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her father for one reason or another (and they were legion), men who wanted to hold her for ransom. Men who—
    One minute she was standing behind her easel, and the next she had fallen to the ground in a swoon.
    As promised, Jamie wrote to his sisters that night.
What to tell them?
he thought as he picked up a pen, then smiled.
They want a fairy tale so I shall give them one.
A man who has to struggle to reach the maiden, then the maiden being beautifulbeyond all imagining, as Frances Maidenhall was.
    My dearest sisters,
    I have met her. My lessons learned in escaping Edward’s tortures at last had some benefit as I used an overhanging tree branch to go over a high wall. The dogs were easy after I borrowed a cloth from a gardener’s shed. It was an adventure worthy of Joby!
    The Maidenhall heiress was in the garden sitting for her portrait, as still as a statue and as perfect as Venus. It does not surprise me that her father keeps her locked away, for her extraordinary beauty is worth more than jewels.
    I did not speak to her, only gazed upon her, basking in the radiance of her and enjoying her loveliness.
    Jamie paused. Yes, that should do it. Adventure and romance. What else to make them stop worrying? Ah yes, to reassure them that he had some help.
    I questioned a girl painting the heiress’s portrait. She was like a pretty sparrow caught in a cage, but she had a clever tongue on her and she is to help me win the heiress’s hand. When this is all done I shall bring this sparrow to you to paint your portraits.
    With all my love,
    James
    â€œThat idiot!” Joby exploded upon reading the letter. “Hethinks to use a plain woman to help him win the hand of a beautiful one? I know
I
would not help him.” Several times young men had seen Berengaria from a distance and had asked Joby for an introduction. Without exception Joby had always been enraged at this.
    â€œOur brother is in love,” Berengaria said softly.
    â€œDo you think so? Yes, yes, he does go on and on about her beauty. I am glad. Jamie is plagued with scruples and a conscience. Were it me—”
    â€œNo, no, he is in love with that plain sparrow.”
    â€œYou are insane,” Joby said in a way that carried no animosity to it.
    â€œWe shall see,” Berengaria said, smiling. “We shall see.”

Chapter 4
    W
ell!” Rhys said, glaring at Jamie over a mug of ale. “You saw her. What was she like?”
    The three of them, Thomas, Rhys, and Jamie, had been friends for years. They’d been through battles together, shared food when they had it, did without when they didn’t. Jamie had a way about him that could make a person feel that he was soft and sweet and easy to manipulate, but Rhys and Thomas had learned all too well that when anyone overstepped the mark, Jamie’s temper could make heads roll.
    But over the years Rhys and Thomas had learned that Jamie had one major weakness: he thought women were angels come to earth. Of course, with Jamie’s looks, women often were angelic. Everywhere they went, every country, whether women were fair Danes or the dark beauties of the Holy Lands, the most vile-tempered virago turned to honey when Jamie approached.
    Rhys remembered in France being held off by a farm wife with a pitchfork, then Jamie walked up and smiled at her, and minutes later she was digging out bottles of wine from under the floorboards and offering them feather beds for the night. Or at least one feather bed. To Jamie. To Rhys and Thomas she pointed at the floor.
    Had Jamie been a different sort of man, he could have taken advantage of this, but he did not. He was polite and courteous and turned down most offers made to him. “It would not be right to the woman’s husband,” he’d said more than once, a statement that made any man within hearing distance shout with laughter.
    What time the men had spent at court could have kept Jamie very busy as there were few