The Baron and The Bodyguard
Playing royal bodyguard to Mathiaz de Marigny, the seductive Baron Montravel, was a temptation few women could resist. But the moment he was out of harm's way, Jacinta Newnham had fled his chateau–and abandoned memories of moonlit nights that left them both weak with unfulfilled passion.Now stricken with amnesia and in danger once again, Mathiaz summoned Jacinta back to his side. Jacinta vowed to protect his life, but the greater peril was to her heart–and the haunting secret she could never reveal. When the truth surrounding Mathiaz's accident–and Jacinta's connection to it–surfaced, would he force her to leave, or refuse to let her go again…?
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“You tell me I don’t know what I’m doing. Yet every instinct tells me having you in my arms is the right thing…Have I kissed you before?”
Jacinta felt her cheeks flame. “Yes.”
“Have we made love?”
The answer stuck in her throat. “Mathiaz, please…”
“Answer the question or you’re fired.”
She hesitated, wondering whether to call his bluff. “Go ahead and fire me,” she said quietly. The thought of leaving swamped her in misery, but anything was better than dealing with this. Mathiaz couldn’t know that he was rubbing salt into a raw wound with every word.
“I wish I could. But as long as you hold the key to the hole in my memory, I’m not letting you go,” he said.
His eyes brightened, boring into her. “I need you, Jacinta. To help me remember.”
Dear Reader,
Grab a front-row seat on the roller-coaster ride of falling in love. This month, Silhouette Romance offers heart-spinning thrills, including the latest must-read from THE COLTONS saga, a new enchanting SOULMATES title and even a sexy Santa!
Become a fan—if you aren’t hooked already!—of THE COLTONS with the newest addition to the legendary family saga, Teresa Southwick’s Sky Full of Promise (#1624), about a stone-hearted doctor in search of a temporary fiancée. And single men don’t stay so for long in Jodi O’Donnell’s BRIDGEWATER BACHELORS series. The next rugged Texan loses his solo status in His Best Friend’s Bride (#1625).
Love is magical, and it’s especially true in our wonderful SOULMATES series, which brings couples together in extraordinary ways. In DeAnna Talcott’s Her Last Chance (#1628), virgin heiress Mallory Chevalle travels thousands of miles in search of a mythical horse—and finds her destiny in the arms of a stubborn, but irresistible rancher. And a case of amnesia reunites past lovers—but the heroine’s painful secret could destroy her second chance at happiness, in Valerie Parv’s The Baron & the Bodyguard, the latest exciting installment in THE CARRAMER LEGACY.
To get into the holiday spirit, enjoy Janet Tronstad’s Stranded with Santa (#1626), a fun-loving romp about a rodeo megastar who gets stormbound with a beautiful young widow. Then, discover how to melt a Scrooge’s heart in Moyra Tarling’s Christmas Due Date (#1629)
I hope you enjoy these stories, and please keep in touch!
Mary-Theresa Hussey
Senior Editor
For my wonderful sister-in-law, Helga.
Books by Valerie Parv
Silhouette Romance
The Leopard Tree #507
The Billionaire’s Baby Chase #1270
Baby Wishes and Bachelor Kisses #1313
*The Monarch’s Son #1459
*The Prince’s Bride-To-Be #1465
*The Princess’s Proposal #1471
Booties and the Beast #1501
Code Name: Prince #1516
†Crowns and a Cradle #1621
†The Baron & the Bodyguard #1627
Silhouette Intimate Moments
Interrupted Lullaby #1095
Royal Spy #1154
VALERIE PARV
lives and breathes romance and has even written a guide to being romantic, crediting her cartoonist husband of nearly thirty years as her inspiration. As a former buffalo and crocodile hunter in Australia’s Northern Territory, he’s ready-made hero material, she says.
When not writing her novels and nonfiction books, or speaking about romance on Australian radio and television, Valerie enjoys dollhouses, being a Star Trek fan and playing with food (in cooking, that is). Valerie agrees with actor Nichelle Nichols who said, “The difference between fantasy and fact is that fantasy simply hasn’t happened yet.”
Contents
Chapter One
Mathiaz was floating.
Pain shredded the edges of the mist surrounding him, but he found if he concentrated, he could push the pain away and enjoy the sensation of nothingness. Of floating free of care.
“Come on, Baron, don’t do this to me.”
The woman’s voice punched through the mist, bringing the awareness of pain closer. Pushing the pain away meant pushing her away, too, and for some reason, he didn’t want her to go, so he let both of them in. Immediately fire tore along the side of his leg, and every muscle in his body set up a clamoring ache as though from overuse. He heard a distant groan that he barely recognized as coming from himself.
He wanted to retreat into the mist, but the woman’s voice came again, refusing to let him go. “That’s it, come back to me. You can do it.”
Come back where? To whom? He couldn’t force the questions out, but she anticipated them. “It’s me, Jac. You’re in the hospital. You have to wake up for my sake, Mathiaz.”
Jac? Instinctively he rejected the name. Jacinta, that felt better. He remembered that her name was Jacinta Newnham, although she liked to be called Jac. He must have murmured her name, because her sigh whispered over him.
He felt her bend closer, and her lips brushed his mouth. A faint scent of frangipani teased his nostrils, the perfume as familiar as her touch and every bit as arousing. The sensation was so pleasant that he took it with him back into the mist.
