Princess Annie

From Booklist

In revolution-torn Bavia, Annie Trevarren is helping her friend Phaedra, the princess, prepare for her upcoming arranged marriage. Phaedra's brother, Rafael, the ruling prince, is still grieving his late wife, but he is determined to see Phaedra married. Annie enlivens Rafael's bleak life as he faces a rebellion against his late father's villainy. Rafael refuses to see Annie as a woman in love with him until she virtually seduces his pants off. Meanwhile, the revolution reaches its final stages and Rafael is besieged at the family keep. He arranges for Annie to leave with her father before he joins the fighting, but Annie is determined to return to rescue Rafael from certain death with or without any help. In this companion novel to
Taming Charlotte
(Pocket, 1993), Annie Trevarren proves she is just as determined as her mother, Charlotte, when it comes to choosing the right man and keeping him at all costs. Highly recommended for all collections.
Melanie Duncan

Review

Romantic Times
Linda Lael Miller enchants readers.

LOOK FOR THE FOUR THRILLING
NOVELS IN
LlNDA LAEL MILLER’S
CORBIN SERIES

BANNER O’BRIEN

CORBIN’S FANCY

MEMORY’S EMBRACE

MY DARLING MELISSA

AND THE MAGNIFICENT
ORPHAN TRAIN TRILOGY

LILY AND THE MAJOR

EMMA AND THE OUTLAW

CAROLINE AND THE RAIDER

AND DISCOVER THESE SPLENDID
ROMANCES BY
LINDA LAEL MILLER

ANGELFIRE

DANIEL’S BRIDE

DESIRE AND DESTINY

FLETCHER’S WOMAN

LAURALEE

THE LEGACY

MOONFIRE

TAMING CHARLOTTE

WANTON ANGEL

WILLOW

YANKEE WIFE

All Available from Pocket Books

Rave Reviews for
“One of the Hottest
Romance Authors Writing
Today”
(Romantic Times)
LINDA LAEL MILLER

Taming Charlotte

“Miller fills this …romance with spirited repartee…. Charlotte is appealing and clever….”

—
Publishers Weekly

“Another winner from the pen of master storyteller Linda Lael Miller. In the tradition of
Romancing the Stone
… this sensual story, peppered with earthy humor, is guaranteed to charm everyone.”

—
Affaire de Coeur

Yankee Wife

“Sweeping and complex …
Yankee Wife
is a beautiful and meaningful romance—one of Ms. Miller’s best and destined for ‘bestsellerdom.’”

—
Romantic Times

“You’ll have the time of your life keeping up with this quartet! … Read this highly entertaining tale….”

—
Rendezvous

Daniel’s Bride

“Linda Lael Miller is in top form as she brings readers into this warm, tender and exciting love story with touches of humor, poignancy and great compassion.
Daniel’s Bride
is a delectable tidbit.”

—
Romantic Times

“Linda Lael Miller is the greatest!
Daniel’s Bride
sizzles with humor, danger and romance, encompassing every emotion and leaving you breathless.”

—
Affaire de Coeur

Caroline and the Raider

“Funny, exciting and heartwarming,
Caroline and the Raider
is a delight—another romance that’s as wonderful and hot as you’d expect from Linda Lael Miller!”

—
Romantic Times

Emma and the Outlaw

“Ms. Miller’s unique way of tempering sensuality with tenderness in her characters makes them come alive and walk right off the pages and into your heart…. Emma and her outlaw will captivate and enchant you.”

—
Rendezvous

Lily and the Major

“Earthy and sensuous, these two lovers are another wonderful hero and heroine presented to us from Ms. Miller’s fertile and very creative imagination. If all the girls’ stories are this delicious, have we got a treat in store? Darn tooting!”

—
Rendezvous

“An absolutely joyous book, it will warm every reader’s heart.”

—
Romantic Times

Moonfire

“Linda Lael Miller continues to prove that she is one of the hottest romance authors writing today. This is a novel filled with passion, mystery, drama, humor and powerful emotions. Her love scenes sizzle and smolder with sensuality.”

—
Romantic Times

“Sizzling love scenes and excellent characterization make
Moonfire
a delectable morsel of romantic fiction.”

—
Affaire de Coeur

Angelfire

“FIVE STARS—HIGHEST RATING! … Linda Lael Miller is a most talented craftsman with the written word. Her characters step out of the pages majestically and the reader is soon on very intimate terms with them.”

—
Affaire de Coeur

“One of Linda Lael Miller’s hottest, most sizzling romances … Readers will be captivated by these headstrong, vulnerable lovers, their heartwarming love story and the scorching sensuality that pervades every page.”

—
Romantic Times

My Darling Melissa

“[An] adorable, sprightly romance. Melissa is a delight—probably the most stubborn heroine of the season. Her determination to succeed, her unbridled sensuality and special brand of humor will capture your imagination.”

—
Romantic Times

“A fast, entertaining read. Ms. Miller’s incorporation of the suffrage movement and the returning Corbin characters gave an added dimension to the story.”

—
Rendezvous

“Unsinkable fun. The author dishes up her favorite fare: plucky women with the strength to reason and the passion to follow their hearts; powerful men who find an independent woman infuriating yet irresistible; countless love sequences that leave plenty to the imagination; and a flavorful, 1890s setting.”

—
Publishers Weekly

Books by Linda Lael Miller

Princess Annie

The Legacy

Taming Charlotte

Yankee Wife

Daniel’s Bride

Caroline and the Raider

Emma and the Outlaw

Lily and the Major

My Darling Melissa

Angelfire

Moonfire

Wanton Angel

Lauralee

Memory’s Embrace

Corbin’s Fancy

Willow

Banner O’Brien

Desire and Destiny

Fletcher’s Woman

Published by POCKET BOOKS

For orders other than by individual consumers, Pocket Books grants a discount on the purchase of
10 or more
copies of single titles for special markets or premium use. For further details, please write to the Vice-President of Special Markets, Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

For information on how individual consumers can place orders, please write to Mail Order Department, Paramount Publishing, 200 Old Tappan Road, Old Tappan, NJ 07675.

The sale of this book without its cover is unauthorized. If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that it was reported to the publisher as “unsold and destroyed.” Neither the author nor the publisher has received payment for the sale of this “stripped book.”

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

An
Original
Publication of POCKET BOOKS

Copyright © 1994 by Linda Lael Miller

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce
this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue
of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

ISBN: 0-671-79793-X
eISBN 978-1-451-60290-6

First Pocket Books printing December 1994

10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2

POCKET STAR BOOKS and colophon are registered
trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc.

Cover art by Mitzura Salgian

Printed in the U.S.A.

To Kathey Bates,
for blow-drying my wristwatch in Rome,
making sure that nonfat lattes arrive on time,
and best of all,
for the introduction to Francis Crawford of Lymond.
Grazie.

PRINCESS
ANNIE

CHAPTER 1
 

St. James Keep, Bavia, 1895

“W
hat the
deuce
is she doing up there?” Rafael St. James, prince of Bavia, demanded, bending as far out his chamber window as he could without plunging headfirst into the empty moat.

A light and drizzling rain was falling, that gloomy evening in late May, but he could see all too clearly. Annie Trevarren, a lithe, barefooted figure clad in a pair of kidskin breeches and a flowing shirt that might have been pinched from his own wardrobe, was embracing the face of a gargoyle on the crumbling parapet of the south tower.

Rafael felt an inward wrench at the sight of her, a tug born of something other than fear for her safety.

Beside him, his eighteen-year-old sister, Phaedra, fidgeted and wrung her hands. “Annie wanted a clear view of the lake,” she said, as if that were reason enough to risk life and limb. “You mustn’t be angry, Rafael, she can’t help her adventurous nature—boldness runs in the Trevarren family, you know….”

He cursed Miss Annie Trevarren
and
her alleged “adventurous nature” as he whirled away from the window and sprinted across the room toward the yawning doors, which stood a little ajar because of Phaedra’s abrupt entrance. The princess scurried along behind him, moving as rapidly as her cumbersome skirts would allow and prattling the whole way. Rafael ran down the hall toward the enclosed staircase in the southern-most corner of the keep.