Tabor's Trinket — Janet Lane

The Gypsy girl Sharai escapes a slave ship infected with the plague, only to later be sold as a slave for seven pounds and three solidi. As an adult, she performs her silky, exotic dances to earn enough to sustain herself and the toddling orphan girl she adopted. She yearns for relief from the grinding poverty, and a secure home. Having been violated by a nobleman posing as her hero, she wants naught of any other man of title, and also scorns the dubious Gypsy king who pursues her. In a tent at the bustling autumn fair in Winchester, she meets the dashing Lord Tabor, and her resolve to avoid all noblemen weakens.

Though possessed of a stately castle with prosperous lands, the English knight, Tabor, teeters on the brink of losing all his holdings. A powerful noble has attacked Tabor's castle, determined to seize his lands. Tabor seeks revenge for his older brother's murder, but England's throne is held by an infant king and his feuding uncles. The realm is paralyzed with uncertainty and lawlessness, and the crown has abandoned him.
Then a stroke of good fortune helps Tabor, a sizeable dowry that can save his holdings. He need only wed an earl's daughter, the regal Lady Emilyne. But he has already fallen in love with Sharai, and they are locked in a powerful dance of desire. His refusal to abandon Sharai plunges them into life-and-death struggles--and a painful choice between duty and love.

Hero: Baron Richard Tabor