Welcome to Medieval Monday, a blog hop for those who love a medieval romance. Over the next 11 weeks, I and 10 other medieval romance novelists will share snippets from one of our works. I haven’t been able to share snippets with these wonderful authors for a while, but I’m so glad I’m back!

Our theme for this session is Nature, and I’m using an extended excerpt from my medieval romance Time Enough to Love. It’s toward the end of the book, actually, when the hero, Sir Geoffrey Longford and heroine, Lady Alyse de Courcy, have just escaped the Black Plague in Bordeaux, France, and are traveling toward Alyse’s father’s home in northern France. They have been camping  for almost 10 days as their journey takes them out into the beautiful French countryside.

This first excerpt is much longer than the rest you’ll see as you hop to each different author’s blog each week. Most will be about 10 lines long. Today, because I’m setting up the action, is quite a bit longer. I hope you enjoy, Time Enough to Love.

BLURB: 

When Lady Alyse de Courcy is betrothed to Sir Geoffrey Longford, she has no choice but to make the best of a bad bargain. The hulking knight is far from her ideal man, and although he does possess some wit and charm, he is no match for the sinfully sensual man she secretly admires, Thomas, Earl of Braeton, her betrothed’s best friend.

From the first, Sir Geoffrey finds himself smitten by Lady Alyse, and, despite her infatuation with his friend, vows to win her love. When Geoffrey puts his mind to wooing Alyse, he is delighted to find her succumbing to his seduction. But when cruel circumstances separate them, Geoffrey must watch helplessly as Thomas steps in to protect Alyse—and falls in love with her himself.

As the three courtiers accompany Princess Joanna to her wedding in Spain, they run headlong into the Black Plague. With her world plunged into chaos, Alyse struggles with her feelings for both the men she loves. But which love will survive?

EXCERPT:

“I fear we must make our camp here tonight, Alyse,” Geoffrey called as he rode into a clearing to the right of the road. “We will not make Laval before the sun sets, and there will be no moon tonight.”

Alyse glanced around the exposed area. Not her first choice for their encampment. They had been extremely fortunate thus far in their travels, for they had either found accommodations in villages or made camp in abandoned stables for the past nine nights. The thought of sleeping out in the open did not appeal to her in the least.

“We will be very exposed, Geoffrey. Are you sure we will be safe?”

Three weeks after her fever had broken, Alyse had recovered enough strength to sit a horse more than an hour or two a day. Geoffrey had insisted they wait to leave until she could ride rather than take a carriage that would move too slowly and elicit too much interest from those they passed on the road.

Lawlessness gripped the countryside, as Geoffrey had discovered while bargaining for goods in Loremo. A gang of ragtag peasants had set upon him as he returned to the manor house. He managed to fend them off with little harm to himself, although two of the ruffians lay dead in the road as the others scattered. The encounter had sobered him, and he insisted she be completely well before they struck out for Beaulieu, a journey of almost three weeks, in an effort to contact her family.

The thought of them facing her father together, however, terrified Alyse as much as the vagabonds . According to Church law, the ceremony they had performed in the princess’s chapel bound them in holy matrimony as surely as if they had spoken their vows before Pope Clement himself. Unhappily, without witnesses or a priest’s blessing, they had only their word that the ceremony had taken place.

They had ridden to the monastery at Montclair the day before they left Loremo, hoping the brothers would marry them. But they had found no sign of the monks and assumed they had been called away to other duties for their order. That left the problem of their marriage unresolved, for Geoffrey refused to venture near large towns lest either the plague or lawlessness overtake them. He kept reassuring her that as soon as they found a town that seemed safe, they would enter it and be wed properly.

As a result, they were now almost halfway through their journey, for they had made good time in the crisp October air. Today they had ridden through thickly wooded countryside where leaves of riotous color surrounded them, often swirling around the horses’ feet or catching on their cloaks in startling patches of gold, orange, and red. The lowering sun glinted through the trees to the west when Geoffrey had reigned in Saracen.

“’Twill be fine, my love. There is a stream yonder, and the trees on the far side of the clearing will provide some shelter for us. We will be fine.” Geoffrey dismounted and gathered the reins to lead Saracen and Falcon to the water.

Alyse slid to the ground, grabbed the packs from Mirabelle’s back, and relinquished her to him as well. She had insisted on bringing Falcon with them as assurance against a mishap on the road. Also because she could not bear the thought of Thomas’s horse being sold or bartered, as they had done with the horses that had remained at the manor. And, she had argued, three horses could be the beginnings of a stable when they returned to England, for God only knew what they would find when they arrived at Longford Manor.

As Geoffrey saw to the horses’ needs, Alyse laid out the bedroll and blankets, made the fire, and spread their meager dinner on the pallet. When Geoffrey brought a skin of fresh water, they sat together, as had become their custom, to watch the sun go down and eat their meal of cheese, bread, and salt beef.

“Stop leering at me, my lord.” Alyse grinned at him then took a piece of bread and tore it into small bits. She nibbled the crust of one and drank some ale.

“You are too fetching in that outfit for me to do anything else, love.” Geoffrey’s gaze strayed from her breasts to her legs. She had insisted on wearing Thomas’s altered suit of clothes for comfort during the long days of riding, and for the protection it afforded her as a disguise. Even though it hid all her womanly curves, it had proven to be a great distraction for her husband.

“You are not eating, Alyse.” Not enough of a distraction. “What is amiss, my love?” Geoffrey finished his cheese and nodded toward the pile of food still before her.

“’Tis nothing. I am just overtired tonight.” She packed the food away quickly so he would not see how much she had actually eaten.

“But you ate nothing this morning either, sweetheart.”

“I ate a goodly bit at noon though.”

Geoffrey frowned. “You ate some bread and cheese. And not much of that.” He peered sharply at her. “Mayhap we are pressing too hard. The long days in the saddle are too tiring for you after your illness.” He drew her into his arms. “You must keep up your strength, love. You must eat more than bread and cheese. When we come to Laval tomorrow, we will stop and find a hot meal for us. Chicken, and fresh bread, and a nice thick pudding perhaps.”

Alyse swallowed hard at the thought of such food, praying her stomach would settle. “That sounds wonderful, Geoffrey. After a long sleep, I am sure I will be hungry. I am just so very tired now.” She removed her shoes and lay back on the pallet as Geoffrey stoked the fire.

He turned toward her and smiled—a slow smile that made her heart melt. He spread their cloaks over them then lay down beside her. A thousand stars had suddenly appeared in the inky night sky as the sun retreated around the rim of the Earth. The rustling leaves, the subtle rush of the stream, the soft stamping of the horses as they moved about cropping grass soothed her. She closed her eyes, the aches and weariness seeping from her.

Geoffrey took her hand and placed a soft kiss on the palm. “I wonder what it would be like to love you under the stars?” he whispered, nuzzling her neck.

Half asleep, she stretched her neck out, expecting more caresses. “It is an extraordinary experience. There is nothing quite like it,” she murmured, turning toward him, smiling sleepily into his face.

“How do you know that?” His soft voice carried a dangerous note.

To find out what happens next, follow me next week to Ashley York’s blog.

Time Enough to Love is available at Amazon, B & N, and Smashwords.

The Time Enough to Love series by Jenna Jaxon