Before gender politics, there was... the code of chivalry?
Welcome to medieval Poitiers, France where a rebel queen's court of independent women tackle the thorny questions of love and romance. Troubadour Lady Ivy has finally found an audience for her love poetry in Eleanor of Aquitaine's sophisticated court where manners and refinement are prized. But when a mock trial concerning the nature of love pits Ivy's ideals against a rogue warrior's more earthy approach, the queen bids Ivy to transform the knave to a knight.
Roger Stancliff is on a secret mission for the king to bring Eleanor and her wayward court to heel, not take lessons in honor from a maid. Yet his battle of words with innocent Ivy challenges his mind as well as his body, and he finds himself seeking out the troubadour whose quiet passions run deep. As a servant to the king, he will have to betray her. When the shadows of their pasts return, will he find a way to be her hero after all?
*an earlier draft of this work previously published by Harlequin