The Country Wife (14 page)

“I don’t think he really cared,” Lilli said. “He’s put aside his hatred for Edward and Jane and is even now galloping toward a new betrothed who will bring him the additional wealth he seeks.”

“Aye,” Callum said, approaching the bed. He was nude now and his lean body drew her attention. “If he only knew the real treasure is found with the woman you love. Come, wench, take off your clothes.”

“Aye, m’laird,” she said softly and slid off the edge of the bed, but he was there, his hands moving across her fastenings, pushing aside her clothes, caressing and touching every inch of exposed bare flesh.

“I’ll never get enough of you,” he said as if in wonder.

His gaze met hers, and her breath grew shallow.

“Nor I, you,” she said.

He swept her up in his arms and laid her on the bed, her hips resting on the edge then he knelt and kissed every place he’d touched. When her body was thrumming with need, he placed a pillow beneath her hips and spread her knees wide, placing her legs over his shoulders as he pushed his hard cock deep inside her. Lilli gloried in the familiar feeling of his cock—the smooth, hot probing, the mounting passion that claimed her and left her speechless. With his weight supported on his muscular arms, he pounded against her, gaining more purchase with his feet planted on the floor. Waves of ecstasy washed across her, pushing her higher. Suddenly, he halted and stared down at her. Her body screamed for release.

“The baby?” he said, his face stricken with apprehension.

“Oh, you fool,” she said lovingly. “The baby’s fine. Get on with it.”

And he did.

About the Author

Temple Hogan is the author of over forty books, some hard cover, under the name of Peggy Hanchar and Peggy Roberts. She lives on an inland lake in Michigan with her husband, three cats and one naughty Shitz Tzu named Gizz. Her hobbies are cooking, gardening, acrylic painting and reading detective stories. She’s currently at work on her next book.

Temple loves to talk to her readers and can be found at TempleHogan.blogspot.com.

The Reluctant Bride
by Temple Hogan

Book One in the
Scottish Love Songs
Series

Logan MacPherson and his highlander clan have returned from a brutal war against Cromwell’s English forces in which they lost. Now is the time to make peace, but old feuds ignite and threaten to take all Logan values, even the beautiful daughter of an old friend whom he’s pledged to marry and protect.

Cailla MacLaren is no ordinary damsel in distress. While her father is away fighting the hated English, she’s commanded the ragged forces that protect her family home. She’s prepared to die, if she must, to repel Donel Moncrieffe who wants her castle and her body. When Logan whisks her from Tioram, forcing her to travel to his family home, Cluny, and takes her as a country wife, she’s determined to return, with or without Logan’s help. But dark forces are rising against them, and this reluctant bride might get more than she bargained for.

The Centurion and the Queen
by Minnette Meador

Marius has been stationed on the island of 60AD Britannia for sixteen years, his demotion from the famous Praetorian Guard to Centurion brought about when he was suspected of involvement in the assassination of Caligula. He is intimately aware of his duty, even when it clashes against the natural compassion he tries to subdue, and he secretly wants nothing more than to get off this accursed island so he can return to his home.  Once a celebrated Roman hero, Marius still clings to the old traditions as a fair but tough leader to his men.  When Delia enters his life, she challenges everything he believes, effortlessly strips away years of Roman conditioning, and angers him to the point of betraying his training--and his oaths.  He simply cannot resist her.

Delia is sister to an indolent Celtic king, but that role has turned to nothing more than another surrender. All she can do now is help her people survive the gradual conquest by Rome and their suicidal pride as so many throw themselves against the unstoppable Roman machine. Fighting desperately to save as many as she can, Delia knows there is no hope for her future. Her training as a warrior and a queen means very little in the wake of a declining civilization, and this beautiful, proud woman has to struggle for every joy. The last thing she expected was to find herself craving the touch of an enemy.

They discover an impossible love, a surprising passion they both thought had died, and something they had never imagined, or thought they deserved. They are thrown into the clash between an Iceni queen with 50,000 angry Bretons and a clever Roman general with only 10,000 legionnaires. Marius and Delia have their lives, their beliefs, and their roles turned inside out as they find themselves fighting on opposing sides, in love, and unable to change the future. The revolution would spark their desire, but nearly destroy them both.

Lady of the Isle
by Temple Hogan

From the Sea
Series, Book One

From the sea, two tormented souls are washed ashore—one a beautiful, mysterious lady, the other a man who'd once been the King's warrior and is now a lowly fisherman. As Rioghnach and Cormac learn to heal and trust in love again, they spend sun-seared days and starlit nights exploring the need that draws them together.

Beast
by Abigail Barnette

Naughtily Ever After
, Book Three

Accused of treason by his own father, Prince Philipe of Chevudon finds his flight to safety cut short by an arrow to the shoulder. There is only one person to whom he can turn for help, the only woman he ever loved, the only person he ever truly betrayed…

Following the destruction of her home and family in a fire that left her horribly disfigured, Johanna has lived a life of hardship and pain. When her lost love comes to her, wounded and on the run from his father’s guard, she cannot turn him away. But she cannot forgive him either.

Can a prince who was once a beast earn back the love he cast aside?

Tutoring Miss Molly
by Lyn Armstrong

Desperate to help her sick aunt through another brutal winter on their meager farm, Molly Cambridge will do anything to survive. Even if it means becoming a courtesan at the scandalous Harmon Manor. To catch the eye of a wealthy benefactor, she must learn the art of carnal pleasure from a resentful Marquess. Yet her traitorous heart cannot resist the handsome tutor that harbors secrets that may destroy them both. With attempts on her life and time running short, love is a luxury a courtesan can ill afford.

Bored with the spoiled, decadent lifestyle of the infamous sex society, Lord Devlin Harman has little time for courtesans and their cunning wiles. Blackmailed into tutoring an inexperienced courtesan, he is determined to show the farm girl the error of her ways. However, a unique beauty exists beneath the mud-stained rags, causing his jaded heart to melt and his flesh to burn for her touch. If she does not become the chosen courtesan at the mistress auction, he must marry a devious aristocrat by spring. Can he let Molly be a courtesan to gain freedom from his marriage contract? Or will he sacrifice everything for a farm girl?

Heat Lightning
by Patricia Pellicane

Arizona Heat
Series, Book Three

Abby was going home for her mother’s wedding. Caught in a train crash, she was horrified to suddenly find a strange man laying over her. That he was attractive bore no consideration. This simply could not happen. “Don’t fall asleep,” she pleaded, “oh please, don’t.”  What had she ever done to cause this impossible moment? She couldn’t stay here. She couldn’t! She’d never sleep while pressed to the train’s filthy floor, held in place by the full length of a strange man.

The night went wild with the sounds of shattering glass, crushing metal and wood splintering into a million jagged pieces. Linc realized he taken a blow to his head. Something had hit him hard. He was bleeding, he thought, but the pain was already easing some. There wasn’t an inch of space and nothing he could do about it. Something held him in place. Hours later he awoke to find himself sprawled over the softest women. It took a moment before he remembered. She was that neat, little piece he’d been talking to seconds before the crash. Damn, if she didn’t smell and taste delicious. Could he be blamed for sampling a morsel of luscious woman? After all if she truly didn’t want it, wouldn’t she have stopped him?

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