The Tale of Salima
Salima is a Padma Lakshmi-type beauty, having come somehow from the wartime Holy Land Court/cadre of King Richard. She is more than proficient at palace intrigues and also a skilled nurse. She is conflicted about her mixed ethnicity: the two inside her do not "lay together well". She is believed (though it is seen as of no consequence by the English who know) to be the child of a certain Templar, now dead.
"I am twice noble," she shares with Marian, "for my mother was a princess among her people, and my father a lord, yet I am anathema to both nations. It is only my skill as a healer, and my other 'gifts' that keep me not only a member of the King's court, but also alive."
Mistreated in nearly every way possible in the past (though her face shows little indication of her other scars), a fortuitous assistance to an ailing Richard gained his favor--but not entirely his protection from English knights.
It is not until the arrival of Carter (post-Get Carter!) that she came to know compassion, and under his 'protection', security for a time.
Her feelings for Carter were not quite love, but conflicted, as they were born of the gratefulness of necessity, and an unshakeable indebtedness for his defense of her. His feelings for her, however, most definitely were true.