The Deed

The Deed is a historical romance by the Canadian writer Lynsay Sands, published in 1997.

Lady Emmalene Eberhart wanted to be a good wife and was anxious to do her part, but her husband died before the marriage was ever consummated, which leaves her a virgin widow. With her dowry attached to her, she becomes a piece in a struggle for power over land, and the King gives her to Amaury de Aneford, a landless knight whose ability with a sword has helped keep the crown on the King's head. Emmalene is pleased by the match. On the wedding day, however, a rival knight rides towards the bridal chamber with his own claim in mind, and the novel follows a new husband's difficulty in explaining the facts of married life to a bride who has been told very little about them, and the two of them discovering that there is more to a marriage than the arrangements that created it.

Sands writes historical romances with a strong comic element, and this book is the first of a short series connected by the same family.