So Worthy My Love

So Worthy My Love is a historical romance by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, published by Avon Books in 1989 and set in England during the reign of Elizabeth I.

Maxim Seymour, the Marquess of Bradbury, has sworn vengeance on the men who took his title and his lands and had him branded a traitor to the Crown. His plan requires a hostage, and the abduction he arranges sweeps up the wrong woman. Elise Radborne is beautiful, spirited and the daughter of his family's most hated foe, and she becomes an innocent prisoner in the household of the man her family blames for everything. The two of them spend the novel arguing their way through the intrigues of the Elizabethan court, each more than a match for the other, while the people who ruined Maxim wait for their chance.

Woodiwiss writes a long, detailed romance of enemies who discover they are perfectly matched, with the court, the countryside and a great deal of stubborn pride arranged around the couple. Her novels of this period were among the books that established the historical romance as a commercial form.