The Surrogate Wife
Meagan Reilly Was Innocent!Yet she was condemned to a life of servitude for a crime she did not commit. And though many would call her punishment light, they could not imagine the suffering of each day spent with a man whose forbidden touch would bring the very devil to pay. Josh Daniels had no peace.Although the law had found Meagan Reilly guilty of murdering his wife, he could not believe that justice had been done. For the kind and courageous woman didn't seem capable of taking anyone's life, only of miraculously turning his around for the better!
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Table of Contents
She was pinned beneath his body and could not get away.
After a few moments she stopped struggling. “Let me up,” she said, laughing. “We’ll both be soaked.”
She opened her eyes, blinking the snow from her lashes. When she looked into his face, so close to her own, she could see a new expression in his eyes. An expression Meagan had never seen before.
“Josh? What is it? Have I made you angry?”
“Dang it, Meagan, do you know how pretty you are with your cheeks all red, your eyes so bright and your lips all red and shiny and just waiting like a juicy winter apple to be tasted?” He gave a little sob deep in his throat and knew in that moment that all the judges and courts in the world couldn’t stop him.
If he couldn’t taste those sweet lips, he’d surely die…!
Dear Reader,
This month we’re celebrating love “against all odds” with these four powerful romances!
Since her debut with Harlequin in 1991 with To Touch the Sun, Barbara Leigh has written several more historical novels, but none of her previous romantic leads have had to overcome the kind of obstacles that Josh and Meagan do in The Surrogate Wife. Meagan is wrongfully convicted of murdering Josh’s wife, and is sentenced to hang. In a moment of mercy, the judge orders her to a life of servitude to Josh, a single father in the Carolinas of 1790. So when the flame of love ignites between them, it’s a matter of life or death that they keep it hidden…
The Midwife by Carolyn Davidson is the poignant story of a midwife who agrees to help out a stern farmer with his newborn after his wife dies in labor. They marry for convenience, yet later find a deep love, despite the odds. And don’t miss Lady of the Knight by the talented Tori Phillips, about a courtly knight who buys a “soiled dove” and wagers that he can pass her off as a lady in ten days’ time. Yet the more difficult charade lies in hiding his feelings for her!
Keep a hankie nearby while reading about past lovers Lily and Tristan in Catherine Archer’s medieval novel, Winter’s Bride. Long thought dead, the now amnesiac Lily is hired to care for Tristan’s daughter—her daughter. Love shines anew as Lily’s memory slowly dawns…
Whatever your tastes in reading, you’ll be sure to find a romantic journey back to the past between the covers of a Harlequin Historicals® novel.
Sincerely,
Tracy Farrell
Senior Editor
Please address questions and book requests to:
Harlequin Reader Service
U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269 Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3
BARBARA LEIGH
Born and raised in Nebraska, Barbara Leigh lived on both coasts before settling in California. She loves to write, read, travel and tramp through mansions, museums, ghost towns and castles. If it’s old, there is bound to be a story there somewhere.
Barbara raised her family under the premise that there are only two gifts you can give your children: one gift is roots, the other, wings. So now that the children have grown up and flown the coop, Barbara shares life with her one-and-only husband, a bodacious cat, a precocious dog, her collection of Artists’ dolls, the diverse activities of fifteen assorted grandchildren, and a vivid imagination.
To Vivian Doering
“We find the defendant, Meagan Anne Reilly, guilty of murder.”
The jury foreman stared at the floor as he spoke, and jumped noticeably when the judge slammed his gavel down on the top of the big oak desk. There was no other sound in the schoolhouse that served as a courtroom, except for the nervous buzzing of the flies and the tiny gasp of the young woman who stood before the judge.
Judge Harvey Osborne rubbed his hand over his face. He hated this whole situation. It was bad enough sentencing a man to death, but hanging a young woman was definitely against everything he believed. Still, there was little choice. He took his watch from his pocket and opened the case as though looking at the time; however, it was not the hour Harvey Osborne was seeking, but reassurance. Silently he read the inscription: Let justice be done, though the heavens fall.
As always, the words gave him courage to do what must be done. Still, Judge Osborne cleared his throat twice before speaking. “I have no choice but to sentence you, Meagan Anne Reilly, to death by hanging and—” He got no further, for Meagan Anne Reilly fell to the floor in a dead faint and heard no more.
In the rush that followed Meagan was lifted to a chair and held there while one of the village women waved a burned feather under her nose. As the fervor quieted the jury foreman raised his hand, waving it tentatively until he got the attention of the judge.
