USA Today Best-Selling Romance Author

 

EXCERPT FROM:  TEMPORARY HUSBAND

Wynne didn't know how much time passed or how long they lay entwined in each others arms. But with the sating of their passion, sanity returned. Jake was the first to recover.

"You were a virgin," he accused, rolling free of her embrace.

Suddenly self-conscious, she tugged the sheet around her. Not that he seemed terrible concerned about modesty. "I didn't think you'd notice."

"You didn't think I'd..." Outrage battled disbelief. "Take my word for it, I noticed!"

"Does it matter that much?"

He came off the bed, snagging his robe from the floor as he did so. "We discussed this last night at the Montagues," he said, thrusting his arm into the terry cloth sleeve. "I told you flat out that I didn't want to be married to a virgin."

"Well...you're not. At least, not anymore."

His scalding invectives brought a rosy glow to her cheeks. "Don't split hairs with me, lady. Damn it all, I don't want to be saddled with a virgin. I wouldn't know what to do with one."

She gave him an mischievous grin. "What you just did suits me fine. And as I keep pointing out... It's no longer an issue."

"That's not what I meant!" His anger simmered visibly, like heat roiling in the desert air. "You lied to me. You said you'd been engaged three different times."

"I didn't lie. I was engaged three times."

"And not one of them... They never...?"

"Not one of them," she confirmed. "Ever."

"It staggers the imagination," he muttered, then grimaced. "That doesn't change the fact that I need an experienced woman. I need someone who's willing to admit in open court that I... That we..."

She tilted her head to one side. "Yes? That we...what?"

"That we--"

A loud banging sounded at the door. "Aunt Wynne! Aunt Wynne! Wake up."

Jake stiffened. "Now who the hell is that?" Laser-sharp eyes focused on her. "Something I should know about?"

Wynne swallowed nervously. She really wished she'd had a little more time to prepare him. Because she suspected that his annoyance over her innocence would be nothing compared to his annoyance over this next bit of news. Gathering every ounce of self-possession, she offered a tentative smile.

"That," she announced, "is my inheritance."

Related Fairytale Wedding Books:

 

Temporary Husband

Accidental Wife

Shotgun Marriage

Bridegroom on Approval

Long-Lost Bride

Copyright © 1996 by Day Leclaire.  ® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher.  This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.  For more romance information surf to: http://www.eharlequin.com