It's 12th century England and Isabella de Montfort is one
of many young women residing at St. Jude's Abbey. But
appearances can be deceiving, and one would never guess
that beneath those faces of youth and quiet beauty are
women who've honed to perfection the skills of martial
arts. It's a secret program, founded by Queen Eleanor of
Aquitaine, to protect England and the royal family in times
of need.
But Isabella has never taken to fighting and so has been
allowed to learn merely enough to protect herself. Instead,
Isabella's talents are in the art of healing, of science
and of the elements of chemistry. She's done much to learn
the healing arts and is especially interested in trying to
duplicate successful experiments of others like her. She's
an unlikely candidate for the queen's service, but
nonetheless has been entrusted on an errand of grave
importance -- to retrieve papers meant for the queen that
could now fall into the wrong hands and cause another
terrible war.
Jordan le Courtenay, the abbess' nephew, is to accompany
Isabella, but Jordan has an important errand of his own to
fulfill -- find who's behind the killing of his longtime
friend. After years of witnessing first hand the death and
destruction of war, Jordan is tired and has lost his desire
for battle. He wants nothing more than to return home for
peace and rest and to restore his home. Yet now he has not
only vowed to find his friend's killer but to help Isabella
as well. As they set out together, their goals firmly in
mind, each has vowed success and perhaps later to be
granted a place of peace in the world. And with a growing
attraction to each other and a new sense of care and
understanding, maybe even a chance at love.
This is the last in the Ladies of St. Jude's Abbey series
and a nice finish to the stories of a unique and compelling
group of characters. This book, like the others, is
character-driven, but the heroine is not as focused on
martial arts as were the others. She grows in her
confidence as her fighting skills are tested yet prefers to
use science as her weapon of choice. The hero fights to
stay on equal footing with the heroine, yet is secure
enough in himself to appreciate the heroine's skills of
defense that exceed his own. Although the plot could have
been more compelling, the characters more than carry the
reader through to a satisfying conclusion.
Isabella de Montfort's talents lie not in the knightly
arts, but in science and alchemy. So she's surprised when
Queen Eleanor assigns her the task of retrieving something
that could start a war-aided by Jordan le Courtenay, a
knight who's lost his lust for battle. But soon Isabella
inspires in Jordan a passion for the world around him-and a
dangerous longing for her.
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