Dear Reader,
One hundred. Doesnât matter how many times I say it, I still canât believe thatâs how many books Iâve written. Itâs a fabulous feeling but more fabulous still is the news that Mills & Boon are issuing every single one of my backlist as digital titles. Wow. I canât wait to share all my stories with you - which are as vivid to me now as when I wrote them.
Thereâs BOUGHT FOR HER HUSBAND, with its outrageously macho Greek hero and A SCANDAL, A SECRET AND A BABY featuring a very sexy Tuscan. THE SHEIKHâS HEIR proved so popular with readers that it spent two weeks on the USA Today charts andâ¦well, I could go on, but Iâll leave you to discover them for yourselves.
I remember the first line of my very first book: âSo youâve come to Australia looking for a husband?â Actually, the heroine had gone to Australia to escape men, but guess what? She found a husband all the same! The man who inspired that book rang me up recently and when I told him I was beginning my 100th story and couldnât decide what to write, he said, âWhy donât you go back to where it all started?â
So I did. And thatâs how A ROYAL VOW OF CONVENIENCE was born. It opens in beautiful Queensland and moves to England and New York. Itâs about a runaway princess and the enigmatic billionaire who is infuriated by her, yet who winds up rescuing her. But then, she goes and rescues him⦠Wouldnât you know it?
Iâll end by saying how very grateful I am to have a career I love, and to thank each and every one of you who has supported me along the way. You really are very dear readers.
Love,
Sharon xxx
CHAPTER ONE
THE man silhouetted against the shuttered window was not known as the Lion of the Desert for nothing. His skin glowed with tawny good health and his black hair was as thick as an ebony mane. The magnificence of his honed, muscular body had left countless women sighing with wistful longing and he carried about him an air of leonine grace and stealth.
Sheikh Rashid of Quador was a man few would have the folly to cross, and consequently his mood was usually as lazily unperturbed as a lion who was master and king of all he surveyed.
But for now his eyes glittered with icy displeasure.
âRepeat yourself, Abdullah,â he commanded, his deep voice as tightly controlled as a coiled whip.
His manservant swallowed nervously. âForgive me, Excellenceââ
âRepeat yourself!â rang out the cold instruction.
Abdullah cleared his throat. âThere areâ¦erâ¦rumours sweeping the city, Sheikh.â
A pair of jet eyebrows were raised in silent yet imperious question. âYou dare to speak to me of rumours?â
âWhen they concern you, Excellency, then, yesâit is necessary that I should do so.â
âAnd?â he clipped out.
âYour people are growing restless, Sheikh.â
The black eyebrows were knitted together and fierce possessiveness gleamed like steel from the narrowed eyes. âThere is more rebellion underfoot? Insurrection that I must quash?â
âNo, noânothing like that, Sheikh. Your people accept that you rule them with an iron fist. The people of Quador live happily. They have food in their bellies and the security of knowing that our profile in the modern world is a shining oneââ
âEnough of compliments!â snapped Rashid. âI have no need of them!â
âIndeed.â Abdullah sighed, the expression on his face not unlike that of a person who was anticipating a particularly painful visit to the dentist. âThe people of Quador wish to know why you have not yet taken aâ¦wife,â he finished, with a weak smile.
âA wife?â The set of Rashidâs lean body became dangerously tense and the hard, proud profile became stony. âMy people have no right to concern themselves in such matters! I shall take my bride when the time is rightâand I alone will decide when that time is!â He thought fleetingly of Jenna and the black eyes gleamed anew, his voice transforming itself into a deceptively silky snare. âBut there is something else you are not telling me, is there not, Abdullah?â