HEAR YE! HEAR YE! HIS MAJESTY, THE KING, ANNOUNCES THE MARRIAGE MERGER (AND IMPENDING PARENTHOOD) OF ELIZABETH, PRINCESS OF WYNBOROUGH, AND RAPHAEL, PRINCE OF THORTONBURG
LET IT BE KNOWN that passionate
Princess Elizabeth fell for her noble lover, identity unknown. But this strong-willed woman refused to settle for shotgun vows to secure her secret babyâs legitimacy. She wanted the fairy taleâ¦.
LET IT BE KNOWN that heir-apparent-turned-apparent-
construction-company-CEO Raphael âRafeâ Thorton has claimed the remaining Wynborough princess as his bride, solidifying the relationship between the two island nationsâ¦and perhaps mending his own relationship with his dad, the Grand Duke?
All of Wynboroughâand Thortonburgâ
celebrate these latest nuptials. But whatâs this we hear about a shocking royal revelationâ¦?
Dear Reader,
Please join us in celebrating Silhouetteâs 20th anniversary in 2000! We promise to deliverâall yearâpassionate, powerful, provocative love stories from your favorite Desire authors!
This January, look for bestselling author Leanne Banksâs first MAN OF THE MONTH with Her Forever Man. Watch sparks fly when irresistibly rugged ranch owner Brock Logan comes face-to-face with his new partner, the fiery Felicity Chambeau, in the first book of Leanneâs brand-new miniseries LONE STAR FAMILIES: THE LOGANS.
Desire is pleased to continue the Silhouette cross-line continuity ROYALLY WED with The Pregnant Princess by favorite author Anne Marie Winston. After a night of torrid passion with a stranger, a beautiful princess ends up pregnantâ¦and seeks out the father of her child.
Elizabeth Bevarly returns to Desire with her immensely popular miniseries FROM HERE TO MATERNITY with Dr. Mommy, about a couple reunited by a baby left on a doorstep. Hard Lovinâ Man, another of Peggy Morelandâs TEXAS BRIDES, captures the intensity of falling in love when a cowgirl gives her heart to a sweet-talkinâ, hard-lovinâ hunk. Cathleen Galitz delivers a compelling marriage-of-convenience tale in The Cowboy Takes a Bride, in the series THE BRIDAL BID. And Sheri WhiteFeather offers another provocative Native American hero in Skyler Hawk: Lone Brave.
Help us celebrate 20 years of great romantic fiction from Silhouette by indulging yourself with all six delectably sensual Desire titles each and every month during this special year!
Enjoy!
Joan Marlow Golan
Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire
For Sandy,
sister of my heart
has believed in happy endings all her life. Having the opportunity to share them with her readers gives her great joy. Anne Marie enjoys figure skating and working in the gardens of her south-central Pennsylvania home.
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Epilogue
God, it was hot. Rafe Thorton ran a hand through his thick black hair and pulled his sunglasses down over his eyes. Arizona might be a great place for a guy employed year-round in construction, but he could do without the heat. It was only late January and the temperature today had reached the mid-eighties.
Rafe took a long pull of the water heâd just bought, then swung away from the cool interior of the convenience store into the heat of the afternoon. Juggling the bottle, he stripped off his T-shirt and swiped it across his chest, absently smiling at two women whose eyes widened in appreciation as they passed him. He glanced at the newspaper box on the sidewalk outside the storeâand stopped midstride.
Wynborough Princess Dedicates Hospice.
Rafe stared at the headlines of the daily paper. Slinging the T-shirt over one shoulder, he set his drink atop the machine for a moment while he fished coins from the pocket of his faded jeans. He dropped a quarter and a dime through the slot, then opened the door and pulled out a paper.
Wynborough was a tiny kingdom; its royalty rarely received the kind of press that Britainâs royals were subjected to regularly. There was a brief press release accompanied by one small candid photo, a blurry shot of a small, slender woman stepping out of a car.
Holding the paper close to his face as if that might bring it into better focus, he stared at the grainy picture. The womanâs hair obscured much of her face and he couldnât discern its color from the black-and-white shot. Stillâ¦it could be her.
The features that had consumed his dreams for the past five months floated before his mindâs eye as he scanned the article. Memories bombarded him, and his pulse sped up. Princess Elizabeth would be arriving in Phoenix, Arizona, this afternoon. Sheâd be staying for several days, making an appearance tomorrow to raise funds for a local childrenâs hospice.
Elizabeth! Was that her name?
He tossed the paper across the seat as he climbed into his truck and started the engine. Wynborough. Five months before, heâd attended one of the royal charity events, a masquerade ball. It had been the first time heâd been home in ten years, the first time since the day heâd informed his father, the Grand Duke of Thortonburg, that he had no intention of assuming the title or of living under his fatherâs thumb. And hearing himself addressed as the Prince of Thortonburg by his familyâs servants, the title that had descended onto his shoulders along with all the other responsibilities heâd been trained to handle all his life, had reminded him forcibly of all the reasons why heâd made the decision to live in the States.