Merline Lovelace - The Tiger's Bride

Cover Page

Praise 10 TH ANNIVERSARY Special thanks to our well-wishers, who have contributed their congratulations and support. “The best historicals, the best romances. Simply the best!” —Dallas Schulze “Bronwyn Williams was born and raised at Harlequin Historicals. We couldn’t have asked for a better home or a more supportive family.” —Dixie Browning and Mary Williams, w/a Bronwyn Williams “I can’t believe it’s been ten years since Private Treaty, my first historical novel, helped launch the Harlequin Historicals line. What a thrill that was! And the beat goes on…with timeless stories about men and women in love.” —Kathleen Eagle “Nothing satisfies me as much as writing or reading a Harlequin Historical novel. For me, Harlequin Historicals are the ultimate escape from the problems of everyday life.” —Ruth Ryan Langan “As a writer and reader, I feel that the Harlequin Historicals line always celebrates a perfect blend of history and romance, adventure and passion, humor and sheer magic.” —Theresa Michaels “Thank you, Harlequin Historicals, for opening up a ‘window into the past’ for so many happy readers.” —Suzanne Barclay “As a one-time ‘slush pile’ foundling at Harlequin Historicals, I’ll be forever grateful for having been rescued and published as one of the first ‘March Madness’ authors. Harlequin Historicals has always been the place for special stories, ones that blend the magic of the past with the rare miracle of love for books that readers never forget.” —Miranda Jarrett “A rainy evening. A cup of hot chocolate. A stack of Harlequin Historicals. Absolute bliss! Happy 10th Anniversary and continued success.” —Cheryl Reavis “Happy birthday, Harlequin Historicals! I’m proud to have been a part of your ten years of exciting historical romance.” —Elaine Barbieri “Harlequin Historical novels are charming or disarming with dashes and clashes. These past times are fast times, the gems of romances!” —Karen Harper

Title Page The Tiger’s Bride Merline Lovelace www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dedication To Al, my own rogue-hearted adventurer. Who could have imagined that our honeymoon in Hong Kong twenty-nine years ago would have been the start of something so wonderful?

Excerpt “A damned unusual missionary’s daughter,” Jamie muttered, as much to himself as to her. “Well, yes,” Sarah answered, her smile fading at his uncivil tone. “I suppose I am or I wouldn’t be here, would I?” “No, you wouldn’t.” Tired of word games, Jamie decided it was time to rid himself of this audacious female. “I assume your presence has something to do with the notes you sent me, and not any desire to learn the intricacies of the Fluttering Butterfly.” “The fluttering…?” With a mocking grin, he gestured to one of the painted panels decorating the bed. A wave of color washed up her neck. Lifting her chin, she glared at him. “Of course not!” Prompted as much by his pounding, swirling senses as by the way she stuck her nose in the air, Jamie couldn’t resist taunting her. “You might find it enlightening,” he suggested provocatively…

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

Author’s Note

About the Author

Copyright

“The best historicals, the best romances. Simply the best!”

—Dallas Schulze

“Bronwyn Williams was born and raised at Harlequin Historicals. We couldn’t have asked for a better home or a more supportive family.”

—Dixie Browning and Mary Williams, w/a Bronwyn Williams

“I can’t believe it’s been ten years since Private Treaty, my first historical novel, helped launch the Harlequin Historicals line. What a thrill that was! And the beat goes on…with timeless stories about men and women in love.”

—Kathleen Eagle

“Nothing satisfies me as much as writing or reading a Harlequin Historical novel. For me, Harlequin Historicals are the ultimate escape from the problems of everyday life.”

—Ruth Ryan Langan

“As a writer and reader, I feel that the Harlequin Historicals line always celebrates a perfect blend of history and romance, adventure and passion, humor and sheer magic.”

—Theresa Michaels

“Thank you, Harlequin Historicals, for opening up a ‘window into the past’ for so many happy readers.”

—Suzanne Barclay

“As a one-time ‘slush pile’ foundling at Harlequin Historicals, I’ll be forever grateful for having been rescued and published as one of the first ‘March Madness’ authors. Harlequin Historicals has always been the place for special stories, ones that blend the magic of the past with the rare miracle of love for books that readers never forget.”

—Miranda Jarrett

“A rainy evening. A cup of hot chocolate. A stack of Harlequin Historicals. Absolute bliss! Happy 10th Anniversary and continued success.”

—Cheryl Reavis

“Happy birthday, Harlequin Historicals! I’m proud to have been a part of your ten years of exciting historical romance.”

—Elaine Barbieri

“Harlequin Historical novels are charming or disarming with dashes and clashes. These past times are fast times, the gems of romances!”

—Karen Harper

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Al, my own rogue-hearted adventurer. Who could have imagined that our honeymoon in Hong Kong twenty-nine years ago would have been the start of something so wonderful?

Jamie muttered, as much to himself as to her.

“Well, yes,” Sarah answered, her smile fading at his uncivil tone. “I suppose I am or I wouldn’t be here, would I?”

“No, you wouldn’t.”

Tired of word games, Jamie decided it was time to rid himself of this audacious female. “I assume your presence has something to do with the notes you sent me, and not any desire to learn the intricacies of the Fluttering Butterfly.”

“The fluttering…?”

With a mocking grin, he gestured to one of the painted panels decorating the bed.

A wave of color washed up her neck. Lifting her chin, she glared at him. “Of course not!”

Prompted as much by his pounding, swirling senses as by the way she stuck her nose in the air, Jamie couldn’t resist taunting her.

“You might find it enlightening,” he suggested provocatively…

Sarah Abernathy had never visited a brothel before.

Nor, if her family’s situation had been less desperate, would she have dreamed of setting foot inside the House of the Dancing Blossoms. But her father had been missing for almost three weeks now, and her only hope of finding him lay with the man who, according to the gossipmongers, made nightly visits to the most notorious pleasure palace in Macao.

Since James Kerrick, Third Viscount Straithe, and captain of the schooner Phoenix, had ignored Sarah’s urgent and repeated requests to present himself at the Presbyterian Mission House, she was left with no choice but to accost him in his chosen den. Setting her mouth in a way that would have made her father extremely nervous had he seen it, his eldest daughter bent to tie a wooden clog on one stockinged foot.