Aimee Thurlo - Black Raven's Pride

“We belong together, you, me and the baby. If you let it happen, Chris could be the son I never had.”

Eden reached for his hand. “You don’t understand. Chris is the son you did have. He’s yours, Nick.”

Nick stared at her, a stunned look on his face. “But you said I wasn’t…” He looked down at Christopher.

A lump formed at the back of Eden’s throat as Nick touched the baby’s soft skin almost in awe. Surprise had turned to wonder, and now to gentle love that all but tore her breath away.

“Why didn’t you tell me the truth before?” he asked. “I want the whole story, Eden.”

Dear Harlequin Intrigue Reader,

Your summer reading list just wouldn’t be complete without the special brand of romantic suspense you can only get from Harlequin Intrigue.

This month, Joanna Wayne launches her first-ever miniseries! You loved the Randolph family when you met them in her book Family Ties (#444). So now they’re back in RANDOLPH FAMILY TIES, beginning with Branson’s story in The Second Son (#569). Flesh and blood bind these brothers to each other—and to a mystery baby girl. All are her protectors…one is her father.

Familiar, the crime-solving black cat, is back in his thirteenth FEAR FAMILIAR title by Caroline Burnes. This time he explores New Orleans in Familiar Obsession (#570).

It had been Hope Fancy’s dream to marry Quinn McClure, but not under a blaze of bullets! Are Urgent Vows (#571) enough to save two small children…and a lifelong love? Find out with Harlequin Intrigue author Joyce Sullivan.

With her signature style and Native American characters and culture, Aimée Thurlo revisits the Black Raven brothers from Christmas Witness (#544). In Black Raven’s Pride (#572), Nick Black Raven would die to protect Eden Maes, the one-time and always love of his life. And he’d be damned before anyone would touch a hair on the head of their child.

So if you can handle the heat, pull the trigger on all four Harlequin Intrigue titles!

Sincerely,

Denise O’Sullivan

Associate Senior Editor

Harlequin Intrigue

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Aimée Thurlo is a nationally bestselling author. She’s written forty novels and is published in at least twenty countries worldwide. She has been nominated for the Reviewers’ Choice Award and the Career Achievement Award by Romantic Times Magazine.

Aimée was born in Havana, Cuba, and lives with her husband of twenty-eight years in Corrales, New Mexico. Her husband, David, was raised on the Navajo Indian reservation.

Nick Black Raven—The past had caught up to him. But the secrets buried there could destroy everyone and everything he loved.

Eden Maes—Loving Nick had always carried a price. This time, with even more to risk, she was determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Jake Black Raven—Nick’s twin brother stood to lose it all. But honor and family loyalty were everything.

Rita Korman—She wanted to be a free spirit, but life had clipped her wings.

Wayne Sanders—He was Rita’s brother and best friend. But he had his own agenda.

Patrick Korman—He was his own man, and no one would ever tell him what to do, including the tribe.

Deputy Torres—He was up for promotion and nothing was going to stand in his way—including Nick Black Raven.

To Evelyn who will always walk beside Christopher. And to Camilla and Natalie, two very helpful babies.

San Esteban Pueblo is a fictional composite of the Tewa Pueblos in New Mexico. The religious rites depicted herein have been abbreviated in order to avoid offending those whose religious beliefs depend on the secrecy of the rites.

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

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Nick Black Raven held on tightly to the reins of his mount as lightning flashed across the night sky and thunder shook the earth. Restless, the black stallion stomped at the ground, eager to get going.

“You’re getting soft, Bravo. Since when do you care about storms?”

Bravo pinned back his ears and tossed his head as if annoyed by Nick’s comment. Then, suddenly, he focused on something ahead he alone could sense, and dipped his head hard twice, hoping to loosen Nick’s hold on the reins.

“Stop that. The last time I gave you your head, it took me twenty minutes to bring you to a halt, and I had to run you into a circle to do that. This time we’re going to play by my rules.”

As soon as he’d spoken, the harsh gusts of the leading edge of the storm struck, bringing with them a torrent of swirling dust and grit. Cold rain was likely to follow.

“Okay, maybe you’re right. Let’s head back. It’s really a miserable evening.” Nick lifted the bandanna he wore around his neck and covered his mouth and nose, hoping to avoid another lungful of dirt. “Let’s race the storm back to the ranch before we get drenched.”

Nick loosened his hold on the reins and touched the animal’s flanks with the heels of his boots. In an instant, Bravo leaped forward, galloping across the desert canyon at a speed worthy of the lightning flashing overhead.

The cool September wind and the rumbling chaos of the brewing storm incited both horse and rider. Here, just a few miles outside the pueblo, the only rules that mattered were nature’s own.

Dark laughter escaped his lips as he raced like the wind just ahead of the stormy maelstrom.

EDEN MAES opted for a shortcut back to her house at the pueblo in hopes of beating the rain. She’d been visiting a friend of the family but had soon lost track of time. Now, the massive cumulonimbus clouds overhead obliterated all traces of the moon, and thunder raged from the steady barrage of lightning.

Moving carefully, Eden climbed over the stepladder stile in the cattle fence and headed out cross-country, avoiding the pueblo’s main road, and hoping to cut at least fifteen minutes off her walk.

The wind howled, lifting clouds of sand and sending waves of it against her until her skin stung from the onslaught. As lightning illuminated the landscape like a Fourth of July fireworks display, Eden checked her watch and quickened her pace. Mrs. Chino, the baby-sitter, had told her that she’d have to leave at seven to attend a meeting of her religious society, and it was nearly that time now.

This was turning out to be a lousy shortcut after all. Earlier in the monsoon season, heavy afternoon storms had cut new arroyos into the sparsely covered ground, and now she was spending too much of her time finding alternate routes across the dry channels between her and the pueblo.

She made progress slowly. Then, two or three miles from her home, through the howls of the wind and the angry storm, she saw the headlights of an approaching vehicle. She turned around, hoping it would be someone who could give her a ride back. Surely no one but a local pueblo resident was likely to be driving around out here in this weather.

Unfortunately, not all the people at the pueblo were her friends. Her parents had been labeled as thieves and although neither was still living, that dishonor and stigma now followed her. It was one more factor that worked against her, adding to the determination of those opposed to having a half blood like her claim a place on pueblo land.