Anne Winston: The Pregnant Princess

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 baby’s

legitimacy. She wanted the fairy tale….

LET IT BE KNOWN that heir-apparent-turned-apparent-

construction-company-CEO

Raphael “Rafe” Thorton has claimed the

remaining Wynborough princess as his bride,

solidifying the relationship between the two

island nations…and perhaps mending his own

relationship with his dad, the Grand Duke?

All of Wynborough—and Thortonburg—

celebrate these latest nuptials. But what’s this

we hear about a shocking royal revelation…?

Dear Reader,

Please join us in celebrating Silhouette’s 20th anniversary in 2000! We promise to deliver—all year—passionate, powerful, provocative love stories from your favorite Desire authors!

This January, look for bestselling author Leanne Banks’s 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 Leanne’s 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 pregnant…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 Lovin’ Man, another of Peggy Moreland’s TEXAS BRIDES, captures the intensity of falling in love when a cowgirl gives her heart to a sweet-talkin’, hard-lovin’ 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

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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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 he’d 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 store—and 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 Britain’s 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 woman’s hair obscured much of her face and he couldn’t discern its color from the black-and-white shot. Still…it could be her.

The features that had consumed his dreams for the past five months floated before his mind’s eye as he scanned the article. Memories bombarded him, and his pulse sped up. Princess Elizabeth would be arriving in Phoenix, Arizona, this afternoon. She’d be staying for several days, making an appearance tomorrow to raise funds for a local children’s 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, he’d attended one of the royal charity events, a masquerade ball. It had been the first time he’d been home in ten years, the first time since the day he’d informed his father, the Grand Duke of Thortonburg, that he had no intention of assuming the title or of living under his father’s thumb. And hearing himself addressed as the Prince of Thortonburg by his family’s servants, the title that had descended onto his shoulders along with all the other responsibilities he’d been trained to handle all his life, had reminded him forcibly of all the reasons why he’d made the decision to live in the States.

He didn’t want those responsibilities.

Wryly, he wondered what his father, who’d harped on responsibility all his life, would think if he knew Rafe had seduced one of the Wynborough princesses in a garden house five months ago. Not a very responsible act, even if the lady had been as hot and ready as he had been.

He’d thought about her a great deal since then. She’d been gentle and sweet, with a hint of innocence that had turned out to be more than a hint. But she’d been so warm and willing that he’d found himself unable to resist her, even though he had better sense. At least he’d told her right up front that he would be leaving the next morning, he thought. She couldn’t accuse him of not being honest about his intentions.

But that was a moot point. He hadn’t told her who he was, and he had never expected to see his pretty lover again. He just hadn’t anticipated that she’d be so deeply embedded in his memory that he caught himself thinking of her at all hours of the day and night.

Yes, he’d thought about her far too much.

Irritably, Rafe drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, waiting for the light to change. Although he couldn’t imagine that she’d known who he was, years of thwarting his father’s machinations had honed his suspicious nature. His mouth tightened. Did he discern his father’s matchmaking hand in the princess’s sudden appearance in Phoenix? Had the old man found out somehow about that night?