Michele Dunaway - The Simply Scandalous Princess

“I don’t care.” Lucia smiled. “My name is Lucia and when we are alone I want you to use it. Being friends will help this process go so much smoother. Besides, it will fit in with your investigation as to my suitability for the throne. So since you want to find out the truth about me, I suggest you spend time with me and judge me for yourself.”

“I don’t believe that this is necessarily a good idea.”

“Why not?”

As Lucia threw the challenge back into his face, he asked himself the same question. Why not? The answer was simple. Lucia Carradigne was as off-limits as a nuclear reactor.

Lucia. He said her name mentally, rolling it silently over his tongue. He could imagine calling her by her name during lovemaking.

He shook his head, clearing it. Lucia may be a touch of heaven, but his job did not include holding it.

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Harlequin American Romance, where our goal is to give you hours of unbeatable reading pleasure.

Kick starting the month is another enthralling installment of THE CARRADIGNES: AMERICAN ROYALTY continuity series. In Michele Dunaway’s The Simply Scandalous Princess, rumors of a tryst between Princess Lucia Carradigne and a sexy older man leads to the king issuing a royal marriage decree! Follow the series next month in Harlequin Intrigue.

Another terrific romance from Pamela Browning is in store for you with Rancher’s Double Dilemma. When single dad Garth Colquitt took one look at his new nanny’s adorable baby girl, he knew there had to be some kind of crazy mixup, because his daughter and her daughter were twins! Was a marriage of convenience the solution? Next, don’t miss Help Wanted: Husband? by Darlene Scarlera. When a single mother-to-be hires a handsome ranch hand, she only has business on her mind. Yet, before long, she wonders if he was just the man she needed—to heal her heart. And rounding out the month is Leah Vale’s irresistible debut novel The Rich Man’s Baby, in which a dashing tycoon discovers he has a son, but the proud mother of his child refuses to let him claim them for his own…unless love enters the equation.

Best,

Melissa Jeglinski

Associate Senior Editor

Harlequin American Romance

The Simply Scandalous Princess

Michele Dunaway

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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To my diamond in the rough—let love polish you. Always know that I will always treasure the memories, and that age never matters in affairs of the heart.

In first grade Michele Dunaway knew she wanted to be a teacher when she grew up, and by second grade she wanted to be an author. By third grade she was determined to be both. Born and raised in a west county suburb of St. Louis, Michele recently moved to five acres in the rolling hills of Labadie. She’s traveled extensively, with the cities and places she visits often becoming settings for her stories.

Michele currently teaches high school English, raises her two young daughters and describes herself as a woman who does too much but doesn’t want to stop.

Michele loves to hear from readers and you can write to her at P.O. Box 53, Valley Park, MO 63088. Please enclose a SASE.

HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE

848—A LITTLE OFFICE ROMANCE

900—TAMING THE TABLOID HEIRESS

921—THE SIMPLY SCANDALOUS PRINCESS

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

It wasn’t necessarily a dirty job, but someone had to do it. As always, Sir Harrison Montcalm, retired general of the Korosol Royal Army, was that man.

He glanced at his watch as he waited for the private elevator that would take him upstairs. One thing he always prided himself on was his punctuality. Never, in all his years of being a trusted adviser, had he been late for a meeting with King Easton, ruler of Korosol.

As Harrison stepped inside the elevator, he brushed off a piece of lint that dared to alight on the left sleeve of his custom navy suit. One other thing Harrison had always prided himself on was his appearance. At forty-five, he still kept his six-foot frame perfectly fit. Now, of course, it took him an extra half hour in the gym to keep trim, and he’d long ago given up worrying or caring anything about the graying temples that graced his dark brown hair.

As the constant companion to the king, Harrison knew his appearance was important. He was nearly always by the king’s side. Besides, if a seventy-eight-year-old King Easton could look fifteen years younger, Harrison figured he could too.

He contemplated that as the elevator silently whirred upward.

Not that he’d want to be thirty again. His son Devon would turn thirty in just two years, and Harrison was glad that Devon, a captain of the Royal Guard, hadn’t had the wild, careless youth that Harrison had had.

Getting someone pregnant at age seventeen and marrying her out of duty wasn’t a life he’d wish on anyone. Then again, duty was all Harrison really knew.

And it was duty, and a loving devotion to King Easton, that drove Harrison. He’d do anything for his king, and that included doing the upcoming job he dreaded. Even taking a bullet for Easton twenty years ago had been easier. He’d simply reacted, loyalty and duty instinctive.

He’d been knighted for his bravery, which had only committed Harrison further into the service of his beloved king.

Harrison glanced at his watch again. For some reason, today the elevator seemed slower than normal. He tapped his forefinger on the mahogany panel. He was overreacting.

He had to admit the truth.

It wasn’t his appearance, or his age, or his failed marriage that bothered him right now. No, what was bothering him was the upcoming job that King Easton wanted him to do.

For the first time in his life, Harrison wished he wasn’t the most trusted adviser and that someone else could fill his role. The upcoming assignment was a job that Harrison knew he would be uncomfortable doing.

Sure, he’d handled worse jobs, dirtier jobs, and even more dangerous jobs. But this job…For once he dreaded duty.

As Harrison stepped off the elevator, Eleanor, King Easton’s secretary, stood. “Right on time,” she said. “He said to send you straight in as soon as you arrived.”

“Thanks, Ellie.” The plush carpet muffled the sound of Harrison’s Italian shoes.

“You’re welcome,” Ellie answered in English. A slight accent tinged her voice. Although French was the official language of Korosol, while in America, the royal party spoke fluent English. Ellie nodded toward double doors that marked the entrance to the inner sanctum of the king’s American embassy office. A gold Korosolan seal adorned each of the heavy mahogany doors. “Between you and me, he’s particularly agitated today.”