The Irresistible Prince. Lisa Laurel Kaye
“You are going to find the right woman to love you and have your children,” Letter to Reader Title Page Dedication About the Author Anders Point Gazette PRINCE GOES UNDERCOVER TO FIND A BRIDE Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Epilogue Copyright
“You are going to find the right woman to love you and have your children,”
Annah told Luke, taking his hand in hers.
“I don’t know. It’s getting harder instead of easier. All the women I’ve met are so evenly matched.” Her hand felt wonderful in his. He pulled it up to his cheek, to hold her there.
The rasp of his evening whiskers against the back of her hand sent a thrill racing through her. “Trust your feelings, Luke. They’ll point you in the right direction.”
“I don’t think so,” he said positively.
How could he possibly choose the right bride when all he could think about was Annah—the one woman he could never marry?
Dear Reader,
This month, Romance is chock-full of excitement. First, VIRGIN BRIDES continues with The Bride’s Second Thought, an emotionally compelling story by bestselling author Elizabeth August. When a virginal bride-to-be finds her fiancé with another woman, she flees to the mountains for refuge...only to be stranded with a gorgeous stranger who gives her second thoughts about a lot of things....
Next, Natalie Patrick offers up a delightful BUNDLES OF JOY with Boot Scootin’ Secret Baby. Bull rider Jacob “Cub” Goodacre returns to South Dakota for his rodeo hurrah, only to learn he’s still a married man...and father to a two-year-old heart tugger. BACHELOR GULCH, Sandra Steffen’s wonderful Western series, resumes with the story of an estranged couple who had wed for the sake of their child...but wonder if they can rekindle their love in Nick’s Long-Awaited Honeymoon.
Rising star Kristin Morgan delivers a tender, sexy tale about a woman whose biological clock is booming and the best friend who consents to being her Shotgun Groom. If you want a humorous—red-hot!—read, try Vivian Leiber’s The 6’2”, 200 lb. Challenge. The battle of the sexes doesn’t get any better! Finally, Lisa Kaye Laurel’s fairy-tale series, ROYAL WEDDINGS, draws to a close with The Irresistible Prince, where the woman hired to find the royal a wife realizes she is the perfect candidate! In May, VIRGIN BRIDES resumes with Annette Broadrick, and future months feature titles by Suzanne Carey and Judy Christenberry, among others. So keep coming back to Romance, where you’re sure to find the classic tales you love, told in fresh, exciting ways.
Enjoy!
Joan Marlow Golan
Senior Editor, Silhouette Romance
Please address questions and book requests to:
Silhouette Reader Service U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269 Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3
The Irresistible Prince
Lisa Kaye Laurel
To Cindi and Chip—
for our growing-up memories and our grown-up friendship.
LISA KAYE LAUREL
has worked in a number of fields, but says that nothing she’s done compares to the challenges—and rewards—of being a full-time mom. Her extra energy is channeled into creating stories. She counts writing high on her list of blessings, which is topped by the love and support of her husband, her son, her daughter, her mother and her father.
Anders Point Gazette PRINCE GOES UNDERCOVER TO FIND A BRIDE
Chapter One
Annah barely heard the front doorbell over the giggles and chatter of the half dozen teenagers who were prowling around her secondhand shop in search of dresses to wear to their fall formal. She was on the phone with her accountant, anyway, scribbling a note to herself to look up those figures he kept calling about while tactfully declining his offer to fix her up with his almost-divorced lawyer friend.
When she hung up, the doorbell rang again but so did the phone. It was a supplier this time, calling to break the news that the replacement part she’d ordered for her big coffeepot had been lost in transit. He was trying to track it down, but as it was now nearly five o’clock, he wouldn’t be able to honor his guarantee of same-day delivery. Annah hung up the phone with a groan, knowing that there was no way she would be able to handle the morning rush in her coffee shop without that part.
A tremendous crash brought her out of her office on the run; the teenagers had knocked over a rack of gowns. None of the girls was hurt, but the volume of talk and laughter tripled as they struggled to right the rolling rack. When the doorbell sounded for the third time, Annah seized on the excuse to escape the chaos, stepping over the pile of dresses that all but blocked the doorway. After nearly tripping in the hall, she stopped in the front room to peel away an errant sash that had wound itself around her leg. She threw it aside, and it sailed over the coffee counter and draped itself dramatically over the defunct coffeepot like a pink satin noose.
Annah rolled her eyes ceilingward and said dryly, “If you’re out there, fairy godmother, this would be a real good time to blow the cobwebs off that magic wand of yours and zap me a miracle.”
She flung open the door. There, looking as if he had just stepped out of the pages of a fairy tale onto her front porch, was a handsome prince.
Annah stood staring at him for a few moments, clinging to the doorknob while a frosty November wind whistled around her. Oddly enough, the strangest sensation of rising heat began to infuse her—a prickly kind of warmth that crept over her like the chills she should have been feeling