A Prayer and Promise

I absolutely loved this book. The writing is wonderful, the story unique and the characters so real they jump out at you.Guy Bellemare, (...) who was disowned by his father, entered the seminary. He soon found this was not his place in life and became a mercentary knight for King William the Conqueror. The king ordered Guy to resume his "friar" image and disguised as priest to lure Gabrielle Aumont, a nun, and her brother from an abbey where they had sought refuge. In return, Guy would be rewarded with his own lands and title, that which he wanted most in life. Gabrielle's uncle, the villanous, Quennell, had requested the king's involvement in the arranged marriage of his niece and the return of his nephew so he could ultimately take their inheritence and titles from them and of course harm them. (as he killed their parents.) As the story goes, Gabrielle believes "the good friar" and goes with him willingly to "safety" in Scotland, the land of her mother. But Guy's plan is to deliver her to England. Quenell not trusting the end result, sends evil men to abduct and/or kill both Gabby and her brother Louis. Thus they encounter treachery on their travels and Gabby saves Guy's life. (They continue to save each others lives throughout the story.)The "friar" becomes good friends with Gabby and Louis and is forced through circumstance to bring her to her uncle in Scotland and await his chance to do the king's bidding. They are beset by betrayal at every turn. At one point Gabby is even tried for witchcraft! Eventually, the Scots uncle decides to marry Gabby to a clansman to keep her safe and holds a physical prowess contest of suitors. The best man will wed Gabby. Well, since Guy can't let this happen, he "leaves the priesthood" and vies for Gabby himself and wins her. The story continues with loads of swashbuckling stuff, tender scenes , wonderful relationships and so much more that I can't put into words. Guy's problem is whether he can defy the king and live with his beloved and this major problem seems impossible to overcome. And he is overwrought by his lies to Gabby. Of course Guy's brother, Royce, joins in the fray (from Hearts Victorios the prequel) and Guy's wrongfully shamed mother Ambra insists on propriety. His father Lance finds out that he was deceived and Guy and Royce are really his sons and not bastards so he wants to mend the rift but they don't want him. King William gets involved and even in the last pages, a pregnant Gabriel is abducted again. It's a fight to the finish. There's more than a smattering of love and faith in this book. The prayer is Gabby's hope to find a man she loves and the promise is Guy's promise to the king...to return the Aumont children and his promise to Gabby to love her and protect her with his life. The dialogue is full of wit and teasing and sincerity. I don't remember the last book I liked this much...and I'm not a medievil/castle reader. You won't regret finding this out of print book. I believe this was

The auther held my imagination, and attention, form start to finish. The detailed charactors made the book one of my favorites