Her Passionate Pirate
What do a plain-Jane professor and a handsome swashbuckler have in common? A passion that defies all the odds…Dear Diary,Women dream of a handsome moat walking into their lives but it usually doesn't happen. Well, it happened to me today! Swarthy ocean archaeologist Rafael Adriano with his eye patch and alpha-male arrogance is a modern-day pirate come to life.With my rambunctious nieces visiting for the Summer, I have enough problems without Rafael endeavouring to conduct research in my home for clues leading to some historical shipwreck, the Isabela. I can't believe he offered to play nanny in exchange for access to the house–or that I agreed.If only he'd stop looking at me as if he knows my deepest desires.Cora
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“You don’t get it, do you?”
Cora shook her head. “What’s making me nervous is you. International superstar, renowned scientist, sexiest man on the face of the planet—and you’re trying to seduce me. One part of my brain keeps screaming yes, while the other part keeps telling me this can’t be for real.”
While the idea of her saying ‘yes’ was quickly working its way through his blood, and having a predictable effect on his libido, the sincerity of her doubt rang through. “Why not?”
“Are you kidding? You could have any woman in the world—”
“There’s only one I want at the moment.”
“See, there it is. Why in the world would you say something like that?”
“Why do I want you? Are you serious?”
“Of course I’m serious. I’m a reasonably attractive, educated woman. And I can’t quite figure out why ordinary Cora Prescott has extraordinary Rafael Adriano in hot pursuit.”
Dear Reader,
Happy Holidays! Everyone at Harlequin American Romance wishes you joy and cheer at this wonderful time of year.
This month, bestselling author Judy Christenberry inaugurates MAITLAND MATERNITY: TRIPLETS,QUADS & QUINTS, our newest in-line continuity, with Triplet Secret Babies. In this exciting series, multiple births lead to remarkable love stories when Maitland Maternity Hospital opens a multiple birth wing. Look for Quadruplets on the Doorstep by Tina Leonard next month and The McCallum Quintuplets (3 stories in 1 volume) featuring New York Times bestselling author Kasey Michaels, Mindy Neff and Mary Anne Wilson in February.
In The Doctor’s Instant Family, the latest book in Mindy Neff’s BACHELORS OF SHOTGUN RIDGE miniseries, a sexy and single M.D. is intrigued by his mysterious new office assistant. Can the small-town doctor convince the single mom to trust him with her secrets—and her heart? Next, temperatures rise when a handsome modern-day swashbuckler offers to be nanny to three little girls in exchange for access to a plain-Jane professor’s house in Her Passionate Pirate by Neesa Hart. And let us welcome a new author to the Harlequin American Romance family. Kathleen Webb makes her sparkling debut with Cindrella’s Shoe Size.
Enjoy this month’s offerings, and make sure to return each and every month to Harlequin American Romance!
Wishing you happy reading,
Melissa Jeglinski
Associate Senior Editor
Harlequin American Romance
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neesa Hart lives in historic Fredericksburg, Virginia. She publishes contemporary romance under her own name, and historical romance as Mandalyn Kaye. An avid theater buff and professional production manager, she travels across the U.S. producing and stage managing original dramas. Her favorite to date? A children’s choir Christmas musical featuring the Pirates of Penzance. She loves to hear from her readers, and can be reached at her Web site: http://www.neesahart.com.
Books by Neesa Hart
HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE
843—WHO GETS TO MARRY MAX?
903—HER PASSIONATE PIRATE
Contents
Chapter One
Dearest,
How I missed you tonight! Father had guests—the most tedious of gentlemen, and I wished so to look across the table and find you smiling at me. The winds were high last night, bringing, as always, thoughts of you. I lay upon my small bed, willing the currents to bring you to my side. How my heart longs for you, dearest. In the night, I strain my ears, hoping against all reason to hear that most beautiful of sounds—the slap of your saber against our back stairs as you mount them in your haste to reach me. I never would have believed that I could yearn so desperately, nor ache so much, for the touch of another. But from my first glimpse of you—with your dashing ways, your fine physique and your magnificence—I fell completely under your spell. Come quickly, dearest. I need you so.
Lovingly yours,
Abigail
21 April 1861
Abigail Conrad, with her undiluted admiration for her pirate lover, was on to something.
Definitely on to something, Cora Prescott decided as she surveyed the man standing at the back of her lecture hall. “Fine physique,” indeed.
Deliberately she pulled her gaze from Rafael Adriano’s unbelievably magnetic presence and made herself concentrate on her students. “I’m sorry, Ms. Grimes,” she said to the college girl who’d just spoken. “What was your question?”
“Well—” Cathleen Grimes leaned forward to press her point “—I wanted to know why you think that the warrior/ romantic hero is the definitive women’s fantasy.”
Turn around and look, Cora thought as she deliberately avoided the temptation to glance at Adriano again. She cleared her throat, instead. “The warrior/romantic embodies what women both want and admire in the opposite sex.”
“Like Don Juan?” the student asked.
“Or Robin Hood?” another student added.
Cora nodded. “Precisely. He represents a patriarchal view of the world. He is the king of his own domain. The medieval lord ruled his keep. The duke or earl held responsibility for his entire estate. The Americanized version—heroes like Zorro, Superman or the Lone Ranger—was created to embody the myth of the solitary warrior. He’s strong, independent and heroic. But despite this image, he puts aside his warrior instincts for the sake of a woman.”
