Harrigan's Bride
Abiah's Heart Waged A Battle Of Its OwnAbiah Calder had always loved Thomas Harrigan. Always. But the war had contrived to make them enemies. Now that same war had bound them as man and wife. Yet did Thomas' heart's desire truly match her own?When Thomas Harrigan found Abby dying in an abandoned house, he risked everything to see her safe. No matter that he was a Yankee captain and she a loyal Rebel. She was all that had been good and true in his life - and he would claim her as his own; and damn the consequences.
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Table of Contents
Praise for Cheryl Reavis’ previous historical romances
The Bartered Bride
“Several hankies and a comfortable corner are a must.”
—Rendezvous
1992 RITA Award Winner
The Prisoner
“A Civil War novel that manages to fill the reader with warmth and hope.”
—Romantic Times
“A thrilling page-turner…”
—Rendezvous
“Are you…married, Thomas?” Abby asked abruptly.
“What?” he said, because the question caught him completely off guard.
“Guire wrote us you were engaged. Did you marry her?”
“No, I didn’t marry her,” he said, surprised that the letter he had written to Guire advising him of his matrimonial intent had actually reached him.
“Good,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to die…coveting someone else’s husband.”
He frowned, thinking that he had misunderstood, and she suddenly smiled. “Poor Thomas. I’ve scandalized you…haven’t I? I know you always thought…I was a child. Do you…mind very much?”
“Mind?”
“That I…love you?”
“Abby—”
“Don’t look so worried, Thomas. Nothing…is required of you. I’m only confessing because I’m dying…”
“You’re not dying—so you’d better watch what you say.”
She smiled slightly and whispered, “I don’t mind…dying so much…now…”
Dear Reader,
This holiday season, we’ve selected books that are sure to warm your heart—all with heroes who redefine the phrase “the gift of giving.” We are absolutely thrilled about Harrigan’s Bride, the new Civil War romance from the immensely talented Cheryl Reavis. Cheryl has received the prestigious RITA Award, not once but three times, twice for her contemporary romances for Silhouette and once for her Harlequin Historical novel The Prisoner. In her latest, Thomas Harrigan returns from war and chivalrously marries the bedridden, abandoned daughter of his late godmother. Don’t miss this heart-wrenching story!
Be sure to look for A Warrior’s Passion, book nine of Margaret Moore’s medieval WARRIOR SERIES. Here, a young woman is forced into an unwanted betrothal before the man she truly loves—and whose child she carries—can claim her as his wife. Territorial Bride by Linda Castle is the long-awaited sequel to Fearless Hearts in which a cowgirl and an Eastern rogue prove that opposites attract. Their love is tested when Missy is seriously injured…
Rounding out the month is The Shielded Heart by rising star Sharon Schulze. Set in eighteenth-century Europe, this is a gripping tale about a warrior who learns to accept his special psychic gift as he teaches an enamel artisan about life and love.
Whatever your tastes in reading, you’ll be sure to find a romantic journey back to the past between the covers of a Harlequin Historical® novel.
Sincerely,
Tracy Farrell, Senior Editor
Please address questions and book requests to:
Harlequin Reader Service
U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269
Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3
CHERYL REAVIS,
award-winning short story author and romance novelist who also writes under the name of Cinda Richards, describes herself as a “late bloomer” who played in her first piano recital at the tender age of thirty. “We had to line up by height—I was the third smallest kid,” she says. “After that, there was no stopping me. I immediately gave myself permission to attempt my other heart’s desire—to write.” Her Silhouette Special Edition novel A Crime of the Heart reached millions of readers in Good Housekeeping magazine. Both A Crime of the Heart and Patrick Gallagher’s Widow won the Romance Writers of America’s coveted RITA Award for Best Contemporary Series Romance the year they were published. One of Our Own received the Career Achievement Award for Best Innovative Series Romance from Romantic Times Magazine. A former public health nurse, Cheryl makes her home in North Carolina with her husband.
To Kelly Jamison, Juliette Leigh and Cait London. Thank you, ladies. What would I do without you?
December 17, 1862
The front door stood ajar, and the wind blew dead leaves directly into the wide hallway. Apart from the open door, the Calder place looked very much as it always had. The bloody struggle for the town of Fredericksburg, and General Burnside’s ass-over-teakettle retreat back across the Rappahannock hadn’t disturbed anything here—on the surface at least. There was some comfort in that, but the fact remained that no one who had a choice would leave a door wide-open on a bitterly cold day like today.
Thomas Harrigan urged his mount slowly forward, still alert, advancing until he could walk the horse along the length of the front porch. He couldn’t hear anything or see anyone inside the house. There was no smoke coming from the chimneys.
Perhaps the Calder women had gone to a safer place, he thought, then immediately dismissed the notion. He knew Guire Calder’s mother and sister well. As Guire’s classmate and friend, Thomas had been a guest here many times before the fall of Fort Sumter. He knew that neither Miss Emma nor Abiah would ever willingly leave this house, not as long as it was still standing. They loved the place, as he himself did. He had once been welcome here, regardless of his miscreant parent and regardless of his “Yankee” ways.
