In this
paranormal time travel, the fifteenth‑century English King Edward IV and
his younger brothers George and Richard travel to the twenty‑first century in
order to try to rewrite history by making a film portraying Richard as he
really was, a kind soul and benevolent king. In the course of their adventures,
they each fall in love with very different women who reshape all their
destinies.
Julianna
Hammond, an officer of the Richard III Society and some of her fellow
Ricardians take a pilgrimage to the ruins of Middleham Castle for their yearly
summon of Richard=s spirit. But this time the
mere wisp of a ghost doesn=t appearBit=s
Richard in the flesh.
Julianna
Hammond, an officer of the Richard III Society and some of her fellow
Ricardians take a pilgrimage to the ruins of Middleham Castle for their yearly
summon of Richard=s spirit. But this time the
mere wisp of a ghost doesn=t appearBit=s
Richard in the flesh.
Julianna
takes him in and introduces him to the wonders of the modern worldBelectricity,
motor vehicles, and in a more unfortunate incidentBjeans
with zip-up flies.
During
the 1480s, the biggest mystery in English history took place--the disappearance
of the Princes, the nephews of King Richard III. Not only has Richard been
accused of murdering his nephews, he's been maligned in every way from his
politics to his physical appearance. Here was the perfect character to bring to
the present, watch his stunned reaction as he reads a biography of himself and
learns his fate, and see how he tries to change history.
In time
travel, anything goes, and the humor is bawdier than our jaded modern minds can
imagine it was in the 15th century. The three brothers Edward,
George, and Richard, give the story its edge. The hedonistic skirt-chasing Edward
and George play so well off the prim, proper and chivalrous Richard.
In the
majority of time-travels, the modern heroine goes back in time, but to have
historical figures come to modern times from the past is unique. It also gave
me many opportunities for humor, seeing our world through 15th
century eyes, in the simplest ways: Richard goes to an open-air market and sees
things he's never seen before: bananas, tomatoes, corn on the cob, peanuts. He
begins to bite into a banana, and Julianna shows him the correct way: peel and
eat it from the top. He takes an ear of corn and proceeds to eat it like the
banana, from the top, but she explains that it's eaten sideways. How confusing
the modern world really is! Not to mention his first glance at a running computer,
connected with the world through the internet.
Eventually,
Edward and George find out, through the powers of their local wizard, where
Richard has gone, and the wizard sends them both forward to the 21st
century to be reunited with their baby brother, who they fear has gotten into
all kinds of trouble.
But
that=s
hardly the case. He=s rewriting a movie script to
portray himself as a kind benevolent king rather than Richard Crouchback of
Shakespeare lore. He and Julianna have fallen in love, and she realizes Richard
is the prince she=s always waited for. It=s hard
to keep his identity a secret when she really wants to shout from the rooftops
that she=s found
her soulmate across five centuries.
Now in
the 21st century, Edward and George each fall in love with their
soulmates and fate brings them where they belongBEdward
to the far future, George remaining in the present.
But
Richard brings Julianna back 'home' to live his life differently--and in the
future, a student of history opens a textbook to read about Good King Richard,
who lowered taxes, built colleges, restructured the court system, and was
handsome, charming, selfless, and had two very even, perfectly matched
shoulders.
An excerpt from FOR LOVE AND LOYALTY
“Well, you’re certainly
a hero,” Julianna lavished well-deserved praise on him. “You’re kind,
sensitive, brave, warm and very good looking. Everything a hero should be. But
why don’t you think you’re romantic?”
Richard shook his head.
“I never brought a lady flowers, I don’t pour honeyed flattery over them like
Ned, I don’t recite poetry like George, I don’t cook gourmet cuisine. All I can
do is spread bananas on pizza.”
She smiled and sipped at
her wine. “It’s romantic if your intentions are sincere. I enjoyed your banana
pizza more than any gourmet meal I could get at LaGrenouille.”
“Sincere?” He buffed the
Middleham Ring on his shirt. “Mayhap. I don’t put forth any false fronts. Nay,
there’s naught false about my front.” He took a quick glance downward. Her eyes
couldn’t help but follow.
“That’s my idea of
romantic,” she assured him. “Not flowers or poetry or flattery. Just sincerity.
That other stuff is just veneer, and it wears quite thin after a while.”
His eyes pinned her and
she took another sip to ease the tension. “Simply speak your heart. Share your
heart. That’s what romance is all about—to me,” she said softly.
He reached over, took
the glass from her hand and placed it on the table in one swift, graceful
movement. “Then may we share some tonight?”
The hearth glowed,
seductive music floated through the lounge—the
perfect ambiance. But now that the moment was here, the reality of it
nudged her in a stern warning:
Don’t.
“Come here, Julianna.”
The way he opened his arms to her, she couldn’t refuse. One warm embrace can’t hurt. But once she was in that embrace, and
his lips sought hers, it felt as natural as breathing. He kissed her lovingly,
gently and thoroughly. Stopping him would be as wrong as telling the sun not to
shine.
Her heart beat the same
primitive tattoo as the music surrounding them.
When his hand slid to
her breast, she knew she had to take charge or nature would. “Richard—” She
hadn’t meant sound so whispery, but her voice was nowhere to be found. She
cleared her throat. “We can’t get involved. It’ll be too much heartache if
something happens and you get sent back.” She wondered how convincing she
really sounded, with her fingers still wound through his hair and her body half
pressed up against his.
“I’m not going back, Julianna.
I’m resigned to my fate. I’m not like Ned, I don’t rake every wench that
crosses my path. I keep my desire firmly in check. But right now my desire is
about to burn a hole in these thin trousers so I’ll have to go back to wearing
that torturous denim castrati garment.”
She let out a deep sigh
and tried to calm her breathing. There’d been some pretty heavy breathing till
now. “Richard, I’ve been fighting my feelings all along and doing a pretty good
job of it so far. Don’t let me weaken. Don’t let me fall in love with you.
There’s enough weird stuff going on here already. We’ve got enough to do.”
“I’ve grown very fond of you, Julianna.” He
stroked her cheek. “And I’m still growing.” He relaxed his embrace and brushed
her lips with his before sitting back. “However, you must lead and I follow, as
this is your domain. I’m also a gentleman. If this were Ned sitting here, you’d
have been ravished thrice already, in six different ways, and on your way to fetch
him a beer.”
“Doesn’t he take no for an answer?” Her hand still played
through his hair.
“He doesn’t even ask.”
“Looks like he doesn’t mind never going back to his own time.
After tonight, George might not, either.”
“Well, Ned covered his arse quite well. He informed me he left
the kingdom in good hands with no detail unattended to, and George will go
anywhere there’s wenches and booze, even if it’s back to the stone age.”
“I wonder if you can go back by sheer force of will. Our minds
are so much more powerful than we think.” A jumble of thoughts entered her head
and vanished. This wasn’t the time to ponder telekinesis, as he tickled her
earlobe and ran his thumb over her bottom lip. All she could do was close her
eyes and let the exquisite sensations take over. She instinctively moved
closer. Their bodies touched, his skin against hers. One more kiss, just one more of those delicious warm kisses, and I’ll
call it a night, she convinced herself. Their lips met.
The door knocker pounded.
Published by The Wild Rose Press
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