Guardians of the Crown — Alison Stuart

From award-winning author Alison Stuart comes a stirring historical trilogy about soldiers, spies, and the strong women that love them. By The SwordEngland 1650. In the aftermath of the execution of the King, England totters once more on the brink of civil war.Kate Ashley finds her loyalty to the Parliamentary cause tested when she inherits responsibility for the estate of the Royalist Thornton family.Jonathan Thornton, exiled and hunted for his loyalty to the King's cause now returns to England to garner support for the young King. Finding Kate in his family home, he sees in her a chance at a life he doesn't deserve.But love is fragile in the face of history. What hope can one soldier and one woman hold in times like these?The King's ManLondon 1654: Kit Lovell is a disillusioned Royalist who passes his time cheating at cards, living off his wealthy and attractive mistress and plotting the death of Oliver Cromwell.Penniless and friendless, Thamsine Granville has lost everything. Terrified, in pain and alone, she hurls a piece of brick at the coach of Oliver Cromwell and earns herself an immediate death sentence. Only the quick thinking of a stranger saves her.Far from the bored, benevolent rescuer that he seems, Kit plunges Thamsine into his world of espionage and betrayal – a world that has no room for falling in love.Torn between Thamsine and loyalty to his King, Kit's carefully constructed web of lies begins to unravel. He must make one last desperate gamble – the cost of which might be his life.Exile's ReturnEngland, 1659: Following the death of Cromwell, a new king is poised to ascend the throne of England.Imprisoned, exiled and tortured, fugitive Daniel Lovell returns to England, determined to kill the man who murdered his father. But his plans for revenge must wait, as the King has one last mission for him.Agnes Fletcher's lover is dead, and when his two orphaned children are torn from her care by their scheming guardian, she embarks on a perilous journey to save them. She didn't plan on meeting the infamous Daniel Lovell.Thrown together with separate quests – and competing obligations – Daniel and Agnes make their way from London to the English countryside, danger at every turn. Will they find the peace they crave, or will their fledgling love be a final casualty of war?