Laurie Grant - The Duchess And The Desperado

“I want you, Mr. Calhoun,” she said, giving him the full force of her compelling gaze. “I want you, Mr. Calhoun,” she said, giving him the full force of her compelling gaze. His groin tightened as the words echoed in his head. I want you. Lord, what he’d give to hear a woman like her saying such words with a more intimate meaning! “And you’ll be handsomely paid, I do assure you—with no backbreaking work.” “No, no backbreaking work,” he agreed. “I could live real easy, bein’ your bodyguard—and get killed with an easy bullet.” Her face paled. “Yes, there is a risk, as you saw this afternoon. But I don’t want to die, either. Perhaps all it will take to discourage this scoundrel is the presence of a strong, intelligent man prepared to defend me.” “You don’t know me,” he told her, locking his gaze to hers. “You don’t know anythin’ about me, Duchess. Everythin’ I’ve told you could be a lie!” Letter to Reader Dear Reader, Next month, Harlequin Historicals ® turns ten years old! But we have such a terrific lineup this month, we thought we’d start celebrating early. To begin, award-winning author Laune Grant, who is known for her stirring Medievals and gritty Westerns, returns with a delightful new story, The Duchess and the Desperado. Here, a rancher turned fugitive inadvertently becomes a bodyguard to the very visible Duchess of Malvern when her life is threatened during a goodwill tour of the American West. Don’t miss it! In The Shadowed Heart by Nina Beaumont, set in eighteenth-century Europe, a beautiful young woman on a quest for vengeance unwittingly falls in love with the man she thinks may have harmed her sister.... Also out for revenge is Jesse Kincaid, of MONTANA MAVERICKS: RETURN TO WHITEHORN fame, when he kidnaps his enemy’s mail-order bride in Wild West Wife by popular Silhouette ® author Susan Mallery. Rounding out the month is A Warrior’s Honor, the next Medieval in Margaret Moore’s popular WARRIOR SERIES. In this tale a knight is tricked by a fellow nobleman into abducting a beautiful lady, but, guided by honor—and love—seeks to rescue her from his former friend. Whatever your tastes in reading, you’ll be sure to find a romantic journey back to the past between the covers of a Harlequin Historical ® . Sincerely, Tracy Farrell Senior Editor Please address questions and book requests to: Harlequin Reader Service U S.: 3010 Walden Ave., PO. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269 Canadian P.O. Box 609, Fort Ene, Ont. L2A 5X3 Title Page The Duchess And The Desperado Laurie Grant www.millsandboon.co.uk Dedication To Mary Jo Putney, for teaching me the joys of letters patent, and, as always, to Michael. About the Author LAURIE GRANT combines a career as a trauma center emergency room nurse with that of historical romance author; she says living in two worlds keeps her sane. Passionately enthusiastic about the history of both England and Texas, she divides her travel time between these two spots. She is married to her own real-life hero, and has two teenage daughters, two dogs and a cat. If you would like to write to Laurie, please use the following address: Laurie Grant, P.O. Box 307272, Gahana, OH 43230. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to thank the Denver Historical Society for their invaluable assistance regarding the home of Territorial Governor McCook and the hotels of the time. 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 Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Copyright

Welcome to the world of

Harlequin Historicals as we celebrate

10 years of bringing you the best

in historical romance.

Thiw month’s books include:

THE TIGER’S BRIDE by USA Today

Western from Mary McBride

THE COURTSHIP OF IZZY McCREE—

Ruthe Langan’s 20th title for Harlequin

Historicals

FIRE SONG—a dramatic medieval novel

from Catherine Archer

Our thanks to this month’s

featured writers and to all the

authors, editors and

booksellers, past and present,

who have worked so hard to

make Harlequin Historicals

what it is today.

“I want you, Mr. Calhoun,” she said, giving him the full force of her compelling gaze.

His groin tightened as the words echoed in his head. I want you. Lord, what he’d give to hear a woman like her saying such words with a more intimate meaning!

“And you’ll be handsomely paid, I do assure you—with no backbreaking work.”

“No, no backbreaking work,” he agreed. “I could live real easy, bein’ your bodyguard—and get killed with an easy bullet.”

Her face paled. “Yes, there is a risk, as you saw this afternoon. But I don’t want to die, either. Perhaps all it will take to discourage this scoundrel is the presence of a strong, intelligent man prepared to defend me.”

“You don’t know me,” he told her, locking his gaze to hers. “You don’t know anythin’ about me, Duchess. Everythin’ I’ve told you could be a lie!”

Dear Reader,

Next month, Harlequin Historicals ®turns ten years old! But we have such a terrific lineup this month, we thought we’d start celebrating early. To begin, award-winning author Laune Grant, who is known for her stirring Medievals and gritty Westerns, returns with a delightful new story, The Duchess and the Desperado. Here, a rancher turned fugitive inadvertently becomes a bodyguard to the very visible Duchess of Malvern when her life is threatened during a goodwill tour of the American West. Don’t miss it!

In The Shadowed Heart by Nina Beaumont, set in eighteenth-century Europe, a beautiful young woman on a quest for vengeance unwittingly falls in love with the man she thinks may have harmed her sister.... Also out for revenge is Jesse Kincaid, of MONTANA MAVERICKS: RETURN TO WHITEHORN fame, when he kidnaps his enemy’s mail-order bride in Wild West Wife by popular Silhouette ®author Susan Mallery.

Rounding out the month is A Warrior’s Honor, the next Medieval in Margaret Moore’s popular WARRIOR SERIES. In this tale a knight is tricked by a fellow nobleman into abducting a beautiful lady, but, guided by honor—and love—seeks to rescue her from his former friend.

Whatever your tastes in reading, you’ll be sure to find a romantic journey back to the past between the covers of a Harlequin Historical ®.

Sincerely,

Tracy Farrell

Senior Editor

Please address questions and book requests to:

Harlequin Reader Service

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

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

The Duchess And The Desperado

Laurie Grant

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Mary Jo Putney, for teaching me the joys of letters

patent, and, as always, to Michael.

LAURIE GRANT

combines a career as a trauma center emergency room nurse with that of historical romance author; she says living in two worlds keeps her sane. Passionately enthusiastic about the history of both England and Texas, she divides her travel time between these two spots. She is married to her own real-life hero, and has two teenage daughters, two dogs and a cat.

If you would like to write to Laurie, please use the following address: Laurie Grant, P.O. Box 307272, Gahana, OH 43230.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank the Denver Historical Society for

their invaluable assistance regarding the home of

Territorial Governor McCook and the hotels of the time.

Chapter One

Malvern Hall,

Herefordshire, England,

1872

“I wish you wouldn’t go,” Sarah heard her sister, Kathryn, mutter as she watched Sarah selecting dresses from her wardrobe and directing the maids in their packing.

Sarah Challoner, Duchess of Malvern, looked over her shoulder at Kathryn and was touched. She thought her younger sibling looked wistful. She smiled. “Going to miss me, are you, Kat?”

Kathryn made a moue of disgust. “Don’t call me that. Thierry says it isn’t dignified.” She turned and gazed out the window that looked over the Malvern Hills in all their glory. “And yes, I am going to miss you. It sounds as if you’ll be gone forever.”

“I cannot call you Kat anymore?” Sarah said in mock dismay, struggling to hide her amusement. “But you have been my little sister Kat since you were born ! Ah...yes, Tilly, I believe I will take the blue foulard,” she said, pointing at a gown the maid held out for consideration.

“But not any longer, if you please,” said Kat with stiff dignity. “I shall be out next year, and Thierry say a nickname is not at all comme il fuut,” she added in an admirable French accent.

Sarah allowed herself to appear impressed. “I see. Well, if Thierry has decreed it, Kathryn it is, then.” Thierry says this, Thierry says that. She suspected her sister, who at seventeen was barely out of the schoolroom, had a bad case of hero worship for the dashing French count who was secretly Sarah’s fiancé. It probably wouldn’t be going too far to say she was infatuated with Thierry de Châtellerault.

Ah, well. That’s all right. She was just glad that Kathryn liked Thierry. It would be so awkward if her sister hated the man Sarah was going to marry. And it was perfectly normal for young girls to have these infatuations, after all. Sarah could remember a couple of her own-embarrassing, painful things they had been! Once she and Thierry returned from America as man and wife, though, Kathryn—Kat, she insisted to herself—would gradually learn to let go of her feelings and concentrate on finding her own special someone.

“Sure you wouldn’t like to change your mind and come with me?” Sarah inquired of her sister, who still had her back to her. “Wouldn’t you love to see America?”

“No,” came the uncompromising reply. “I can’t think I would enjoy racketing around the States in carriages and on trains, living out of suitcases for months on end! Besides,” she said, lowering her voice so that the servants wouldn’t hear, “once Thierry joins you in Santa Fe and you get marned, I shouldn’t like to be the gooseberry.”

“Gooseberry?” Sarah repeated, mystified. Kathryn was forever picking up servants’ cant.

Kathryn whirled around, her face sullen. “You know, the odd man out. I’d be superfluous.”

Sarah suddenly understood. She let go of the gown she was examining and rushed toward her sister. “Nonsense, dear...”

“But of course I would,” Kat cried. Her face was a study in disdain, her posture rigid, saying as clearly as if she shouted it that Sarah was not to embrace her. “I can’t think of anyone more useless on a honeymoon than one’s younger sister.”

Sarah stopped short and pushed her glasses back up on her nose. Perhaps she had been spending too much time with Thierry, and Kat was feeling left out. The girl’s wounded feelings were almost palpable.

“But it isn’t as though you’d be alone with just us, darling,” she said, low-voiced. “Uncle Frederick is coming along, and Donald, and Celia.... Think of all the sights we’d see, going from New York to California to Texas Just imagine, the Wild West!” If only she could infuse Kat with some of her enthusiasm!

Kat turned her back to Sarah once again. “Yes, but once you join Thierry, I can’t imagine anything more boring than spending time with our uncle and your secretary and your dresser while you’re off billing and cooing with him,” Kat said, her voice thick, as if she were fighting tears. “I’m not going, and that’s final. I just don’t understand why you have to go, Sarah.”