The Innocent

To open up a novel by Bertrice Small is to surrender to the deepest longings of the heart. In her sensational bestsellers, she sweeps us to the far corners of the globe and into the most sensual places of desire. Now in The Innocent, she takes us to the wild Welsh borderlands of England, where a young beauty ready to embrace her religious vows becomes the pawn of desperate men. . . .

Deceptively fragile-looking, Eleanore of Ashlin had promised her life to God . . . until fate intervened. With her brother's untimely death, Eleanore--known as Elf to those who love her--becomes the heiress of an estate vital to England's defenses. She is ordered by royal command to wed one of the king's knights rather than take her final vows. With resistant heart, but ever obedient to King Stephen's will, she complies.

Ranulf de Glandeville is all too aware that his innocent bride wants no man; yet his patience, gentle hand, and growing love for his spirited young wife soon awaken Eleanore to passions she never knew, or desired . . . until now.

But their love is not secure from the wicked schemes of an evil woman who hates Eleanore with all her black heart--and she will seek to destroy the innocent in a depraved plot that will put Eleanore's life in jeopardy and her  faith in love to its greatest test. . . .

Bertrice Small lives on the North Fork of the eastern end of Long Island, where she writes her novels in a light-filled studio surrounded by her cover paintings and many mementos of the romance genre.  Married for more than three decades to her husband, George, she is the mother of Thomas, mother-in-law of Megan, and grandmother of Chandler David Small. Longtime readers will be happy to know that Nicky, the charming cockatiel, and Sebastian, the tiny greige-and-white cat, remain her dearest companions. Many will be saddened to learn of the passing of Checquers, Ms. Small's beloved black-and-white cat with the pink ears, who at the age of fifteen has joined her ancestors. Tired of being the lone female in the household, Bertrice has adopted an orange-and-white lady cat, Honey Bun.


From the Paperback edition.