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A Knight Most Wicked (Harlequin Historical)

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A Knight Most Wicked
Joanne Rock
Harlequin Historical
March 2008

Joanne Rock makes her characters work for their happy ever after in A Knight Most Wicked. They discover lust can be hard to fight. They discover love is impossible to fight. But without trust, it all means less than nothing. Trust is the most powerful emotion and also the hardest to earn.

Sheltered Arabella Rowan is frightened when she returns from gathering herbs and discovers a group of knights leaving the humble cottage she shares with her mother and grandmother. Her uneasiness does not lessen when she goes inside. Arabella's presence is "requested" by the King. She is to accompany Princess Anne on her journey to marry the young English King. To say she is shocked and dismayed is an understatement. Her father may be a lord but he has never claimed her. All Arabella wants is to remain with her mother and grandmother to continue her training in the healing arts but the King's wishes cannot be ignored.

Sir Tristan Carlisle resents his current assignment. He would rather be on the battlefield than escorting the foreign princess and her huge group of ladies-in-waiting. Before reaching the Bohemian court and meeting the young princess, Tristan has an unusual encounter. His men are setting up camp while he patrols the area, insuring the safety of the land. Hearing a sound, he follows it to a strange yet beautiful sight. In an oak tree surrounded clearing, a young wild woman with enchanting eyes sobs her heart out. She runs away but the memory of her haunts him.

Court is difficult for Arabella. Most the ladies-in-waiting take one look at her and deem her beneath them. She does make one friend amongst the group however. Ironically, she is the ward of the king and as such held in high regard, exactly opposite to Arabella's standing. Never having been around men, she relies on her friend to guide her in court. Is she supposed to talk to the men, dance with them? All is going well until she spots the knight who had come upon her in the forest crying over the agony of being torn from her family and home. She tries to hide from him and succeeds for a while. Eventually they come face to face and after he sees her eyes, Tristan knows it is the woman from the forest.

Tristan is in charge of the safety of the princess. Does she know one of her ladies-in-waiting is not what she appears? What is her secret and is she a security risk? A couple of women have disappeared. Could she be supplying information? Is she a traitor? Some think her a witch because of her healing capabilities. Arabella is just as wary of Tristan. Her mother always warned her away from men. They are all liars. Plus, in an overheard conversation between Tristan and one of his knights, Arabella learns that he is not looking to ever marry but an affair would be welcome. She will not trust his motives no matter how he makes her feel.

A Knight Most Wicked is packed full of intrigue and forbidden infatuation. Secrets will rip apart Tristan and Arabella's fragile attraction for each other. Jealousy lies, and rumors, all play havoc with their emotions. Ms. Rock spices things up with unfettered passion, kidnap attempts, traitors, and unexplainable interest in Arabella by the villains. She keeps you guessing until the very end. I was unable to put the book down and couldn't stop my sigh of satisfaction at the ending. She has a winner on the shelves with this pair of lovers.

Kim Swiderski
Writers Unlimited reviewer

Arabella Rowan cannot understand why she was chosen as a lady in waiting for the large retinue of women to accompany Princess Anne of Bohemia to England. Arabella prefers open air and freedom, not the closed-in spaces of courts and intricate social customs. After all, her father never acknowledged her and rumors of sorcery haunt her grandmother Zaharia's reputation. How can she bring honor to her countrymen and family? She flees to the woods for one last moment of freedom and to cry out her frustration, only to be seen in this one private moment, by a handsome knight! Tristan Carlisle, a warrior who has spent years in service to England's kings, is none too pleased to have been assigned the duty of a courtier. When war rages with France, accompanying a nuptial entourage of ladies chafes and irritates this ambitious knight. Nevertheless, Tristan realizes that the key to gaining land and power rest on keeping the princess and her ladies safe. When he discovers that the gypsy who had captured his heart in the forest is now masquerading around as a lady in waiting, Tristan must uncover the secrets behind the lady impostor if only he can resist the powerful attraction between them. Innocent, unaccustomed to talking to men, and forewarned of their danger, Arabella knows she must keep her secrets from the this handsome knight and an English court that frowns on the healing arts of women, but how long can she hide the passion that Tristan inspires within her?

Joanne Rock's A KNIGHT MOST WICKED combines a lesser explored historical setting, a play on the medieval classic Tristan romance tale and a fascinatingly rich hero and heroine in a romance full of passion and intrigue. Arabella is a wildcat, a woman who prefers freedom and acting on her own will rather than bowing to others. A healer, medicine for her is an inner calling, one that drives her to help even in the face of danger. Although the court setting with its intrigue, rumors and power plays chafes at her most inner sense of her self, the unfamiliar setting also allows the reader a glimpse into the depths of her character, a woman whose loyalty and honor emerges as she protects the secrets and those she loves and yet as a woman who takes risks. Joanne Rock places Tristan, a knight set on winning favor and protecting England's interests, in the precarious position of protecting a woman from danger while he determines the risk she herself poses---not only to England, but to his heart. Tristan is not a man to easily accept betrayal of any kind!

Joanne Rock's plot challenges her characters, placing them in the midst of a danger unknown. In A KNIGHT MOST WICKED, Joanne Rock creates dynamic characters who grow not only in their passion for each other but within themselves as conflicts test their loyalties and indeed their most inner selves. A perfect balance between rich characterization and a plot full of perilous and sometimes delightfully subtle twists from within and without the guarded entourage keeps the reader glued to the pages, never quite knowing from where the next danger will arrive. As shadowy figures following the entourage create an ominous backdrop, the greatest dangers yet might still be to the heart as both Arabella and Tristan come face to face with the past. To the sheer delight of medieval fans, Joanne Rock interweaves the tragic medieval tale of Tristan and Isolde within her story, creating a playful and romantic contrast between it and Arabella and Tristan's story of love and divided loyalty. Joanne Rock's Tristan story is not a tragedy, but a romance that moves the heart. Indeed, A KNIGHT MOST WICKED captures the very essence of the medieval period on multiple levels.