Ecstasy's Endgame

Book excerpt: Kyra Morgan always wanted to live in the past, and now she's found a way to do just that. Whether she likes it or not. Wrapping herself in black velvet under the sweltering Southern sun, Kyra spends her summers working at the Tudor Rose Renaissance Festival, as a Lady in an imaginary royal court. She hasn't had much luck with men either and has little interest in handing over her heart again, so she immerses herself in her scholarship and the local faire where she can escape into the past and ignore the problems of the present day. Rafe Harrison is hard to ignore, however. Handsome, confident, and boorish, he is beloved by most everyone at the faire, particularly the women. Even Kyra's best friend is quick to champion him, much to Kyra's dismay. Kyra knows little about Rafe, but wisely despises his bravado, his appeal, and his slipshod reenactment methods. And when Rafe is implicated in her best friend's riding accident, she cannot forgive him for his neglect or herself for the unwelcomed sensations he stirs within her. But after tampering with a gypsy potion, Kyra suddenly finds herself and Rafe transported back to sixteenth-century England, and it is nothing like the 1500's back home. It is a dangerous time of court intrigue, French wars, and Scottish insurrection. Kyra soon finds that she must learn to trust the courage and heart of the man she reviles if they are to survive. And, more importantly, she must learn to trust her own heart as she fights for both her own and Rafe's survival upon one of the bloodiest battlefields in England‹Flodden.