Annabelle's Courtship

Daniel and Miranda must pose as a simple innkeeper and his wife, forced to work together to save a failing business. Their masquerade brings them into temptation, their searing desire for each other threatening to ruin their good intentions, but it also brings danger, in the presence of the brutal father of a young girl who turns for them for help.

Can Daniel and Miranda save themselves, their protégée and their marriage?

Enjoy the following excerpt for Last Chance, My Love: Daniel closed his eyes, and then opened them again to see Miranda, calm now, watching him. “I have needs. I thought I could do it, but I could never have gone through with it. I couldn’t hurt you any more than I had already. I thought you would understand.

I didn’t know you hadn’t realised just how serious your illness was. There is no doubt, Miranda. I spoke to another doctor, and he said the same. With your history, another child would be your death.”

“What did you tell him?”

“That you had two boys, and the second birth was worse than the first. About the bleeding, and the fever.”

They stared at each other, remembering the horror of that time. Then she said the bravest thing he’d ever heard. “I’d do it again, go through the birth and the illness. If it meant you would love me again, I’d go through it all without a qualm.” Now it was his turn to weep. Tears sprang to his eyes, and he blinked them away. “I couldn’t let you.” His voice came out hoarse and thin. “I don’t want to lose you.”

Miranda studied him, her head tilted slightly to one side. “You should want to lose me. You could marry again, and continue your family.” When he would have responded, she laid a gentle finger across his lips. “No, there’s no need. I know you would not, but there are many that would. Is that why you won’t touch me? The whole reason? Please, Daniel, the truth. If you can’t want me, I’d like to know. You did seek out a mistress, after all, and she did look most unlike me.”

Lifting a hand, he moved her finger from his lips and tugged on her hand, forcing her to lie down once more. He pulled her close, so she lay with her head pillowed on his shoulder, looking up at him. “No. If I took a mistress it would be someone like her, someone who didn’t remind me of you in the least. She is dark where you are fair, dainty and small where you are tall and elegant. I want only one Miranda.” He kissed her temple. “And in any case, I didn’t choose her. She came looking for me.”

“She did?”

“She had her own reasons. She isn’t a hardened courtesan, although her mother is.

She wants Blyth, and thought she could make him jealous.”

“Did she succeed?”

“She must have. After all, it’s Blyth’s doing that we’re here, isn’t it?” He wondered at her frown, but thought no more of it until she sighed and said; “I confess, it was partly me.” He stared down at her, unsure of her meaning. “I saw you with the girl, and I was jealous. Jealous, Daniel. I thought I was over such things, I was convinced you didn’t want me any more, not in bed at any rate, and so it didn’t come as a surprise to hear the rumours and then see you with her. Blyth was with me that day, and he saw my distress. He promised to do something about it.” A chuckle rumbled through his chest. “Properly gulled I’ve been. You and Blyth made hay with me, didn’t you?”

“I’m sorry.”

His free hand slid over her waist. “Don’t be. I think it’s done us good. At least we both know now.” She moved closer, snuggling in. The movement made him gasp.

“Miranda, be careful. You know I won’t make love to you, don’t tempt me anymore. It’s not fair.”

She lifted her hand to his chest, covered with fine lawn, but he felt her fingers gently tracing patterns on it. “I know you’ve taken the entire responsibility on yourself. I know you want to preserve me. What if I don’t want to?”

He caught her hand with his own, and curled it inside the warmth of his. “Miranda, if you get with child again, you will die. I can’t do that to you. If I think of it, it fills me with terror. How could I face the boys?” He paused. “How could I live without you?” She stared at him, her mouth slightly open, moist and inviting, even though he didn’t think she meant it that way. With a groan of submission, he bent his head and kissed her, dragging her close with both arms, holding her as though he would never let her go.

Since that day he escorted her to the house, after their visit to the farmer, Daniel had longed to kiss her again, but known he couldn’t trust himself not to go further. Now he couldn’t help himself. Her body, so warm, nestled against his, her lips opening softly for him, inviting him to slide his tongue inside. It was more than a man could stand.

Daniel caressed her mouth, warm and sweet, and felt her response with joy, a slow burn starting somewhere deep inside. He leaned over her, revelling in the feel of her body under his.

An impulse he had learned how to control. While enjoying the kiss Daniel drew part of himself back, tucked it away again. The wild part, the part that urged him to take her now and never mind the consequences. That part must stay hidden inside.

Finally he drew back. He reached up to smooth her hair, soft caresses replacing the abandon he longed to release. She smiled. “That felt good. It won’t come all at once, Daniel.”

“What won’t?”

“Restraint. What you don’t want us to do. I still want to, I don’t care, but the risk isn’t all mine, is it?” He shook his head. “I have to think of the children, and of what it would do to you. But I’m not giving up. There must be a way, Daniel, there must. There are times every month—”

“I’ve thought of that. It won’t do, Miranda. There are ways to make conception less likely, but none to stop it completely. If there was a way, believe me, I wouldn’t let you leave this bed for a fortnight.”

“You want me?”

This was no time for half truths. “I never stopped wanting you. When I withdrew from your bedroom, I persuaded myself it was for your own good. Perhaps, if you thought desire had left me, you might find it easier to bear. I know your nature, you see.

You hate to see anyone suffer.”

She lifted a hand and caressed his cheek in the age-old caress of lovers. “But you did, and so did I. I mean it, Daniel. We’ll find a way, I’m determined on it.”

“I’ve thought about it for years. Years, sweetheart.”

“Have you ever asked anyone else about the problem other than the doctors?” His eyes widened. “No, of course not. It’s no one else’s business.”

“Just for advice? Blyth is very experienced—” He couldn’t suppress a slight shudder. “How could I ask my brother something like that? And Blyth is so volatile still, there’s no saying what he might do.” Her hand still rested on his cheek, as though it belonged there. Which, in a way, it did. “He’s not as volatile as you think. Oh, I’m sure he was as a boy, but he’s turned the fortunes of his estate around. You don’t do that without clear thinking and planning.” He touched his lips to her palm, lapping it gently with his tongue before turning back to her. “You might be right. But I don’t think I want to ask him.”

“I shall find something out,” she said firmly, then smiled. “But not tonight. Enough, I think, to know we both want the same thing. You’ve brought me joy with the sadness tonight, Daniel. It was agony thinking you didn’t want me anymore. How could you think anything else?”

He closed his eyes against the loving understanding in hers Understanding he didn’t deserve. He’d thought he was acting for the best, and it seemed to be the other way about.

“I don’t know. I thought you wouldn’t want to any more, when the result cost you so much pain. I didn’t want you to see I suffered, so I didn’t let you see.”

“It doesn’t matter. I have you back, and that’s enough for now.” She leaned up and touched her mouth to his. He responded to the tender caress in the gentle spell she wove around him. He could trust her not to push him over the edge. The only danger now was if they both succumbed at the same time. He

relaxed his hold on her and leaned back.

“I’m very tired suddenly.”

She snuggled close and lifted her leg over him, but only as far as the knee.

“Revelations can make you tired. We should sleep. We have another busy day in the morning, running the inn.”

He smiled. “So we do.”

A not-so-proper lady on a quest for freedom sneaks aboard the ship of an infamous privateer determined to save his brother—and resist love. Who will win this clash of wills?

The Lady and the Dragon

© 2007 Shelley Bradley

A Runaway Heiress

When bold, beautiful Lady Christina Delafield discovered her overbearing grandfather planned to tame her at a Swiss finishing school, Christina stowed away on the first ship leaving London harbor, determined to make her own way in life. But the mysterious captain of the Dragon’s Lair was a seductive reason to relinquish her independence–and embrace desire.

A Gentleman Pirate

Drexell Cain had lived for four years as the merciless Black Dragon, the scourge of the seas. Bent on rescuing his brother from the British Navy, Drex would do anything to return him to his wife and son–even kidnap the Lord Admiral’s granddaughter for ransom. A lovely blonde stowaway was an unexpected complication, until he discovered her real identity–and her passionate claim on his heart.

Enjoy the following excerpt for The Lady and the Dragon: Christina drew in a quick breath and whirled to face the captain’s door, white-gloved fingers clutching her valise. She clasped the cold latch and lifted. The door opened with a quiet click. She dashed inside.

The captain’s naked back, golden and muscle-hardened, filled her vision. She stifled a gasp at the snarling black and green dragon tattoo dominating one shoulder blade. Its open mouth breathed fire across the width of his back, to his other shoulder. The curling tail wound around a powerful biceps.

She couldn’t move, could not tear her eyes away. A tattoo? Dear God, what kind of a barbarian would have that arrogant monster permanently embedded into his flesh?

One without the worries or scruples of a gentleman.

Uncertainty assailed her. This man was the antithesis of all she’d known, spawned from an opposite end of the Earth. She knew nothing about his less-than-civilized world.

Would she survive long enough to see Aunt Mary in Grand Bahama? Trembling, she shoved the dismal thought aside and glanced about his cabin.

An exotic, Oriental aura dominated the space, which looked half the size of her dressing room. A burning taper filled the room with a pungent musk. Her shocked gaze fixed on the dramatic austerity of the black decor, relieved only by the pale wooden walls. An ebony and emerald silk coverlet on his bunk boasted the same scaled symbol of fire and power as his shoulder.

He reached for his shirt and pulled it on, concealing the intimidating dragon from her view. She swallowed in relief.

Feet planted apart, broad shoulders filling his black shirt, he tucked the cotton garment into skin-tight, biscuit-colored breeches. “I told you I didn’t want to see you.” Startled by his acknowledgment, she stammered, “But I must speak with you. Please.

Five minutes.”

He whirled to face her. The sight rooted her in place.

A scrap of black silk stretched along the upper part of his square face, from brows to the bridge of his nose. She shivered. Only one type of man wore a mask: the dangerous kind.

The sight of his hard, bearded jaw arrested her next. A wall of power surged toward her as he stepped closer. Christina could not decide if she should attribute the feeling to the foreboding impression he made with black shirt, black mask, black beard, black eyes…or the displeasure thundering across the hard angles of his face. Then again, perhaps the sleek ebony length of his hair grazing his mammoth shoulders and the golden ring dangling from his left ear roused her unease. Either way, he was no one to trifle with; he’d made that abundantly clear without a word.

“W—why do you wear the…mask?” she stammered. “Oh, my… You hide your identity.”

“Hmm. Perceptive.” His low quip cut and didn’t invite further conversation. But she could not give up and return home. Life in Switzerland was much more abhorrent. And cold.

Hancock burst through the door. “Cap’n, I’m sorry. The vixen tricked me.” He turned to her, his look less than friendly. “Come on. The cap’n wants ye gone.” A crooked smile curved the captain’s mouth as he waved the man away. Christina did not find his expression comforting.

“No need,” he assured, his gaze shifting to regard her. “I’ll handle her. Dismissed.” The little man glanced from her to the captain, then back again, smiling now. “Aye.”

Hancock closed the door behind them, leaving them alone. In the ensuing silence of the small cabin, the captain scanned her with a thorough gaze.

She crossed protective arms across her chest and buried her apprehension. “I came to make you a proposition, Captain.”

“A proposition?” His already suggestive tone dropped to a purr that set her instincts on full alarm. He leaned his hip indolently against the small cherry-wood desk bolted into the cabin’s wooden floor. “Well, now you do have my attention.” Christina gasped. The cur actually had the nerve to smile! She trembled, and he grinned like a well-fed cat.

They stood on opposite ends of the minuscule cabin—three steps from each other.

The captain pushed away from the desk; his stride ate up one of the precious steps separating them. With her back at the door, Christina had nowhere to retreat.

She struggled for her next breath. The scents of salt, incense and man filled her nose.

She forced herself to hold his stare, even as a tingling awareness of the captain rose inside her.

“I am talking about a business proposal,” she corrected. “And I will thank you to stop leering at me.”

An infuriatingly insolent grin lifted the corners of his mouth. “Don’t thank me; it won’t happen.”

He stepped closer. Closer still—only a breath away, a breath nearly shared. His gaze touched her face. The massive breadth of his chest rose a mere inch from hers. His presence swirled around her like a gust of hot wind. She found her gaze trapped deep in the intensity of his dark eyes.

“If you don’t wish to be leered at, don’t wander where you aren’t welcome.” His breath fanned across her cheek as he lifted a hand toward her.

Dear Lord, was he going to touch her? Christina’s gaze ricocheted around the cabin, looking for somewhere to shift out of his path.

His hand neared her waist. Her breath caught in her chest. Closer, closer his outstretched fingers came…until he nudged her aside and opened the door.