Soldier is two historical romance novellas set in 13th Century England at Christmas.

In Mercenary, one of King John’s mercenaries, Broderick, has been made a new father but his wife dies in childbirth. His infant son is failing to thrive, rejecting the wet nurses Broderick has hired. Then Tess is brought before him, the daughter of the lord whose lands Broderick has usurped. She escaped Broderick’s grasp nine months ago but was captured in a recent raid on a poor village. Unaware of her identity, Broderick learns his mysterious prisoner recently gave birth to a baby that was stillborn. The new master of Castlemuir confines the young woman to his inner sanctum to nurse his son, but his desire for the silent girl drives him to take dangerous risks, unaware that Tess poses the greatest danger to him of all.

In Jester, Dumas is a hideously deformed clown who travels the countryside in a caravan with his young assistant, Fallon. Fallon is a young woman disguised as a boy who made a terrible bargain with Dumas to save her life. In return for keeping her identity a secret, Fallon must perform for the misshapen man each night. But Dumas has a secret of his own as Fallon soon learns after a performance at Castlemuir Hall....