Virginia Kantra - Born To Protect

PROFILE

Dear Reader,

There’s so much great reading in store for you this month that it’s hard to know where to begin, but I’ll start with bestselling author and reader favorite Fiona Brand. She’s back with another of her irresistible Alpha heroes in Marrying McCabe. There’s something about those Aussie men that a reader just can’t resist—and heroine Roma Lombard is in the same boat when she meets Ben McCabe. He’s got trouble—and passion—written all over him.

Our FIRSTBORN SONS continuity continues with Born To Protect, by Virginia Kantra. Follow ex-Navy SEAL Jack Dalton to Montana, where his princess (and I mean that literally) awaits. A new book by Ingrid Weaver is always a treat, so save some reading time for Fugitive Hearts, a perfect mix of suspense and romance. Round out the month with new novels by Linda Castillo, who offers A Hero To Hold (and trust me, you’ll definitely want to hold this guy!); Barbara Ankrum, who proves the truth of her title, This Perfect Stranger; and Vickie Taylor, with The Renegade Steals a Lady (and also, I promise, your heart).

And if that weren’t enough excitement for one month, don’t forget to enter our Silhouette Makes You a Star contest. Details are in every book.

Enjoy!

Leslie J. Wainger

Executive Senior Editor

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Bound by the legacy of their fathers, six Firstborn Sons are about to discover the stuff true heroes—and true love—are made of.…

Jack Dalton: He takes his job of protecting pampered princess Christina Sebastiani very seriously. But nothing in the rule book prepared this battered warrior on the proper code of conduct to follow when the headstrong virgin tempted him at every turn!

Princess Christina Sebastiani: The last thing she needed was a well-muscled bodyguard with a take-charge attitude distracting her from her research. Especially a sexy ex-navy SEAL who awakened her every feminine desire…

Major Jonathan Dalton: The natural leader of the “Noble Men,” he has a secret agenda when it comes to his disillusioned son.

Princess Julia Sebastiani: Although she is tucked away in an ivory tower in Montebello, Julia and her unborn child could be in grave danger.…

Sheik Ahmed Kamal: He swears that he is innocent of the crimes against the royal Sebastiani clan. So if Kamal’s to be believed, who is responsible for these cold-blooded acts of terrorism?

A note from award-winning writer Virginia Kantra, author of six Silhouette books:

Dear Reader,

Once upon a time…

The first story I wrote—I was nine, I think—began that way. The first stories I loved, about brave warriors and proud princesses and unexpected danger, all did, too. So when I got the call from Silhouette to write my very own fairy tale, in Intimate Moments’ FIRSTBORN SONS continuity series, I jumped at the chance.

Being invited to participate in a series that features some of my favorite authors was another big plus. It’s been a joy coordinating stories and bad guys with them.

This story was meaningful to me in other ways, too. Fathers and sons fascinate me. I have two wonderful sons of my own, themes and variations of their father. And my husband, like the hero of this book, is a firstborn son whose father served in Vietnam.

Of course, my warrior is the modern sort—a U.S. Navy SEAL. And my princess is a microbiologist—or, as she would be quick to correct you, a microbial ecologist—at Montana University. But the themes of love and honor and courage and characters who aren’t quite what they appear to be are timeless.

I hope you enjoy this story of a princess who learns her own worth and a battered warrior who discovers the magic power of love.

Love,

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Jack Dalton hitched his seabag up on his shoulder. His uninjured shoulder, the one that wouldn’t let him down. On the elevator door in front of him, some college banana with more sense of humor than respect for university property had slapped a bumper sticker: Montana, the Last, Best Place…to Hide.

Jack’s mouth quirked. Funny. And fitting. Not that Jack was hiding, whatever the old man accused him of. Drifting, maybe, but not hiding.

He prowled toward the stairs. The habits of physical conditioning were hard to break. And even the navy docs admitted there was nothing wrong with his legs. He could still climb to the lab before the elevator descended to the science building lobby. He could still run six miles in thirty-nine minutes or less. He could still stand for three hours in fifty-degree seawater without dropping or complaining.

What he couldn’t do anymore was swim.

What he couldn’t be anymore was a U.S. Navy SEAL.

Life was a bitch sometimes.

The ugly concrete stairwell caught every echo and threw it up and down. There was access onto each floor, through the basement and, he guessed, out onto the roof. He’d made only a cursory check of the building. He wasn’t playing at point man. No one was relying on him anymore to spot bad guys and booby traps.

He hiked quickly and quietly up the stairs. Lots of stairs. His seabag rubbed the banister. A line from one of his sister’s bedtime stories came back to him: “Once upon a time, a princess lived in a tower….”

Jack shook his head. Kid stuff. Unfortunately, the woman at the top of these steps was no fairy tale. Christina Sebastiani of Montebello might have fled the palace for life among the books and Bunsen burners, but there was no getting around the fact that she was a real live princess. Montana University was an accredited ivory tower.