Happy Valentine's Day from Allison Sinclair

Where on earth did Valentine's Day come from?

There are all kinds of legends about Valentine's Day, why it started, when and how.  Some predate the celebration of that day to early pagan times. But, calling it Valentine's Day originated from the name of a priest who was martyred during the reign Claudius of Rome.

Valentine was a Christian priest, and it is said the emperor Claudius didn't want married men in his army. He reasoned that married men didn't fight as well but some of his soldiers wanted to marry. Valentine defied the emperor and married couple anyway, despite their serving in the army. While he was marrying the soldiers, Valentine tried to convert the emperor to Christianity . When he failed, he was martyred. In 469 AD, February 14th was set aside as the day to honor his death. 

So, why is this the day to declare your love or exchange notes announcing your undying devotion? It seems, or so the story goes, the night before he was killed, Valentine wrote to the jailer's daughter, a young girl who had befriended him, and signed his message, "In love, Valentine".

But the practice of exchanging love messages on the day itself, really didn't start until the end of the middle ages.  The Duke of Orleans, an important French Duke, claims the title of sender of the first Valentine. He was lock up in the Tower of London, after he fought the English - and lost. The Duke thought himself quite a poet, and sent his wife a love poem on February 14th while he was imprisoned.

This is why legends are just that, legends. True, the Duke of Orleans wrote poetry, lots of it. True he married a couple of times but his first wife died three years after the marriage, and long before he fought the English. True he was locked up in the Tower of London as well as a lot of other places while France tried to gather the ransom demanded by the English king. However, was he married at the time he was imprisoned and did he indeed send a love note to his wife on February 14th? The actual recorded time line of his life makes you wonder, because there's no recorded marriage at the time he supposedly sent that poem. However, he is credited with sending the first Valentine.

You decide.

And since that time Valentines of all sizes and shapes have declared a forever kind of love to one's sweetheart.  I couldn't resist using a Valentine which ends up in the wrong hands as a basis for "Roses for my Lady."

Let me wish you all a happy Valentine's Day.

Roses for my Lady by Allison Knight

Buy HERE

Intense, scholarly, big sister Meredith Ward is happy to see her little sister off to a country party until she discovers a Valentine card outlining plans for an elopement between her sister and the brother of an aristocrat. She leaves her cottage to halt their plans only to run into trouble herself.

Baron Gavin Sinclair learns late one evening about his brother's plans to wed a most undesirable young woman. His attempt to stop that union puts Meredith in his arms. Thinking she is the bride-to-be, he holds her hostage never realizing it will be his heart he loses.

Excerpt:

She raised the lamp and opened the door to the room she shared with Charlotte, setting the lantern on the table beside the bed. Discarded gowns still draped the dresser, bed and chair. Working through the room, she picked up the garments and put them away. 

When she finished, she glanced around, pleased with the results. She could never stand confusion.

When a scrap of paper caught her attention, she reached down and snatched it from the floor. She lifted it toward the lantern. It had been folded, sealed and bore no name.

She turned it over and over in her hands. Who sent this and when had it been delivered? Was it meant for Charlotte or for her? 

She hesitated. Should she open it, or leave it until Charlotte returned?  

Merry tapped the paper against her fingers, stirring a waft of fragrance into the air. Rosewater? She smiled and wondered what to do. Curiosity got the better of her. What if it were something important needing her attention?

There was nothing for it. It needed to be opened. She broke the seal, lifted the flap and pulled a small slice of paper lace from its enclosure, releasing more fragrance.

Oh, how sweet! She sighed with relief, not certain what she‘d expected. This was only a valentine! 

An oval picture of red and white roses, encircled with ivy rested against a square of paper lace. Red and white roses? Entwined with ivy? The symbols of marriage! She sighed. How romantic. 

She didn’t bother with the sentiment printed over the roses because a smaller note floated under the lace to the floor. Grabbing the piece, she leaned closer to the lamp. As she read the words sprawled over the paper, she tensed and groaned with dismay. It is arranged. Midnight on the fourteenth, in front of St. Matthew’s. I have a special license. K.

“K? Oh, no Charlotte, not Kenneth Sinclair.” The words slipped past her numb lips. But, all during Charlotte’s season, she talked of nothing else but the handsome young man with that awful brother. 

A special license. Meet at St. Matthew’s. The fourteenth. Today was the fourteenth.

“No. Oh, no!” she shouted. 

Kenneth planned to elope with her sister this very night! That could not be allowed to happen. It would ruin the family name. She couldn’t allow this. She swirled toward the door. Oh, what would her father say when he had left the care of Charlotte in her hands?

She closed her eyes, remembering his last entreaty to her as he rode away from the cottage.

Now, don’t let that sister of yours get into any trouble. You’re older and much more sensible. You take care of her. I’m counting on you.

She shuddered. An elopement! The family would be disgraced. Of course, she should have expected something like this. Gavin Sinclair, Baron Dunleigh, was, according to Charlotte, a monster. He only just returned to England and was already ordering every moment of Kenneth’s life. Vaguely, she remembered Charlotte saying something about Kenneth being ordered to travel to some island at the behest of his brother.

Was this elopement intended to divert the brother’s dictum? Or did her scattered-brained sister believe a marriage to Kenneth would change big brother’s attitude?

Oh, this was terrible. Marriage would only make matters worse, much worse.

Pacing back and forth and chewing on her lower lip, she tried to decide what to do. She hesitated, wondering if Charlotte expected this letter.

But it hadn’t been opened. Charlotte hadn’t gotten this message. The seal was still in place.

Merry almost fell to her knees in thanks. Obviously, Aunt Sophia arrived with this note and somehow the message had been overlooked or ignored in the confusion of their departure.

She could stop this foolishness before any harm could be done. A quick trip to St. Matthew’s, a sound scolding to that young man and Charlotte might never be the wiser.  

Thank God Charlotte had already left home and, thank the good Lord her father was out of the country. She had time to straighten out this mess. When Charlotte returned from her weekend with Aunt Sophia, Merry planned to make it clear the days of her acting irresponsibly were over.

Placing the lantern on her bedside table, she slipped on her hose and reached for her boots. Shedding her gown, she stepped into her dark gray riding habit. 

It was less than an hour’s ride to St. Matthew’s. After she told Kenneth Sinclair her sister was no longer available, she would return home. And when she talked to him, she intended to give him a good piece of her mind. Imagine asking a girl barely turned eighteen to leave the safety of her home and travel nearly an hour just to meet him! What sheer folly.

Meet Allison Knight

Award winning author, Allison Knight began her writing career like many other authors. She read a book she didn’t like and knew she could do a better job. She grabbed paper and typewriter and announced she was going to write a book. Her children hooted with laughter.

“Yeh, Mom, when cows fly,” her daughter declared.

She took classes, joined a critique group and RWA, and wrote, rewrote and wrote some more. her husband began his editing job with that first book and build a writing room for her. When her first book sold, she came home from her teaching job to find a stuffed toy cow rotating from the ceiling fan in the family room.

It seemed  - “Cows did fly!”

Since that time, Allison has written and published nineteen romances for both digital and NY publishers. Her third medieval romance from her 'song' series will be available in November. A digital short story is scheduled for release in December 2011.

Because she loves to share her knowledge and her love of romance novels she often blogs with other authors. She also loves to talk  about the growing digital market.

You can find her at:

www.AllisonKnight.com

www.AllisonKnight.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/AuthorAllisonKnight

She blogs once a month for The Writers' Vineyard, http://thewritersvineyard.com

Her books are available at the Champagne Books (www.ChampagneBooks.com,), Amazon.com, All Romance eBooks (www.allromanceebooks.com), BookStrand.com,

at Barnes and Nobel and Sony. Her Champagne Books are available as trade paperbacks

and can be ordered from Champagne or through a book store.