Lady Thorn
Jed McBride Had Come To England In Search Of His Long-Lost Son and instead found the heartfelt passion of the aristocratic Victoria Thorn. But the two came from different worlds, and his own sad history had proved that such an alliance was doomed from the start! T hough descended from fabled lovers, Lady Victoria Thorn feared a legendary love would never be hers.Rather, society demanded she preserve her bloodline with a safe and suitable match. But how suitable would the ton deem Jedidiah McBride, an American seafaring man who had sailed his way into her unguarded heart?
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God, Jed thought, but she was so beautiful,
with her dark hair tumbling wildly down her back and curling about her face. He reached up to gently wipe the tear away with the back of his forefinger. “It’s all right to cry,” he told her softly.
Victoria shook her head stubbornly. “No, it isn’t. I haven’t cried since the day my parents were buried. Tears are not to be shed for little things.”
He could only stare down at her, his heart slamming against his chest in reaction to the pain revealed by her statement. “You are so brave. So beautiful,” he whispered.
She caught her breath, those gray eyes growing dark with an emotion he did not want to acknowledge, even as he felt an answering reaction stir in himself.
He could no longer pretend to deny the desire she felt for him. That he felt for her…
Dear Reader,
The heroine in Catherine Archer’s Lady Thorn, Victoria Thorn, is a descendant of the characters from Catherine’s first book for Harlequin, Rose Among Thorns. It’s the story of a Victorian heiress who is being pressured to find a suitable husband. Instead, she falls in love with a sea captain who promises her protection in exchange for her help in locating his son. Don’t miss this touching story from this gifted author whose tale we hope you’ll find, as Affaire de Coeur did, “impossible to put down.”
Josh Colter and Alexandria Gibson discover they are both looking for the same man in Susan Amarillas’s new Western, Wyoming Renegade. Susan’s last two books have won her 5
USA Today bestselling and multiaward-winning author Ruth Langan’s new series, THE JEWELS OF TEXAS, moves into full swing with this month’s Jade, the story of a smalltown preacher who surrenders his soul to the town madam. And in Kate Kingsley’s new Western, The Scout’s Bride, a determined young widow decides to accept the help of a rugged army scout who has made himself her unwanted protector.
Whatever your taste in reading, we hope you’ll keep an eye out for all four titles wherever Harlequin Historicals are sold.
Sincerely,
Tracy Farrell
Senior Editor
Please address questions and book requests to: Harlequin Reader Service
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CATHERINE ARCHER
has been hooked on historical romance since reading Jane Eyre at the age of twelve. She has an avid interest in history, particularly the medieval period. A homemaker and mother, Catherine lives with her husband, three children and dog in Alberta, Canada, where the long winters give this American transplant plenty of time to write.
This book is dedicated to my brothers, Russell, Michael and David, who are heroes in the rough, as most interesting heroes are.
I must thank my daughter Katie for her inspiration for Jedidiah McBride. She loved him before I did.
Lastly I wish to thank Dave at the Soft Shoppe, for the help he has given me with my PC, and all things related.
England, 1855
Jedidiah McBride traveled slowly over the road from Westacre. He held the reins firmly, feeling their smooth leather against his palm, as he tried not to acknowledge the unaccustomed feelings of despondency that were prodding at the back of his mind, ready to overtake him.
Not since he was a boy had Jed allowed anything to affect him this much. Not since his mother’s death, some few months after Nina’s desertion. It had been an untimely death that he knew had been hastened by Nina and her high-and-mighty family’s cruel treatment of him.
An owl hooted in the trees to his right, and Jed shifted around in his saddle, his sea-green eyes searching the inky darkness for a glimpse of the night bird that sounded so alone. As alone as he would feel if he allowed himself that luxury, which he would not.
Nothing stirred in the cluster of young oaks that grew behind the hedge of hawthorn. Yet he had no doubt that the creature was there, among the dense growth of late spring, watching him. If he was capable of reason, would he think Jed was a fool to have come all this way from America with only the content of one vague and confused letter to go on? Then, even as Jed watched, he saw the dark spread of the owl’s wings as it swooped from the highest treetop, across the greening open field, in search of small prey.
If only his own life were so simple. He would like to be able to swoop down on Nina, take what was his and go. But even though twelve years had passed since the last time he’d seen her, she could still manipulate him by saying only what she wanted him to know and nothing more.
