Loving Luciana by Joyce DiPastena

Posted by Penny BJ November 05, 2014

Loving Luciana by Joyce DiPastena

Sir Balduin de Soler gave up long ago on love. He never had the means to support a wife until an unexpected advancement in his fifties allows him to reassess his future just as the lovely Lucianna enters his life.

Lucianna Fabio harbors a secret, painful memory from her past that has kept her unwed, as well. Now in her forties, she thought herself too old to marry until she meets Sir Balduin. Now suddenly their lonely autumn lives feel very much like spring again . . . until Lucianna’s brother appears without warning and threatens to revive the secret that will destroy Lucianna’s second chance at love.

“Loving Lucianna" is the first in my new “Hearts in Autumn” romance series, medieval romances revolving around heroes and heroines “in the autumn of their years.” Because you’re never too old to fall in love!”

[After a quarrel between Sir Balduin and Lucianna that threatens to derail their wedding, Sir Balduin tries to woo Lucianna back by singing a song in her praise. But he is not a poet and the rhyme goes horribly awry.]

Lucianna would never forgive him for humiliating her in front of her kin. Any hope that he might successfully disclaim that his poem had anything to do with her was dashed when her eyes snapped back to him with a glittering glare.

“Foxy hair? Milky smile? You are not only drunk, you are an atrociously bad poet. And emeralds do not come in pools!” She swept away from him to pause between Siri and Serafino. “You ask a great deal of me, carissima, to expect me to endure another month of such lamentable attention. I do not know that I can bear it, truly I do not!”

Siri jumped up to catch her arm as Lucianna started to leave the dais. “Lucianna, wait! I am certain Sir Balduin did not mean to insult you. It is—it is a misunderstanding, merely. You have only to look at him to see his chagrin.”

Aye, look at me, the silent plea pounded in his breast. Look and see how I love you and how you will take springtime from my heart if you go away.

Joyce DiPastena dreamed of green medieval forests while growing up in the dusty copper mining town of Kearny, Arizona. She filled her medieval hunger by reading the books of Thomas B. Costain (where she fell in love with King Henry II of England), and later by attending the University of Arizona where she graduated with a degree in history, specializing in the Middle Ages. The university was also where she completed her first full-length novel...set, of course, in medieval England. Later, her fascination with Henry II led her to expand her research horizons to the far reaches of his “Angevin Empire” in France, which became the setting of her first published novel, Loyalty’s Web (a 2007 Whitney Award Finalist).

When she’s not writing, Joyce loves to read, play the piano, and spend time with her sister and friends. A highlight of her year is attending the annual Arizona Renaissance Festival. She lives with her two cats, Clio and Glinka Rimsky-Korsokov, in Mesa, Arizona.

Website: www.joyce-dipastena.com

Blog: http://jdp-news.blogspot.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJoyceDiPastena

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoyceDiPastena

Did you know that Lucianna (the heroine of “Loving Lucianna”) has her very own Pinterest board?

http://www.pinterest.com/jdipastena/loving-lucianna/