Susan Paul - The Heiress Bride

Cover Page

Excerpt Hugh contemplated the situation across the room with growing anticipation. His nightly brawl was going to come about rather easily tonight, it seemed. As he made his way through the crowd, Hugh kept his eyes on the girl, who was struggling with the biggest of the men facing her. “Your pardon,” Hugh said politely, making a slight bow. “Is aught amiss?” The big man surveyed Hugh’s muscular frame from head to foot, then replied, “Leave us be.” Hugh smiled. “Good sir, you mistake me.” He pushed past them. “I addressed the lady.” He looked into her frightened face inquiringly. “Mistress,” he began, then stopped and held his breath. She was more beautiful than he had expected, more beautiful than any woman he had seen in a long time. Without thinking, Hugh reached up to pull the hood of her cloak away from her head, causing her wheat blond hair to spill free and removing the shadows that hid her eyes.. .sky blue eyes that gazed at him, filled with pleading. “Please, sir,” she whispered, “I pray you, help me.” With only those few words, falling from her pretty lips, what had begun as a game for Hugh became something deadly serious.

Dear Reader Dear Reader, Sparks fly when a rogue knight who is running from his past rescues a strong-willed noblewoman who is running from her future in Susan Paul’s The Heiress Bride. We hope you enjoy this lively medieval romance, which is the second book in the author’s Bride Trilogy. Love and loyalty clash in Devil’s Dare by Laurie Grant, a fast-paced Western about a sweet-talking cowboy and a straitlaced preacher’s daughter whom he mistakes for a soiled dove. The Gambler’s Heart is the third book in Gayle Wilson’s Heart Trilogy. This passionate Regency features a warscarred French gambler who acquires a wife as payment for a debt, and must learn to accept her love for him. And our fourth selection for the month, Elizabeth Lane’s Lydia, is the touching story of a former Union spy who moves to Colorado and falls in love with the brother of a man who died as a result of her actions. Whatever your taste in reading, we hope that Harlequin Historicals will keep you coming back for more. Please keep a lookout for all four titles, available wherever Harlequin books are sold. Sincerely, Tracy Farrell Senior Editor Please address questions and book requests to: Harlequin Reader Service U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269 Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

Title Page The Heiress Bride Susan Paul www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author SUSAN PAUL lives in Duarte, California, with her husband, two young daughters, two dogs and two cats. She started her first novel when she was in her early teens, but eventually put it aside, unfinished, in favor of more important interests…such as boys. Now happily married and—somewhat—settled down, she’s returned to her love of the written word, and finds it much easier to finish the books she starts.

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

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Copyright

His nightly brawl was going to come about rather easily tonight, it seemed. As he made his way through the crowd, Hugh kept his eyes on the girl, who was struggling with the biggest of the men facing her.

“Your pardon,” Hugh said politely, making a slight bow. “Is aught amiss?”

The big man surveyed Hugh’s muscular frame from head to foot, then replied, “Leave us be.”

Hugh smiled. “Good sir, you mistake me.” He pushed past them. “I addressed the lady.” He looked into her frightened face inquiringly. “Mistress,” he began, then stopped and held his breath. She was more beautiful than he had expected, more beautiful than any woman he had seen in a long time. Without thinking, Hugh reached up to pull the hood of her cloak away from her head, causing her wheat blond hair to spill free and removing the shadows that hid her eyes.. .sky blue eyes that gazed at him, filled with pleading.

“Please, sir,” she whispered, “I pray you, help me.”

With only those few words, falling from her pretty lips, what had begun as a game for Hugh became something deadly serious.

Dear Reader,

Sparks fly when a rogue knight who is running from his past rescues a strong-willed noblewoman who is running from her future in Susan Paul’s The Heiress Bride. We hope you enjoy this lively medieval romance, which is the second book in the author’s Bride Trilogy.

Love and loyalty clash in Devil’s Dare by Laurie Grant, a fast-paced Western about a sweet-talking cowboy and a straitlaced preacher’s daughter whom he mistakes for a soiled dove.

The Gambler’s Heart is the third book in Gayle Wilson’s Heart Trilogy. This passionate Regency features a warscarred French gambler who acquires a wife as payment for a debt, and must learn to accept her love for him.

And our fourth selection for the month, Elizabeth Lane’s Lydia, is the touching story of a former Union spy who moves to Colorado and falls in love with the brother of a man who died as a result of her actions.

Whatever your taste in reading, we hope that Harlequin Historicals will keep you coming back for more. Please keep a lookout for all four titles, available wherever Harlequin books are sold.

Sincerely,

Tracy Farrell

Senior Editor

Please address questions and book requests to:

Harlequin Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

www.millsandboon.co.uk

lives in Duarte, California, with her husband, two young daughters, two dogs and two cats. She started her first novel when she was in her early teens, but eventually put it aside, unfinished, in favor of more important interests…such as boys. Now happily married and—somewhat—settled down, she’s returned to her love of the written word, and finds it much easier to finish the books she starts.

England, 1416

Please, my lady, you must awaken.”

The voice sounded so very far away, as though someone were calling to Rosaleen from outside her chamber window.

“My lady,” it pleaded again, more urgently, and Rosaleen felt a light, gentle touch on her cheek. As weary and stiff as she felt, she struggled to awaken, only to be greeted by sharp pains shooting from her head to her toes. An unbidden moan escaped her lips.

“Rosaleen,” another voice came, a deep, masculine, much hated voice, “either rouse yourself right quick or I’ll do it for you.”

The words brought Rosaleen to life as nothing else could. She opened her eyes a crack to see Sir Anselm’s dark face close to her own. She was lying on her stomach in deference to the bruises and welts he had placed on her back only a few hours earlier, and when he reached out to take a fistful of her hair and lift her face off the feather mattress, Rosaleen cried out from the pain.

“Good,” Sir Anselm said with a chuckle, shaking her head a bit before releasing her. “She’s awake and looks to be in a more obedient mood than she was this morn.” With his fingertips, he pushed her head to one side, so that she was facing him, and met her weary gaze with his own amused one. “Are you not, Rosaleen? You will be a very obedient lady from now on. As meek and mild as a lamb.”