title: The Spitfire
author:  Bertrice Small 
description: When she can resist the temptation to be outrageous (such as staging a wedding with the bride stark naked), veteran romance novelist Small ( Blaze Wyndham ) offers realistic, appealing characters and an entertaining tale set in 15th-century England that integrates the historical enmity between English and Scotssee p. 488 . The wedding ceremony of Arabella Grey and Sir Jasper Keane is disrupted by a band of fierce Scots, led by Tavis Stewart, Earl of Dunmor. Tavis reveals that Jasper took the earl's intended bride as a mistress and subsequently murdered her. g In turn, Tavis carries Arabella away to Scotland and marries herg --a union g both find rewarding. But Jasper still covets Greyfaire, Arabella's family lands, and so marries Arabella's widowed mother. Arabella becomes determined to regain her property, leaving Scotland to petition Henry VII of England for assistance. Henry will help, but only if she'll spy for him in the French court. As the story progresses, Arabella grows from an innocent child to a subtle, sophisticated woman who can bargain with kings as well as regain both her Scots husband and English home. <br />Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Spitfire
  
  [Bertrice Small](http://www.jasminejade.com/m-265-bertrice-small.aspx)
  
  They cast their destinies to the winds of desire.
  
  The year is 1483. Tavis Stewart, Earl of Dunmore, abducts beautiful Lady
  Arabella Grey, cousin of King Richard III, as she is about to marry Sir Jasper
  Keane. Tavis wants revenge for Jasper’s murder of his fiancée. Irresistibly,
  deliciously, Arabella surrenders to her enemy with fierce abandon--knowing
  that there may be only one way to get what is rightfully hers.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  THE SPITFIRE
  
  Bertrice Small
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  For my son, Tom
  
  who grows more like my heroes with each passing
  
  year. This one’s for you, Bun, with much
  
  love from your doting mother.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Prologue
  
  Spring 1483
  
  “By the body of Christ crucified!” swore Tavis Stewart, the black-browed Earl
  of Dunmor. “By the body of Christ crucified, and by the tears His blessed
  mother Mary shed upon the hill of Calvary, I will be avenged!” He stood amid
  the smoking ruins of Culcairn House