Donna Clayton - Bound by Honor

You told me so yourself. You called it something. A life present?”

Gage hadn’t forgotten. The debt he owed Jenna had weighed heavily on his mind over the past weeks. He had every intention of returning the favor. Somehow. Someway. If he did not, he would suffer for all eternity, for his soul would not be permitted to cross over to the other side. However, he refused to believe that the gift would take the form of a wedding band.

“Life Gift,” he corrected. “But you can’t expect me to marry you.”

“Do you owe me, Gage Dalton?”

Chagrin shot through him, and he knew she sensed it. And it only made her doggedness all the stronger.

“Are you going to pay your debt…or aren’t you?”

Jenna Butler had him backed into a corner, and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it.

Dear Reader,

What is the best gift you ever received? Chances are it came from a loved one and reflects to some degree the love you share. Or maybe the gift was something like a cruise or a trip to an exotic locale that raised the hope of finding romance and lasting love. Well, it’s no different for this month’s heroes and heroines, who will all receive special gifts that extend beyond the holiday season to provide a lifetime of happiness.

Karen Rose Smith starts off this month’s offerings with Twelfth Night Proposal (#1794)—the final installment in the SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE continuity. Set during the holidays, the hero’s love enables the plain-Jane heroine to become the glowing beauty she was always meant to be. In The Dating Game (#1795) by Shirley Jump, a package delivered to the wrong address lands the heroine on a reality dating show. Julianna Morris writes a memorable romance with Meet Me under the Mistletoe (#1796), in which the heroine ends up giving a widower the son he “lost” when his mother died. Finally, in Donna Clayton’s stirring romance Bound by Honor (#1797), the heroine receives a “life present” when she saves the Native American hero’s life.

When you’re drawing up your New Year’s resolutions, be sure to put reading Silhouette Romance right at the top. After all, it’s the love these heroines discover that reminds us all of what truly matters most in life.

With all best wishes for the holidays and a happy and healthy 2006.

Ann Leslie Tuttle

Associate Senior Editor

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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††The Doctor’s Pregnant Proposal #1635

††Thunder in the Night #1647

The Nanny’s Plan #1701

Because of Baby #1723

Bound by Honor #1737

Silhouette Books

The Coltons

Close Proximity

Logan’s Legacy

Royal Seduction

DONNA CLAYTON

is a bestselling, award-winning author. She and her husband divide their time between homes in northern Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore. They have two sons. Donna also writes women’s fiction as Donna Fasano.

Please write to Donna care of Silhouette Books. She’d love to hear from you!

Dear Reader,

I have long been interested in and captivated by Native American cultures, and I’ve done quite a bit of research that I’ve used in such books as The Doctor’s Medicine Woman, Close Proximity, in my three-book series called THE THUNDER CLAN, and in this book, Bound by Honor.

Although many Native American tribes did not have a written language, they did have a strong oral tradition that kept (and continues to keep) their history vividly alive. Naturally, this custom touches the storyteller in me. I can easily imagine sitting in an intimate circle with family and friends while listening to dramatic tales of the past.

While doing some reading from my ever-growing reference library, I came upon an account of the belief in the Life Gift. If a person’s life is saved by another, then that person owes a Life Gift—a debt that must be repaid. The idea intrigued me, and soon the plot of Bound by Honor began to take shape.

This book holds a special place in my heart. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

The wipers thumped furiously across the windshield. Jenna Butler leaned forward, straining to see the narrow road through the thick curtain of driving rain. Her knuckles were white against the gray steering wheel, every muscle in her body stiff. Worry and fear ripped at her gut.

Amy had to be okay. Jenna refused to consider any notion other than arriving at the hospital to find her sister bright-eyed and chattering away as usual. The harried E.R. nurse who had called from Deaconess Hospital offered little in the way of information, only notifying Jenna of the auto accident and urging her to come to the hospital as soon as the storm subsided.

Spring always brought rain to the southern plains of Montana, but storms of this magnitude were rare. Black clouds billowed and ill-omened thunder rolled across the sky. However, bad weather couldn’t keep Jenna from Amy, not if her sister had been shaken up…or hurt…or worse.

Panic chilled her to the bone. No! Jenna wouldn’t think that way. Amy was fine. She was healthy, and whole, and fine.

Jenna repeated the silent chant as the car crested a small rise in the road. Her spine went rigid when she registered the danger that awaited her directly ahead. She stomped on the brake pedal. The tires squealed in protest, and the back end of the car fishtailed. Jenna’s heart hammered. A scream gathered at the back of her throat, but it died when the tires grabbed the blacktop and the car came to a sudden, jerky halt.

Inhaling a ragged breath, she blinked, realizing that she was staring at a field of sodden wheat. Luckily, she was still on the asphalt, but her car straddled both lanes, perpendicular to oncoming traffic. The wipers slapped a rhythmic tune, the engine purred, rain battered the roof in a torrent. She looked to her left and saw the sloped road from where she’d come. To her right, she saw the water. That wasn’t just water, she realized. It was a river. A flash flood had washed out Reservation Road.