Berkley USA 2002
Trade edition: ISBN 0-425-18329-7
Mass Paperback ISBN: 0-425-19328-4

       A historian friend of mine told me about the case of an ordinary medieval woman obtaining a divorce.
"Are you serious?" I exclaimed. "Look at the trouble Henry VIII had."
"I'll send you the journal article," she promised.
And it arrived in the post a few days later, the real life story of how a woman escaped a hateful husband -- a medieval 'Green Card' scenario. The woman's family paid a stranger to pretend he had married her secretly before her real marriage took place. The pair had to stand up in a church court and pretend they had fallen in love. So I took the bones of the story and upped the pressure. I made the heroine a high-ranking lady with a dowry and I made the hero a rebel blackmailed into playing the role of lover because he is on the run from the king's men. The subplot is an echo of the main story -- the unhappy Queen Isabella rebelling against the rule of her husband, the gay king, Edward II and his favourite.

Here's the summary:

Inspired by a medieval court case, The Knight and the Rose interweaves fact and fiction into a rich and vibrant tapestry of love, betrayal and political intrigue.

        Trapped in marrige to the vindictive Sir Fulk de Enderby, a veteran of the wars against Robert the Bruce, Lady Johanna FitzHenry has one last chance to escape.If a stranger can be found who is willing to swear to a court that she was secretly wed to him before her match to Fulk, Johanna will be set free.

        Fleeing bounty hunters after the Battle of Boroughbridge where the rebels have been defeated by King Edward II's army, the last thing Geraint needs is to be blackmailed into pretending to be a long-lost husband.But he has no choice. If he refuses, he and his wounded companion will be handed over to the King for hanging drawing and quartering as traitors.

        At first the sparks fly as he and the bruised Johanna try to invent a past together, but Geraintgradually realises that this feisty lady is worth healing. With good humour and kindness, he slowly mends her courage and self-esteem.
        Though the ploy goes according to plan, Johanna's hired husband leaves many questions unanswered. Why will he not tell her his real name? What is her mysterious rescuer's secret?

        Joanna's attempt to discover the truth sweeps her up into the highest echelons of the English court and into a dangerous web of political intrigue as Queen Isabella leads the barons into rebellion against the King.

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