Graistan Series
ISBN 0-451-40521-8 Topaz Books, April, 1995
This is brother number three, Gilliam. I fear I refer to this book as the story about the "big, dumb, young jocks" as both Gilliam and the heroine, Nicola, are, well, big, young, naive if not dumb and jocks. The book was inspired by Nicolaa de la Hay, a true historical personage. Nicolaa actually led her husband's men in battle against his enemies. When asked why she would put herself into danger's way by doing this her comment was something to the effect that she'd rather die failing her husband than have to face him having failed.
Here's a blurb:
Nicola of Ashby, unusually tall and strong for a woman, was allowed by her father to train with a sword. Not that John of Ashby ever intended to make his daughter into a woman-warrior. For him it was a way to coddle a beloved child. For Nicola it was the means by which she intends to take and hold her home as its lord. But all her training and skill doesn't help her when her father falls beneath the blade of Gilliam FitzHenry. Instead, she watches her father die, then is forced into marriage with his killer. Nicola will do anything, even murder, to free herself and her home from Gilliam's control. Even taller than Nicola, Gilliam FitzHenry finds in Ashby's heiress a woman who could be his equal--that is, if she doesn't kill him first. Amid treachery and tragedy, rival knights and the pain of past wounds, Gilliam sets out to win Nicola's respect, then her heart.
Splendid...a superstar in the making
--Romantic Times