A romance novella set in the 18th century by bestselling author, Jo Beverley. This story of love and magic with a twist on the Robin Hood story received an honorable mention in Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2010. Rob Loxsleigh has been searching for his "marrying maid" all his adult life and has only days left to find her before Oberon, Lord of Faery, can claim a terrible victory over his family and his line. At last she's there, before his eyes in St. James' Park, but Martha Darby wants nothing to do with a London rake in his satin and lace. She's the respectable daughter of a Dean of York Cathedral, and as soon as Rob tries to woo her, she heads resolutely north. Thus follows a lively pursuit, with Rob determined to persuade, to charm, and even to seduce, as warring Oberon and Titania urge on their human representatives, and disaster comes nearer day by day.
Author
Mary Josephine Dunn was born 22 September 1947 in Lancashire, England, UK. At the age of eleven she went to an all-girls boarding school, Layton Hill Convent, Blackpool. At sixteen, she wrote her first romance, with a medieval setting, completed in installments in an exercise book. From 1966 to 1970, she obtained a degree in English history from Keele University in Staffordshire, where she met her future husband, Ken Beverley. After graduation, they married on June 24, 1971. She quickly attained a position as a youth employment officer until 1976, working first in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, and then in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire. In 1976, her scientist husband was invited to do post-doctoral research at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. When her professional qualifications proved not to be usable in the Canadian labour market, she raised their two sons and started to write her first romances. Moved to Ottawa, in 1985 she became a founding member of the Ottawa Romance Writers’ Association, that her “nurturing community” for the next twelve years. The same year, she completed a regency romance, but it was promptly rejected by a number of publishers, and she settled more earnestly to learning the craft. In 1988, it sold to Walker, and was published as "Lord Wraybourne's Betrothed". She regularly appears on bestseller lists including the USA Today overall bestseller list, the New York Times, and and the Publishers Weekly list. She has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Golden Leaf, the Award of Excellence, the National Readers Choice, and a two Career Achievement awards from Romantic Times. She is also a five time winner of the RITA, the top award of the Romance Writers Of America, and a member of their Hall of Fame and Honor Roll. Jo Beverley passed away on May 23, 2016 after a long battle with cancer.
