âMaking A Point Here, Doc?â
âIâm here at your request, Mr. Cade. Beyond that, I have no point to make.â
âAh.â Jackson Cadeâs smile was mocking as his gaze lingered over the slight décolletage of her gown. As mocking, as disparaging, his gaze traveled with exquisite thoroughness down the length of her slim, dark skirt to linger pointedly on scuffed boots.
âThen weâre to believe you always make barn calls dressed like the Duchess of Belle Terre?â he murmured. âOr better still, that with a few paltry concessions to this call, we should understand youâre slumming by coming to River Trace?â
Haley was determined not to allow him the satisfaction of seeing her react.
âWe both know Iâve never made a visit here. We both know why. Iâve never come to River Trace because you never wanted me here.â
Dear Reader,
Welcome to Silhouette Desire, where every month youâll find six passionate, powerful and provocative romances.
Octoberâs MAN OF THE MONTH is The Taming of Jackson Cade, part of bestselling author BJ Jamesâ MEN OF BELLE TERRE miniseries, in which a tough horse breeder is gentled by a lovely veterinarian. The Texanâs Tiny Secret by Peggy Moreland tells the moving story of a woman in love with the governor of Texas and afraid her scandalous past will hurt him.
The exciting series 20 AMBER COURT continues with Katherine Garberaâs Some Kind of Incredible, in which a secretary teaches her lone-wolf boss to take a chance on love. In Her Bossâs Baby, Cathleen Galitzâs contribution to FORTUNES OF TEXAS: THE LOST HEIRS, a businessman falsely accused of a crime finds help from his faithful assistant and solace in her virginal embrace.
Jacobâs Proposal, the first book in Eileen Wilksâ dynamic new series, TALL, DARK & ELIGIBLE, features a marriage of convenience between a beauty and a devastatingly handsome financier known as the Iceman. And Maureen Childâs popular BACHELOR BATTALION marches on with Last Virgin in California, an opposites-attract romance between a tough, by-the-book marine drill instructor and a free-spirited heroine.
So celebrate the arrival of autumn by indulging yourself with all six of these not-to-be-missed love stories.
Enjoy!
Joan Marlow Golan
Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire
The Taming of Jackson Cade
BJ James
first book for Silhouette Desire was published in February 1987. Her second Desire title garnered for BJ a second Maggie, the coveted award of Georgia Romance Writers. Through the years there have been other awards and nominations for awards, including, from Romantic Times Magazine, Reviewerâs Choice, Career Achievement, Best Desire, and Best Series Romance of the Year. In that time, her books have appeared regularly on a number of bestseller lists, among them Waldenbooks and USA Today.
On a personal note, BJ and her physician husband have three sons and two grandsons. While her address reads Mooreboro, this is only the origin of a mail route passing through the countryside. A small village set in the foothills of western North Carolina is her home.
Foreword
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
In the coastal Lowcountry of South Carolina, where the fresh waters of winding rivers flow into the sea, there is an Eden of unmatched wonders. In this mix of waters and along the shores by which they carve their paths, life is rich and varied. The land is one of uncommon contrasts, with sandy, seaswept beaches, mysterious swamps, teeming marshes bounded by ancient maritime forests. And a multitude of creatures that abide in each.
In this realm of palms and palmettos, estuaries and rivers, shaded by towering live oaks draped in ghostly Spanish moss, lies Belle Terre. Like an exquisite pearl set among emeralds and sapphires, with its name the small antebellum city describes its province. As it describes itself.
Belle Terre, beautiful land. A beautiful city.
A very proper, very elegant, beautiful city. A gift for the soul. An exquisite mélange for the senses. With ancient and grand structures in varying states of repair and disrepair set along tree-lined, cobbled streets. With narrow, gated gardens lush with such greenery as resurrection and cinnamon ferns. And all of it wrapped in the lingering scent of camellias, azaleas, jessamine, and magnolias.
Steeped in an aura of history, its culture and customs influenced by plantations that once abounded in the Lowcountry, as it clings to its past Belle Terre is a province of contradictions. Within its society one will find arrogance abiding with humility, cruelty with kindness, insolence with gentility, honor with depravity, and hatred with love.
As ever when the senses are whetted and emotions untamed, in Belle Terre there will be passion, romance, and scandal.
In a rare moment of peace, unmindful of the blaze of light spilling through the barn door to lie like pale fire on the ground before him, Jackson Cade stood as rigid as a figure of stone.