This is a good book
A married women petitions the king only for him to be aghast at her tale. She is not aware of her life being different - other than she wishes to provide heirs to her husband who apparently cannot/won't perform his nightly duties. She petitions the king to force the duties in order to get said heir. In the midst of returning to her, he is killed and she is widowed. This forces a quick marriage to save the keep from the hands of her husbands family. The king is in on the plot in that he orders an immediate wedding to a knight that can help the gal. He puts an odd codicle in the marriage contract that forces the wedding and bedding to be rushed. Fearing the woman is a hag (afterall, her first hubby could not bed her for some reason), the hero is dragging his feet to get there. While resigned to the duty as he will never inherit land, he really tries to stall. Once she learns of the real threat to her - she sends warriors out to gain him and bring him immediately to the keep. With the armed escort, he becomes more alarmed and even more so once he gets to the chapel and sees her in her wedding finery (a black dress and a black veil hiding her face). He has been orphaned at an early age and sent to train with a man who had few women at the keep. Due to this - his conflicts about marriage focus upon views taught to him by men who had little or no experience with women and the churches teachings on marriages and the like (ladies do not enjoy the bedding, bedding is to produce heirs, love is saved for the lover and not given to the wife, etc.). Not a stupid man, but truely a tad ignorant. Which is a nice change in the hero as most of the heros in these period pieces bring their maids to their knees with their bedding skills and their ability to pleasure their women. While he is skilled, he is also not thinking to pleasure her (or not often) - just to do the deed as the church requires. He finds his little bride to be quite lovely when he lifts the veil and relaxes as he comes to believe he is of good fortune to have a beautiful home (he has never had a home) and a tiny, pretty wife. That she has no self esteem and believes she is so ugly due to her first husband's inattentiveness is a problem. He cannot woo her with flowery words for she does not believe anything said about her looks - for if any of it were true - her first husband would have performed his siring duties. There is a rival for her estate and the "deed" is done in a knick of time and life goes on. That there are several attempts on his life start them on the path to angst. After his first injury (and saving by his wife) she plys him with potions for heath and to increase his ardor. Since she believes she does not have the attractiveness to lure him to bed, she takes to potions to try to force him to be randy enough to do his duty regardless of her looks. They butt heads on and off and they manage to get past some of the murder attempts until he is poisoned. Then he accuses her. Well, she HAS been putting herbs in his ale..... A chance slip up rights the wrong impression - but not until it done. The issue forces her to admit her skills in aiding her husband while she proves she is not the attempted murderer. Once it appears the killer is found, the story deepens. The true nature of the conflict starts to unfold and the resolution and capture of the guilty is good. This is a good Sands read.
