Elizabeth Mayne - Lord Of The Isle

Cover Page

Excerpt “May I have my knife back?” Morgana asked as she fastened the belt buckle at her waist. Hugh swung his eyes back to the woman. Her intense gaze was leveled at his waist, where her blade rested in the same sheath as his dirk. “Until I know you better, Morgana of Kildare, I think the blade best rest where it is. I applaud your skill with it. One man of six dispatched to his Maker, three others wounded. You are a dangerous woman.” “A desperate woman, sir,” she challenged him without compunction. “I would feel far safer if the blade rested in my own sheath.” Hugh leaned over her, deliberately sliding his hand under her skirt to find the sheath neatly buckled below her left knee. His eyes met hers. “You will be safe in my care without it.” The rhythm of Morgana’s heart arrested. She knew exactly what he was telling her—he was the one in control….

Dear Reader Dear Reader, Elizabeth Mayne’s first book, All That Matters, was released during our annual March Madness promotion in 1995, and recently won a RITA Award nomination from the Romance Writers of America. This month’s Lord of the Isle is a classic Elizabethan tale about an Irish nobleman who unwittingly falls in love with an Irish rebel from an outlawed family. We hope you enjoy it. The Return of Chase Cordell is a Western from Linda Castle, who is fast becoming one of our most popular authors. It’s a poignant love story about a war hero with amnesia who rediscovers a forgotten passion for his young bride. Gayle Wilson, who is also a RITA Award nominee, is back with Raven’s Vow, a haunting Regency novel about a marriage of convenience between an American investor and an English heiress. Our fourth title for the month is Ana Seymour’s sequel to Gabriel’s Lady, Lucky Bride, the delightful story of a ranch hand who joins forces with his beautiful boss to save her land from a dangerous con man. Whatever your taste in reading, we hope you’ll enjoy all of these terrific stories. Please keep a lookout for all four titles. 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 Lord of the Isle Elizabeth Mayne www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author ELIZABETH MAYNE is a native San Antonian, who knew by the age of eleven how to spin a good yarn according to every teacher she ever faced. She’s spent the past twenty years making up for all her transgressions on the opposite side of the teacher’s desk, and the past five working exclusively with troubled children. She particularly loves an ethnic hero, and married one of her own twenty years ago. But it wasn’t until their youngest, a daughter, was two years old that life calmed down enough for this writer to fulfill the dream she’d always had of becoming a novelist.

Dedication Emma Frances Merritt 1940 - 1995 The mentor every young writer should have.

Book 1 The Heir of Dungannon Book 1 The Heir of Dungannon “Old Days! The wild geese are flighting, Head to the storm as they faced it before! For where there are Irish there’s loving and fighting, And when we stop either, it’s Ireland no more!” “The Irish Guards” Rudyard Kipling

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Book 2 The Earl of Tyrone

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Book 3 The O’Neill

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Epilogue

Copyright

Morgana asked as she fastened the belt buckle at her waist.

Hugh swung his eyes back to the woman. Her intense gaze was leveled at his waist, where her blade rested in the same sheath as his dirk.

“Until I know you better, Morgana of Kildare, I think the blade best rest where it is. I applaud your skill with it. One man of six dispatched to his Maker, three others wounded. You are a dangerous woman.”

“A desperate woman, sir,” she challenged him without compunction. “I would feel far safer if the blade rested in my own sheath.”

Hugh leaned over her, deliberately sliding his hand under her skirt to find the sheath neatly buckled below her left knee. His eyes met hers. “You will be safe in my care without it.”

The rhythm of Morgana’s heart arrested. She knew exactly what he was telling her—he was the one in control….

Elizabeth Mayne’s first book, All That Matters, was released during our annual March Madness promotion in 1995, and recently won a RITA Award nomination from the Romance Writers of America. This month’s Lord of the Isle is a classic Elizabethan tale about an Irish nobleman who unwittingly falls in love with an Irish rebel from an outlawed family. We hope you enjoy it.

The Return of Chase Cordell is a Western from Linda Castle, who is fast becoming one of our most popular authors. It’s a poignant love story about a war hero with amnesia who rediscovers a forgotten passion for his young bride. Gayle Wilson, who is also a RITA Award nominee, is back with Raven’s Vow, a haunting Regency novel about a marriage of convenience between an American investor and an English heiress.

Our fourth title for the month is Ana Seymour’s sequel to Gabriel’s Lady, Lucky Bride, the delightful story of a ranch hand who joins forces with his beautiful boss to save her land from a dangerous con man.

Whatever your taste in reading, we hope you’ll enjoy all of these terrific stories. Please keep a lookout for all four titles.

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

is a native San Antonian, who knew by the age of eleven how to spin a good yarn according to every teacher she ever faced. She’s spent the past twenty years making up for all her transgressions on the opposite side of the teacher’s desk, and the past five working exclusively with troubled children. She particularly loves an ethnic hero, and married one of her own twenty years ago. But it wasn’t until their youngest, a daughter, was two years old that life calmed down enough for this writer to fulfill the dream she’d always had of becoming a novelist.

Emma Frances Merritt

1940 - 1995

The mentor every young writer should have.

“Old Days! The wild geese are flighting, Head to the storm as they faced it before!

For where there are Irish there’s loving and fighting, And when we stop either, it’s Ireland no more!”

“The Irish Guards” Rudyard Kipling

Ireland May 1575

Finn mac Cool named the moodiest river in Ireland Abhainn Mor, the great dark water. The subtle nuance of meaning inherent in Gaelic was lost in the translation to its English equivalent—Blackwater. To Queen Elizabeth and all the lackey governors, generals and deputies she sent to rule Ireland, the name Blackwater meant border.