A Nun For The Viking Warrior by Lucy Morris
BLURB
Falling for the man…
Noblewoman Amée Évreaux had pledged her life to God, until her father promised her in marriage to thundering Norseman, Jorund Jötunnson. After escaping her overbearing father, Amée vows never to fall under another man’s thumb, but her resistance to being Jorund’s wife turns to desire as she gets to know her intriguing new husband. For beneath his fierce exterior she’s glimpsed an unexpectedly pure heart. If only she can penetrate the fortress that surrounds it…
EXTRACT
NB: This is at the start of the novel. Jorund has just broken into Amée’s nunnery and is demanding to claim his bride.
‘Where is she?’
He raised his sword towards the abbess. The steel shone bright in the flickering flames of the sconces surrounding the entrance hall. ‘Where is she?’
The sight of her abbess being threatened was enough to spark the fiery temperament Amée struggled daily to control. She stepped in front of the sword. Unfortunately, because of her short stature, it still pointed above her head at the abbess. So, her gesture appeared futile. Regardless, she spoke with as much imperial command as she could muster. ‘I am Amée Évreux.’
‘You?’ He looked her up and down with barely concealed horror.
Amée tried not to take offence—after all, why should she care what this beast thought of her? She raised her chin defiantly. ‘How dare you enter this holy place with weapons raised? Even your leader, Rollo, has converted to Christ. He cannot condone such actions.’
He smiled, a flicker of respect crossing his features, and sheathed his sword. ‘I think you do not know the Jarl as well as I do, Lady Évreux. It’s good to finally meet you.’ His voice was a distant rumble of thunder that sent a shiver down her spine.
Her eyes narrowed. ‘Perhaps not, but I am a dear friend of his wife, Princess Gisla. She would never approve—’
‘She is the one who sent me.’
It was a mistake! It had to be.
Amée felt the blood drain from her face and she clutched the blanket tighter around her shoulders. The chill of the forest air rushed in after their intruders, bringing with it the cold dread of familial duty she’d hoped was long forgotten.
‘I am to be wed to Christ,’ she whispered. Even as she said the words, she knew her life had changed forever in some terrible way. Her father had broken his promise. She was his chattel and always would be. The ghost of hope, a life free from her father, disappeared with her misty breath into the midnight air.
Jorund stepped forward. His arm ring shone in the candlelight as he reached with a calloused hand to brush the hair away from her face. The raven curls she usually kept tightly bound beneath a novice wimple and veil flowed around her in thick sleep-mussed waves. In less than a month her hair would have been roughly shorn, and she would have taken her vows. The restrictions and chains of her life as Lady Amée Évreux cast aside. Ahead only spiritual peace and obscurity.
Not the hell her mother suffered. Not marriage.
‘No.’ He sighed, as if he pitied her. ‘You’re going to be wed to me.’
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
She lives in Essex, UK, with her husband, two young children, and two cats. She has a massively sweet tooth and loves gin, bubbly and Irn-Bru. A member of the UK Romantic Novelists' Association, she was delighted in 2020 to accept a two-book deal with Harlequin after submitting her story to the Warriors Wanted submission blitz for Viking, Medieval, and Highlander romances.
Writing for Harlequin Historical is a dream come true for her and she hopes you enjoy her books!
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