Lakota Surrender
Page 33
When she finished, she leaned against the medicine cabinet and took another deep breath. Damon Delancy was still unconscious, looking less forbidding than he did when awake and glowering with anger. Catherine filled a basin with cold water, wrung out a cloth and began bathing his face.
His eyelids fluttered open. For once, his gray eyes seemed warm as they regarded her in confusion.
“You fainted,” Catherine said. “But I’ve set your arm and bandaged it. You should be as good as new.”
He scowled at the bandage. “How long do I have to stay with my arm strapped to my chest?”
“Four weeks, then keep your arm in a sling for two weeks. Your own doctor can advise you.”
“You can be sure of that.”
Catherine didn’t take offense at his implied criticism of her medical skills, because she was confident his own outrageously priced Fifth Avenue doctor couldn’t have done any better, as Mr. Delancy was sure to discover.
Her love will capture the ultimate treasure–his heart.
Once a Mistress
© 2011 Debra Mullins
Diana Covington is a dutiful daughter with a boring future all mapped out for her. A shipping fortune and lush Jamaican estate that will someday be hers, a husband of her father’s choice. Romance and Caribbean adventure exist only in her dreams, in which the Black Spaniard, El Moreno, plays a starring role.
Until she is kidnapped by the evil pirate, Marcus, and her girlish fantasies quickly turn to nightmares.
Alex Rawnsley’s dark Spanish looks makes him the perfect choice to take on the identity of El Moreno. His mission is to bring Marcus to justice, but his heart thirsts for blood. Vengeance for his brother’s murder is within his grasp when Diana’s kidnapping throws a hitch in his strategy.
Snatching her from Marcus’s clutches is easy enough, but what to do with her now? He cannot return her home lest she be taken again. He has no choice but to keep the distracting, innocent beauty aboard his ship. In his cabin. In his bed. The temptation to make her his own grows stronger by the hour…but opening his heart to love may forever close the door on his quest for revenge.
Warning: Contains sweeping, high-seas adventure, a feisty heroine who doesn’t let maidenly innocence stop her from unbuckling the hero’s swash, and a hero who finds himself walking the plank of love.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Once a Mistress:
“I need your help.”
“Do you?” She bent to examine a piece of torn lace hanging from the hem of her gown.
“I must get into the ballroom.”
She glanced up at him sharply. “Why?”
He hesitated. “I would rather not say. I thought that since I helped you out of a difficult situation—”
“You bounder!” She straightened so fast he expected to hear her spine snap. “You used me!”
A disavowal hovered on his lips, but she continued before he could express it.
“I thought you were being chivalrous…” She pressed her lips together, as if she had betrayed a confidence. “Is that the only reason you aided me? To make me so grateful that I would help you get into the house?”
“Of course not…”
“And what do you intend to do once you have gained entrance to my home? Steal the silver?”
“Bloody hell,” he muttered, exasperated.
“I will bid you good evening, sir. And I will be sure to alert the servants that there is a trespasser on the grounds!” She spun away from him in a swath of upswept skirts and bouncing curls.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop. His own temper simmered as he recalled how he had risked discovery to help her. His very life hung in the balance.
“You ungrateful wench,” he growled. “I just saved you from losing your virtue to that strutting popinjay, and this is how you thank me? What would you do if I had saved you from drowning, toss me overboard?”
“Do not be ridiculous.” She tugged at her arm. Unable to break his grip, she sent him a look of cold fury. “I would tie the anchor to your feet first.”
He narrowed his eyes. “That mouth of yours will get you into trouble.”
“Not as much trouble as you will have when I scream.”
As she opened her mouth to carry out her threat, Alex pulled her close and stopped the cry with a kiss.
The taste of her exploded through him, as exhilarating as standing barefoot on deck while a storm rocked his ship. He rediscovered the thrill of pitting his wits and his will against an impressive force of nature as he held this spirited young woman in his arms. With such a woman a man could be tempted to forsake even that most demanding of mistresses, the sea.
The idea so unsettled him that he jerked away from Diana as if she were the devil’s own daughter. She stared at him with eyes the color of storm clouds. A flush graced her cheeks, and her lips, moist from his kiss, parted.
He wanted her, but he could not have her. He retreated behind the rakish facade that had always served him well.
“Now that was surely a proper show of gratitude, my sweet,” he quipped. “But despite your lusty eagerness I must take my leave. Mayhap we will meet again.” He ignored the shock that swept across her features and sketched a mocking bow. It was better for both of them if he disappeared from her life. Turning away from her, he melted into the night.
Lakota Surrender
Karen Kay
Forbidden love…
Lakota, Book 1
As she heads west to join her cavalry officer father at his Kansas outpost, Kristina Bogard eagerly anticipates new adventures—and her first glimpse of wild Indians. She has long dreamed of flashing black eyes, skin-covered lodges and buckskin and leather.
What she finds in Fort Leavenworth, though, is a far cry from her Indian nanny’s thrilling stories. What few natives are left are crushed, brokenhearted shadows of their proud past. Except for one, a handsome warrior who stirs up a whole new set of dreams.
Tahiska can’t take his eyes off the green-eyed beauty whose graceful hands are fluent in his native sign language. Except he can’t afford to let anything distract him from avenging his father, who was killed by two white soldiers.
Though anger fills his mind, Kristina steals into his heart, igniting a wildfire passion that must remain their desperate secret. For soon comes the day of reckoning, when justice will be served…or a travesty will shatter their love.
This book has been previously published.
Warning: Sensuous romance that could prompt you to send up smoke signals for the one you love.
eBooks are not transferable.
They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B
Cincinnati OH 45249
Lakota Surrender
Copyright © 2011 by Karen Kay
ISBN: 978-1-60928-906-5
Edited by Sasha Knight
Cover by Angela Waters
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Original Publication: 1994
First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: December 2011
www.samhainpublishing.com
Table of Contents
Dedication
Prologue
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
Epilogue
About the Author
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