Kasey Michaels - His Innocent Temptress

High drama. Heart-stopping romance.

Legendary family heritage.

TEXAS SHEIKHS

Texas was the only home the Coleman brothers had ever known. But secrets of their past have been unveiled to reveal the truth: royal blood flows through their veins. To forge a new destiny, they will need to draw upon their deep familial bonds and find loves that legends are made of.

Don’t miss any of the exciting stories in this brand-new series!

HIS INNOCENT TEMPTRESS

by New York Times bestselling author Kasey Michaels

HIS ARRANGED MARRIAGE

by Tina Leonard

HIS SHOTGUN PROPOSAL

by Karen Toller Whittenburg

HIS ROYAL PRIZE

by Debbi Rawlins

Dear Reader,

Spring is the perfect time to celebrate the joy of romance. So get set to fall in love as Harlequin American Romance brings you four new spectacular books.

First, we’re happy to welcome New York Times bestselling author Kasey Michaels to the Harlequin American Romance family. She inaugurates TEXAS SHEIKHS, our newest in-line continuity, with His Innocent Temptress. This four-book series focuses on a Texas family with royal Arabian blood who must fight to reunite their family and reclaim their rightful throne.

Also, available this month, The Virgin Bride Said, “Wow!” by Cathy Gillen Thacker, a delightful marriage-of-convenience story and the latest installment in THE LOCKHARTS OF TEXAS miniseries. Kara Lennox provides fireworks as a beautiful young woman who’s looking for Mr. Right sets out to Tame an Older Man following the advice of 2001 WAYS TO WED, a book guaranteed to provide satisfaction! And Have Baby, Need Beau says it all in Rita Herron’s continuation of her wonderful THE HARTWELL HOPE CHESTS series.

Enjoy April’s selections and come back next month for more love stories filled with heart, home and happiness from Harlequin American Romance.

Wishing you happy reading,

Melissa Jeglinski

Associate Senior Editor

Harlequin American Romance

His Innocent Temptress

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To Tina Colombo, just because.

Kasey Michaels, a New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty books, divides her creative time between writing contemporary romances and Regency novels. Married and the mother of four, Kasey has garnered the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Medallion Award and the Romantic Times Magazine Best Regency Trophy for her writing.

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

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Epilogue

If it weren’t for Layla, Rose was certain she and her children would be dead.

Four days earlier, Rose’s Ibrahim Bin Habib El Jeved had been husband and father, and ruler of Sorajhee. Loved, adored, a benevolent ruler who always remembered that he served at the favor of his people.

To protect his people, Ibrahim had been negotiating a very public political alliance with a neighboring kingdom on the edge of Saudi Arabia, planning for Sorajhee and Balahar to become allies in the troubled Middle East. He’d even gone so far as to secretly pledge that one of his three young sons would one day marry a daughter of King Zakariyya Al Farid, ruler of Balahar.

Layla’s husband, Ibrahim’s brother, had been very much against the idea. Yes, Azzam was very much against the idea.

And four days ago, during a well-orchestrated demonstration against the proposed political alliance of Sorajhee and Balahar, Ibrahim had been assassinated.

Rose had gone into shock at the terrible news, barely able to function. She had come to Sorajhee as a young bride, leaving her American roots behind her to follow the man she loved with all her heart and mind. Now she was alone, and with three young, vulnerable princes to protect.

Layla had come to her the same day Ibrahim was buried, warning her that Azzam planned to take over the kingdom, first ridding himself of “Ibrahim’s half-breed whelps and their bitch.”

“He said this? He would kill us? Kill my babies?” Rose asked her sister-in-law, her shock giving way to panic and anger. “Ibrahim had considered this, but I never believed him. You and Azzam have been our friends. Our family.”

“Azzam wants his brother’s throne, my sister,” Layla told her, “and if he has to crawl over the bodies of his brother and his nephews, he will do it gladly. Sister, he has already begun. I have learned that it was Azzam’s order, if not his hand, that marked the end of Ibrahim.”

Rose pressed her hands to her cheeks, willing herself past the horror, the anger. She had to set aside her sorrow and pain. She had to consider her children.

Drying her tears, she sat down to think. Small and blond, and looking very much the American that she was, she knew that Azzam and many others believed her to be young and witless. An easy pawn.

An easy target, now that her beloved Ibrahim was gone.

How wrong they were.

She was queen of Sorajhee, mother of the heirs, widow of the sheikh.

But even a wise queen knows when preservation means leaving the field, regrouping, gathering her strength. Protecting her young, as a mother lioness would protect her cubs.

Rose stood and ran to the corner of the room and a small locked chest Ibrahim had shown her months ago, when he had first begun his public negotiations with Balahar. She pulled the slim golden chain from her neck and used the key attached to it to open the chest and retrieve its contents.

“What is this, sister of my heart?” Layla asked, standing behind her, watching.

Rose turned, clutching the wrapped package to her. “The last gift of my husband, Layla. A Swiss bank account with enough funds in it to care for my children, the entire trust fund from my parents, and more. Passports for the four of us.”

“Passports? Sister, consider. Azzam will stop you at the border. Unless…no, it couldn’t work. Azzam would find out and kill me, too. He is my husband, Rose, but I fear him. We must all fear him. Remember, I had been promised to Ibrahim before he met you. Azzam would see me as a traitor who favored the widow of his brother and enemy.”

“Don’t worry, Layla. Most of the work has already been done. These are American passports in my maiden name, Coleman. And very American first names for my boys, names no one will recognize unless they have been warned to look for them. I’ve just got to get the boys across the border and we can fly to safety. I know a way—it has already been planned—but I’ll need your help to get Azzam to let me leave the palace.”

She put her hand on Layla’s cheek. “Sister of my heart, you have warned me. Now help me. Please, help my children.”