Loyalty's Web by Joyce DiPastena

Title: Loyalty's Web

Author: Joyce DiPastena

Publisher: Leatherwood Press

Original Release Date: June 26, 2007

Re-release: October, 2008

ISBN: 978-1599921235

Size: 6x9; 352 pages

Genre: Historical Romance


In twelfth century France, King Henry II of England has just finished quashing a rebellion by his power-hungry sons and now seeks to tame the lawless barons who supported them in this corner of his “Angevin empire.” To this end, the king has sent the Earl of Gunthar as his royal representative to ensure that Prince Richard and his former cohorts faithfully adhere to the terms of the peace treaty.

Far from being welcomed with open arms, Gunthar no sooner steps foot in the county of Poitou than he is greeted by a series of assassination attempts. All appear to be linked to the former rebellious prince through the agents of the family and friends of young Heléne de Laurant. A clever, intrepid young woman, she realizes that the only way to prove her loved ones’ innocence is by exposing the true assassin. Heléne races against time—and dark secrets of the past—to unmask the killer before the kingdom plunges back into war.

Fierce determination gives way to mutual attraction as Heléne and Gunthar spar over the identity of the traitor. But their blinding magnetism almost causes them to overlook an even deadlier threat from an entirely unexpected direction.

An agent of the English king trying to enforce the peace in 12th-century France finds himself caught in a murderous web of mayhem and madness. Torture, blackmail, murder, forbidden love, witchcraft—this historical tale has it all.