The first seed of my idea for Heart of a Lion began to
germinate several years ago, when I was taking a
class on the crusades in college. What I learned about
those turbulent times haunted me long enough that
finally, I knew I had to set a novel against that medieval
tapestry. Now, medieval romances are nothing
new, of course, yet I'm sure this particular tale has
never been told!

It's the story of Jared and Isabeau, two young nobles
from France, promised to each other as children, who
are swept into the doomed religious movement of 1212
that came to be known throughout Europe as the

Children's Crusade. Thousands upon thousands of children, I learned as I researched
this "crusade of innocents," are believed to have disappeared along the way - many
of them victims of their own ruthless countrymen, who sold them as slaves to the
very Saracens they'd hoped to conquer. When I heard this tragic tale, the first
thought that came to me was, "What would it have been like to have been one of
those young boys or girls?" Then I wondered, "How would I have survived, and
what would such an experience have done to my psyche?"

Out of these questions, the tale of Isabeau and her faithful betrothed eventually
came to light. The more I studied about that fascinating period in history, the more
my imagination was fired. From the mysterious cult of the Assassins to the hidden
world of the harem, from the surprisingly lush territory of Persia and its thousand-
year-old cities to the political machinations of its various sultans, caliphs, and petty
warlords, everything about the Middle East inspired me. However, there was one
very large conundrum I had to face.

You see (as many of you who read my books know), I write exclusively about
kick-ass heroines who fight their own battles and answer to no one - at least until
love sways their hearts to make an exception for the sake of one special man!
However, in the Middle East, women in that time enjoyed precious little freedom,
the most famous ladies of the period ruling mainly from behind the harem screen,
through their husbands or sons. By comparison, their sisters in the West seemed
almost liberated, and that was during the dark ages! Yet I couldn't convince
myself to write a straightforward story about some harem houri and the dashing
rescuer who scales the walls to whisk her away from a life of slavery and
degradation. I wanted a unique heroine, a devoted, determined hero, and I
wanted to place them on an equal footing.

That's when I got the idea for Isabeau to wear the veil, not of the odalisque, but
of the Assassin. And after that, the rest all came together in a rush. I made Jared
a mercenary called the Black Lion, who has spent the better part of his life seeking
the child bride he lost in his youth. And believe me, he gets far more than he
bargained for when Isabeau, disguised as the renegade Assassin Sayyad al-Zul,
hires him to help her pull off a very dangerous mission! How these two tough,
embittered warriors learn to work together toward a common goal, developing not
only trust but the deepest form of true love for one another, is the story at the
heart of Heart of a Lion.

I hope you will love it as much as I loved writing it!