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Teresareasor.com
Category:
Action/Thriller
Publisher: Teresa J. Reasor
ISBN-10: 098866271X
Pages: 376
Copyright: 2013
ISBN-13: 9780988662711
Price: $3.99 (eBook)
American Sea Captain Matthew Hamilton must earn his freedom from prison by marrying Lady Katherine Leighton. Katherine uses the marriage as a way to attain the freedom to pursue the savage highwaymen who killed her family. A witness to murder…A man unjustly jailed…Can finding love and justice free these captive hearts?
Bent on seeing her family's murderers caught, Lady Katherine Leighton strikes a bargain with Captain Matthew Hamilton. They will wed just long enough for her to shed her uncle's hampering control and pursue the investigation her uncle refuses
to undertake. Little does she know that what begins as a means to find justice will end in the handsome American capturing her heart and holding it prisoner.
Bent on seeing her family's murderers caught, Lady Katherine Leighton strikes a bargain with Captain Matthew Hamilton. They will wed just long enough for her to shed her uncle's hampering control and pursue the investigation her uncle refuses
to undertake.
Betrayed by one woman, Matthew doesn't trust the English beauty who offers him freedom from prison in exchange for wedding vows, but knowing it is his only escape, he agrees to the arrangement. From the moment their lips meet to seal the vows, a passion ignites between them they are eager to ignore.
When the savage highwaymen who killed her family come after Katherine, Matthew feels honor bound to keep her safe. But Katherine wants more than his honorable intentions. She wants his love…And she’s willing to fight to get it.
Excerpt
Katherine’s chin rose and her violet eyes took on a flinty hue as she surveyed him from head to toe. She stepped close. “Do you wish to leave this place?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Good.” She shed her cloak and folded it over her arm. The square neckline of the black dress she wore was modest enough, but the high empire waistline cupped the generous swell of her bosom like a lover’s hands.
Matthew tensed. Did she know what her beauty could do to a man who had been incarcerated for so long? With an effort he dragged his eyes back up to her face, enjoying the lush curve of her lips as she spoke.
“I no more wish to wed than you, but I must. And so must you if you wish to be free again.”
Matthew braced his feet and clasped his hands behind him, suppressing the temptation to grin. No sweet-natured, tractable miss here, but no harridan, either. “Why must you wed?”
For a moment she remained silent, her long auburn lashes obscuring her gaze. She turned a graceful profile to him as looked toward the window set high in the wall. “My uncle is my guardian and I am at the mercy of his generosity. With my marriage, I will receive a small allowance from the estate. It will not be much, but will be sufficient for me to live if I am careful.”
He’d warrant there was more to the situation than that. Otherwise she wouldn’t be avoiding his gaze so diligently. “You’ll not need it if you’re wed.”
Her violet eyes returned to him. “I do not intend to remain married. You will only need to allow me the use of your name for as long as it takes to settle my father’s estate and secure my legacy. We can have the marriage annulled as soon as that transpires.”
Matthew raised his brows. “And on what grounds do you hope to have the marriage annulled?”
“With my testimony and your uncle’s, we can prove you were unlawfully coerced into the union. Surely, the courts would grant you—us—an annulment on those grounds.”
Resentful of the temptations she presented, he couldn’t resist toying with her a little, just to test her resolve.
“Perhaps. As long as the marriage isn’t consummated.”
Her jaw grew taut and her dark gaze focused on him intently. “That would indeed be a requirement of both the marriage and the annulment, sir. I would require your word of honor that you will respect my desire that this remain a marriage in name only.”
He was amazed at the trust she extended so easily. “The honorable word of a Yankee prisoner wouldn’t hold a great deal of value for most, Lady Katherine.”
“The honorable word of Lord Willingham’s nephew is sufficient for me. Even I know of your uncle’s reputation, Captain. Were you not worthy of his concern, he would not be here.” She shifted nearer and tipped her head back to look up at him, her fragile, feminine form only a foot away. Her smooth, flawless skin looked soft. The sweet scent of violets teased his nostrils, making him painfully aware of his unsightly appearance and the rancid smell emanating from his unwashed body. Never had he hated Hicks more than he did at this moment.
“You would be placing your name, and through association, your uncle’s, in my trust, Captain Hamilton.”
“You’d be marrying down, for though my uncle holds a title, my father didn’t,” he countered.
Her chin rose. “I have always believed that a man’s worth is measured by how he conducts himself rather than by the title he holds.”
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