Knight of Love by Catherine LaRoche

the duty of chivalry and the Wolfsbach heritage as knights of the people. You’re a good man. But you don’t have to rescue every stray that crosses your path. This woman could ruin your life. You don’t know anything about her. You only think you do. She could be a scheming woman who lays claim to your wealth and ties you up in the courts for life!”
    â€œShe’ll have every right to my wealth and to the dower. I mean for her to have it. But she’s not like that.”
    â€œHow do you know?” Becker demanded, exasperated.
    â€œI know her! Look at her! She’s a delicate beauty who has been sorely abused in an untenable situation. She should be cherished and treasured like the princess she is.”
    Becker snorted. “And you’re soft in the head if you believe such sap as that.”
    Wolf tried one last time to make his cousin understand. “You should have seen her at Rotenburg. It was twenty-six lashes before Kurt ordered the flogging stopped. She refused to cry out the entire time. She was magnificent, Becker.”
    â€œMagnificent?” Becker scoffed. “I thought she was a little doll!” His cousin sighed deeply. “Look, Wolf, she may well be a fine woman. If we could clean her up and get her into a gown, I expect she’d be quite lovely. The Trevelyan line is impeccable, of course. But have you considered what she’s gone through with Kurt? You know the stories as well as I do about how he treats women. She won’t be untouched. She won’t be what a bride should be. She may well not care to perform a wife’s duties, especially if you force her into a battlefield marriage ceremony. It’s not what I would wish for you, my friend.”
    Becker said nothing that Wolf hadn’t considered himself. Lenora obviously didn’t welcome his offer of marriage. He couldn’t blame her for not wanting any man at this point. He imagined well enough the horrors that despot had put her through.
    But none of that mattered. He had in his power the means to ensure that she would be as safe as possible in the midst of the upheavals gripping the continent.
    â€œI’m marrying her, Becker. And I need your help to pull it off.”
    His friend groaned.
    But Wolf knew. He felt it in his gut. He could make this work with Lenora. It wasn’t going to be pretty. Not at first. But he could make it work.
    If they survived the fall of the German Confederation.
    And Kurt didn’t get his hands on either of them again.
    And they made it back to England alive.
    And if she ever forgave him for what he was about to do.
    This last seemed the biggest risk of all.
    But what was a man to do when he’d met his princess and fallen in love?

Chapter 5
    G etting out of her cold and sodden garments greatly improved the situation. Gunther, a pockmarked and reed-thin lad of about thirteen, promised to have the clothing clean and dry by the morrow. Meanwhile, he brought her a steaming bucket of water for washing and a bowl of the beef stew.
    â€œ Der Wolfram bade me tell you, meine Dame, that he looks forward to the pleasure of your company at dinner this evening.” Their camp cook, the boy informed her, stood prepared to serve their full meal as soon as it pleased her to inform Gunther of her readiness.
    It would please her never to so inform Gunther, for she was most definitely not ready to face that huge and odd man again. But petulance would get her nowhere, and the situation must be faced. Besides, she’d learned her lesson with Franz; she’d not risk another boy’s harm by angering his master toward him.
    Her chills soon ceased once she shed the wet clothes and washed off the mud of the voyage. A camp stove radiated warmth through the small but tidy tent, furnished with a narrow cot, a folding table with two chairs, and a trunk. A lute hanging from a hook caught her attention—did the earl play at troubadour as well as