âWhere exactly do you think youâre going?â Prince Nico demanded.
âI want to go home,â Marisa said quickly. âI didnât want to bother you again, soâ¦â
The words died in her throat. He was barefoot, and his shirt was unbuttoned, hanging open as though heâd begun getting ready for bed. His eyes were darkly haunted, but what really took her breath away was the gorgeous landscape of his hard muscular chest.
âHow can you go home if you donât know where home is?â he asked evenly.
He stared down at her without speaking for long moment.
âYou really have no right to stop me, you know,â she added stoutly.
âYou think not?â he said softly, moving closer. âYou havenât been paying attention, Marisa. I have every right.â
Raye Morgan is a fool for romanceâeven in her own family. With four grown sons, love, or at least heavy-duty friendship, is constantly in the air. Two sons have recently marriedâthat leaves two more to go, and lots of romantic turmoil to feed the idea machine. Raye has published over seventy romances, and claims to have many more waiting in the wings. Though sheâs lived in Holland, Guam and Washington, D.C., she currently makes her home in Southern California, with her husband and the occasional son. When not writing, she can be found feverishly working on family genealogy and scrapbooking. So many picturesâso little time!
Dear Reader
The thing about royalty isâtheyâre regular people, just like you and me.
And yet, theyâre not. There really is something special about them. Is it the costumes they put on for royal occasions? The special rituals they put themselves through? The castles and palaces they live in? The way everyone pays attention to every little crazy thing they do?
I donât know. But I do know it sometimes seems as though theyâve been touched by a magic wand or sprinkled with enchanted gold dust or something the rest of us havenât experiencedâjust to make sure they are set apart and worth watching.
I hope you enjoy watching the royals of the House of Montenevada as they struggle to regain that royal magic, putting their country back together after a long time in exile. Prince Nico feels the responsibility deeply, and knows he shouldnât be distracted by Marisa, whose amnesia makes her a suspicious element among them. Who is she? Could she be a spy for the recently routed Acredonnas?
Wellâread the book and see!
Raye Morgan
CHAPTER ONE
PRINCE Nico of the royal House of Montenevada pulled down his cap and turned his collar up, partly against the misting drizzle, but also in order to avoid being recognized. His family had been back in power less than six months and he was already sick of the toll it was taking on his private life. He hadnât spent five years leading a rebellion in the mountains so that he could be treated like a rock star. Heâd thought they were fighting for bigger things. Now he wasnât so sure.
The dark streets were pretty much deserted and only dimly lit by flickering street lamps. A lone car went by. Then a cluster of giggling teenagers, late for their curfews. As he started over the Gonglia Bridge, he passed a young woman whose eyes were strangely vacant; she seemed to gaze right through him. Her mass of blond crimped curls was wild around her pretty face, but that seemed to be a style that was popular these days and he didnât think twice about it. That otherworldly look in her eyes stayed with him, though, and when he reached the high point of the bridgeâs arc, he turned and looked back to see what she was doing.
âHey!â
What he saw had him running back. The crazy woman was about to jump! In the half a minute since heâd passed her, sheâd climbed out on the scaffolding and was leaning over the inky waters that rolled beneath, racing down out of the mountains toward the sea.
âHold it!â he yelled as he flung himself at her.
She looked up, startled, and tried to avoid him, twisting away so that she was even more dangerously close to crashing down into the river. He grabbed her roughly. There was no time for niceties. Gripping her upper arm, he sank his other hand into her thick hair and yanked her back onto solid surface. She fell against him and he had just time to take in the soft, round feel of her breast as his palm unintentionally slid over it, before she turned on him like a scalded cat.
âGet away!â she cried, glaring at him and backing away. âLeave me alone!â
He grimaced, annoyed with her, annoyed with anyone who would make such an obvious play for attention as jumping from a bridge. And then her soft blue jacket fell open enough for him to see her body and he realized that she was pregnant. That put a different light on things. He winced, knowing from experience that a pregnancy could change everythingâfor everyone involved. He looked deeply into her wide dark eyes and saw something that tugged at his sympathies after all.
âIâd be happy to leave you alone,â he said, trying to shave any harshness from his comments, âif you think you could refrain from flinging yourself into rivers.â