Here as an excerpt is the start of my Kensington Zebra medieval romance, 'A
Knight's Captive'. In it we see the hero Marc for the first time, and the
heroine Sunniva.

Northern England, September 1066        
 
"Uncle Marc! Is she not as beautiful as the sun? That is what her name means.
She is Sunniva, Sun-Gift. Do you not think she is like the sun?"
          "Steady, little one. You will wake your sisters. But yes, you
are right. She is most comely."
          Ignoring the powerful temptation to look where Alde was
pointing, Marc tucked the ends of his big traveling cloak around his excited
niece and encouraged the child to lie down again by doing so himself. A swift,
anxious glance confirmed that Judith and Isabella were sleeping, sprawled under
his cloak, their small faces sunburned with weeks of travel. Isabella was
sucking her thumb. The day had been long, the riding hard and tiring. He prayed
she would sleep through, free of nightmares.
          Just one night, Lord Christ. As a mercy to her, and to her
sisters.
          "Uncle Marc?" Alde whispered, tugging on her lower lip, the
pupil of her left eye sliding towards her small, faintly hooked nose as she
fought her body's weariness, "Can I have -" A tiny snore escaped her pouting
mouth.
          Marc waited a moment, watching his charges. His brother had
spoken of the "fierce love" a parent feels for a child: in these past months he
had come to understand what Roland meant. He would kill for these three.
          Beside him a female peddler, as gnarled as the sticks she
carried for sale on her back, snorted and shifted closer to the central fire.
Turning carefully so as not to disturb Isabella, Marc lounged on his belly, one
hand absently rubbing his aching spine as he scanned the company.
          Two and twenty figures, hunched in various attitudes of
slumber, some snoring, most silent, were ranged about the fire, their dun and
dust-stained clothes orange in its fading glow. Outside the ruined, roofless
square fort - an old Roman castle, according to their escorts - he could hear
the night-guards walking and talking softly. So far, the pilgrim party he was
part of had journeyed in safety, although he slept with his sword close to hand.
Even main roadways such as the one they traveled on were haunted by footpads,
ever-ready to prey upon the unwary or unprotected. There were rumored to be
horse-thieves hereabouts in these rough lands of the north and worse still,
slavers.
          He knew of one who would be a great prize to such creatures.
Blonde - such fair eyebrows and skin must betoken blonde hair, although he had
never seen so much as a strand of it: Sunniva was a modest girl who hid her
tresses under a plain russet head square. Lithe, with a tumbler's body: that
much he could guess from her graceful walk, though her robe hung on her as if
made for a larger woman. And her face… Marc smiled in the semi-darkness. Even
at a distance, she was more than comely, she was spectacular, a prize -
          "Sunniva! Damn you, wench!"
          The carping voice broke into Marc's guilty day-dream, causing
him to stare where he had sworn he would not. Straight across the fire from
where he and his three darlings were snuggled into a corner, their backs safe
against the fire-proof stone walls, a hulking scarecrow of a man sat bolt
upright. Cloaks and scraps of precious cloth and even tapestry rolled off him,
scattering like chaff as he whirled his beefy arms. "Here, girl, attend me! Look
at me, girl! You should not be sleeping!"
          "Not when my leg troubles me!" Marc finished for Cena under
his breath, clenching both hands into fists as he fought his own temper. Since
he and his girls had joined the pilgrim party five days ago he had grown weary
of this graybeard's mewling complaints - the Englishman moaned more readily than
six-year-old Isabella.Best wishes, Lindsay
 You can read more excerpts of my books and see my covers at the following
links:
 
A Knight's Vow: http://lindsaysbookchat.blogspot.com/2008/04/knights-vow.html
A Knight's Captive:
http://lindsaysbookchat.blogspot.com/2008/04/knights-captive.html
Flavia's Secret:
http://lindsaysbookchat.blogspot.com/2008/04/flavias-secret.html
Blue Gold: http://lindsaysbookchat.blogspot.com/2008/04/blue-gold.html
A Secret Treasure:
http://lindsaysbookchat.blogspot.com/2001/01/secret-treasure.html
Bronze Lightning:
http://lindsaysbookchat.blogspot.com/2009/01/bronze-lightning.html