“I’ve never been married. Of course, I am betrothed,” said Garth.
“Betrothed?” Tianna turned to face him, blushing harder than ever.
“A technicality, really,” he added quickly. “A hangover from the old days. She’s a minor princess from West Nabotavia. I doubt you’ve heard of her.” He shrugged it off as though it were hardly worth mentioning.
Minor, eh? “Fascinating,” said Tianna. “Do you have a wedding planned?”
“Are you kidding?” Garth’s laugh was utterly genuine. “Do I look like marriage material to you?”
She looked him over thoughtfully. “Oh, I don’t know. A good wife might be able to make a man out of you.”
Dear Reader,
Oh, baby! This June, Silhouette Romance has the perfect poolside reads for you, from babies to royalty, from sexy millionaires to rugged cowboys!
In Carol Grace’s Pregnant by the Boss! (#1666), champagne and mistletoe lead to a night of passion between Claudia Madison and her handsome boss—but will it end in a lifetime of love? And don’t miss the final installment in Marie Ferrarella’s crossline miniseries, THE MOM SQUAD, with Beauty and the Baby (#1668), about widowed mother-to-be Lori O’Neill and the forbidden feelings she can’t deny for her late husband’s caring brother!
In Raye Morgan’s Betrothed to the Prince (#1667), the second in the exciting CATCHING THE CROWN miniseries, a princess goes undercover when an abandoned baby is left in the care of a playboy prince. And some things are truly meant to be, as Carla Cassidy shows us in her incredibly tender SOULMATES series title, A Gift from the Past (#1669), about a couple given a surprising second chance at forever.
What happens when a rugged cowboy wins fifty million dollars? According to Debrah Morris, in Tutoring Tucker (#1670), he hires a sexy oil heiress to refine his rough-and-tumble ways, and they both get a lesson in love. Then two charity dating-game contestants get the shock of their lives when they discover Oops…We’re Married? (#1671), by brand-new Silhouette Romance author Susan Lute.
See you next month for more fun-in-the-sun romances!
Happy reading!
Mary-Theresa Hussey
Senior Editor
Betrothed to the Prince
Raye Morgan
To Jean, for all the days of laughter.
RAYE MORGAN
has spent almost two decades, while writing over fifty novels, searching for the answer to that elusive question: Just what is that special magic that happens when a man and a woman fall in love? Every time she thinks she has the answer, a new wrinkle pops up, necessitating another book! Meanwhile, after living in Holland, Guam, Japan and Washington, D.C., she currently makes her home in Southern California with her husband and two of her four boys.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter One
“Hello. What have we here?”
Princess Katianna Mirishevsky Roseanova-Krimorova, usually known as Tianna Rose, stood looking down at the man sprawled on the cushioned gazebo bench with a reluctant sense of interest. It was pretty obvious he was sleeping off the effects of a night on the town. She couldn’t imagine how the staff who administered to this royal residence could let such things go on.
“Shoddy maintenance,” her mother would have said. This certainly wouldn’t have been tolerated at her parents’ home.
But this casual attitude seemed to be common here on the Arizona estate of the Roseanova family—the home of the exiled Royal House of the Rose. She’d arrived at the address, dismissed her cab and gone to the entry gatehouse, only to find the gate standing wide open and no one in attendance. The estate where she’d grown up was much more modest and low-key than this one, and yet such lax security was unheard of there. And besides that, she’d assumed there would be a shuttle service to take her to the main house, and now it looked like she was going to have to make the uphill climb on her own.
Sighing, she started up the long driveway, only to notice the cute little gazebo overlooking a small man-made lake. She could see someone was inside so she made the detour in hopes of finding help. But it seemed she was destined to be out of luck again. The man was out like a light.
Still, he was so good-looking, even in this state, that she lingered, looking him over for a moment. He looked quite comfortable lying on a sort of window seat setup equipped with plush cushions. His dark blond hair was tousled and a little too long, but his white shirt, though partially unbuttoned, was impeccable, his leather jacket expensive-looking and his slacks still had a beautiful crease. His features were strong and even, his skin smooth and tan. The slight stubble on his chin only enhanced the effect of very appealing masculinity. All in all, he was gorgeous. They just didn’t hire them like this where she came from—more the pity.
She thought about giving him a quick shake and waking him. But no. That wouldn’t be much use. She might as well get back on the path and make her way to the main house. Pulling her wine-colored suede jacket a little closer in the cool fall morning air, she gave one last glance at the muscular exposure of his impressive chest and turned to go. To her horror, his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, trapping her.
“Hey, Little Red Riding Hood,” he said in a voice low as a scratchy old cello. “Didn’t anyone tell you it isn’t safe to wander around alone in these woods?”
“Let me go!” she ordered once she found his grasp was like steel.
“Oh.” His eyes were barely slit open. “Sorry. I thought you were part of my dream.” But he still held her.
She tugged on his hold, definitely annoyed by now.
“Listen,” she began, but he wasn’t listening at all.
“You’re sexy enough to be part of my dream,” he was musing whimsically. “And you’ll definitely be a part of my next dream.”
“Make that your nightmare,” she snapped, reaching to grab his thumb and bend it backward, hard, turning into it to make a clean breakaway.
“Hey!” he said, and swore as he dropped her wrist and began to struggle to sit up. “What the—?”
But she didn’t stick around to chat. Head high, she marched toward the driveway without a backward glance, silently thanking her personal defense trainer as she went. So much for those who thought princesses were sitting ducks for any passing tormentor. It was actually rather satisfying to have run across a chance to use her training.
The entire incident was timely. She’d needed a little boost to her self-esteem to help her through the chore she’d set for herself here. She’d come to break her engagement to Garth Franz Josef Mikeavich Romano Roseanova, Prince of Nabotavia. She was going to have to be tough to make him understand that she was not going to marry him, no matter how many official proclamations of their betrothal he could pull out of the country’s archives.
Not