The Ranger's Bride
Rede Smith didn't think so, yet the Texas Ranger hadn't counted on the brave and beautiful Addy Kelly, whose tender mercies and intoxicating touch gave him hope for a life free of the dark secret that plagued him.Respectable widow Adelaide Kelly had a secret: she was neither a widow nor respectable in small-town eyes. But the scandal her divorced status would create paled beside the shocking fact that she'd allowed the rugged Rede Smith into her home, heart and deepest desires.
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If only she wasn’t a lady, and he just the son of an outlaw!
But she’d seen his smile, and apparently taken it for condescension. “You think it’s funny, don’t you?” she fumed. “That I would want to do something besides sit and sew all day! Ohhh! Men like you make me so angry—!” She whirled away from him. “Well, good night to you, Rede Smith. I shall leave you to your insufferable dreams of male glory!”
Addy turned on her heel and began to stalk out of the barn, but he didn’t want her to go away angry at him, so he reached out and caught her by her wrist.
“Now, Addy, there’s no need to get your feathers all ruffled—”
“I’m sure you don’t think so,” she snapped, trying to wrench her wrist loose, but he held it fast. “Let me loose, you arrogant sidewinder!”
But he couldn’t…!
Dear Reader,
Harlequin Historicals is putting on a fresh face! We hope you enjoyed our special inside front cover art from recent months. We plan to bring this “extra” to you every month! You may also have noticed our new look—a maroon stripe that runs along the right side of the front cover and an “HH” logo in the upper right corner. Hopefully, this will help you find our books more easily in the crowded marketplace. And thanks again to those of you who participated in our reader survey. Your feedback enables us to bring you more of the stories and authors that you like!
We have four incredible books for you this month. The talented Shari Anton returns with a new medieval novel. Knave of Hearts is a secret-child story about a knight who, in the midst of seeking the hand of a wealthy widow, is unexpectedly reunited with his first—and not forgotten—love. Cheryl St.John’s new Western, Sweet Annie, is full of her signature-style emotion and tenderness. Here, a hardworking horseman falls in love with a crippled young woman whose family refuses to see her as the capable beauty she is.
Ice Maiden, by award-winning author Debra Lee Brown, will grab you and not let go. When a Scottish clan laird washes ashore on a remote island, the price of his passage home is temporary marriage to a Viking hellion whose icy facade belies a burning passion….And don’t miss The Ranger’s Bride, a terrific tale by Laurie Grant. Wounded on the trail of an infamous gang, a Texas Ranger with a past seeks solace in the arms of a beautiful “widow,” who has her own secrets to reveal….
Enjoy! And come back again next month for four more choices of the best in historical romance.
Sincerely,
Tracy Farrell, Senior Editor
Available from Harlequin Historicals and LAURIE GRANT
Beloved Deceiver #170
The Raven and the Swan #205
Lord Liar #257
Devil’s Dare #300
My Lady Midnight #340
Lawman #367
The Duchess and the Desperado #421
Maggie and the Maverick #461
My Lady Reluctant #497
The Ranger’s Bride #550
To Christoval, Texas, home of my grandparents,
the late John Lee and Sally Hill. When I’m writing about a small town in Texas, I’m thinking of the time I spent there as a child. And always to my own hero, Michael.
Contents
Chapter One
Texas, 1874
He looked like an outlaw on the run, she thought, with his lean, sun-bronzed, beard-shadowed cheeks that hadn’t seen a razor in at least two days, his wide-brimmed hat pulled down low enough so he could see, but no one could really see him. She couldn’t determine whether his eyes were brown or as black as his soul inevitably was.
Or maybe he wasn’t an outlaw, but a gunslinger, a man who made his name by the speed of his draw. There was no gun belt around his waist, but the battered saddlebags he kept on his lap looked heavy and lumpy enough to conceal a pair of Colts. His long legs intruded into space in the crowded stagecoach that was rightly hers, causing her to sit slightly sideways so their knees didn’t bump. Sitting sideways, however, forced her either too close to the big sweaty man who kept giving her avid sidelong glances, or the weary-looking old woman who hadn’t said a word all the way from Austin. It was too hot on this early June midday to sit too close to anyone.
What would either an outlaw or a gunslinger be doing on the stage that ran between Austin and Connor’s Crossing? Wouldn’t such a man have his own horse and keep to himself, except when he was robbing or gunslinging or whatever such men did?
Perhaps, though, she was wrong about the man slouched opposite her on the swaying seat. God knew she had been wrong about men before—especially about her husband, Charles Parker. Ex-husband, she reminded herself. After the divorce she’d had her surname legally changed back to her maiden name, so it was time she remembered to think of herself only and always as Adelaide Kelly. It was imperative that no one in Connor’s Crossing ever discover that she was—gasp—a divorced woman. If they did, the respect that had been automatically extended to her as the widowed niece of the late Maud and Thomas Connor would automatically vanish.
