. Ariane was a lady with secrets as dark as her midnight hair, as dark as her songs. When his brother faced war in the Disputed Lands over a vassal’s broken engagement, Simon stepped forward to marry the jilted lady. He had learned it so well he was called Simon the Loyal, and his loyalty was to his brother (and his lord) Dominic. Simon had learned the bitter lesson of loyalty, life, and death in the First Crusade. The more I thought about this simple fact, the more I wondered what a loyal man would do when faced with choosing between a terrible insult to his honor and his loyalty to his lord Dominic. Dear Reader: In the British Isles of the eleventh century, honor and loyalty weren’t merely virtues they were a matter of life and death.

Enchanted by elizabeth lowell