Margaret Moore, My Lord’s Desire

My Lord's Desire

Margaret Moore

Harlequin HQN, Feb 2007, $6.99

ISBN: 0373772289

In 1204, wealthy Lady Adelaide D'Averette has vowed to never allow a man to own her lands, which means never being wed as a husband controls anything the wife brought into their marriage. As she fends off odious fortune hunters, she heads to King John's court.

Lord Armand de Boisnaston has been a loyal knight to his liege King John protecting the monarch's land in Normandy. However, he and his half-brother Bayard were taken prisoner though he was freed to cross the Channel to raise a ransom liberate his sibling. At King John's court and time with his uncle, Armand obtains a taste of how expendable though defending the crown on the continent are as he fails to raise the needed money obtaining only 284 marks well short of the demanded 500. Armand needs a wealthy wife soonest. However he is attracted to Adelaide who reciprocates his feelings though she makes it clear she plans to marry no one. When they are caught in a compromising position, they are forced to become engaged, but it is not until they risk their lives to stop traitors that each knows love has sealed their fate.

Fans of Margaret Moore's exciting medieval romances will enjoy her latest effort, the start of a new miniseries, due to the gender war fought between an energetic independent heroine and a respectable knight. The storyline is at its best when this pair argue, fuss, and kiss as she wonders if he is using her to gain the 216 marks he needs while he ponders how to convince her that he desires her as well as wanting to rescue Bayard. Though the treachery subplot adds external tension, it takes the audience away from the prime fun, of observing Armand's efforts to prove she is his beloved desire.

Harriet Klausner