The Conquerors

The Good Sinner's Naughty Nun: Thierry Bonnenfant has a mission to fulfill - transport a padlocked casket of holy relics across the sea to Normandy. Sounds easy enough, until he finds that his fellow travelers will be none other than a group of ...nuns. Thierry was hoping for different company, something decidedly less virginal. Now, resolved to a very dull journey, where his only pleasure is arguing with a naughty, quarrelsome nun named Sister Vivienne, he has no warning of the storm ahead. Vivienne is also on a mission. The priceless vase hidden inside that casket of relics is her pass to freedom. All she has to do is find the key in Bonnenfant's breeches. Apparently he's all brawn and no brains. Seducing him to get that key should be her easiest task ever. But she's reckoned without this particular sinner's last remaining scruples. And the reckless, bloodthirsty warrior's only fear. Of nuns. The Wagered Wench: As her father's only child, Elsinora must take a husband to help her run the manor of Lyndower. Although capable of managing the place herself, no one trusts a woman to lead. She can be a wife and mother, nothing more. But she's determined to choose the man for herself and she has just the one in mind - handsome, clever, chivalrous and kind-hearted. She hasn't met him yet, but he's out there. Somewhere. However, when her father returns home drunk one evening after a game of tavern dice, Elsinora soon discovers that sobering him up is not her only problem this time. The scarred Norman beast with the crude manners and insulting tongue - the one who brought her father home slung over the rump of his horse, has won not only the manor of Lyndower as his prize after a night of gambling. He's also won Elsinora. The Barbarian: Lady Amias has a bad temper. She's been rejected by four husbands already and Stryker Bloodaxe could be her last chance to escape spinsterhood. Unfortunately he has the civility and refinement of a randy bull, and his remote manor on the wild, Cornish moor never housed a female unless she was a servant or a whore. Amias knows Stryker doesn't want a wife, but he needs her bride purse and he's just desperate enough to take her on, reputation and all. Whatever is required to claim the haughty lady's dowry, this ruthless warrior will do it. Except one thing. He'll never give his heart. Undaunted, Amias strikes a bargain with her barbarian. After all, he has other parts to share, even if his heart is out of bounds. He may think he's unlovable, his manor uninhabitable for a lady, but she hasn't earned the name "Ami the Unbreakable" for nothing.