He caught her wrist and held it captive. The smile never wavered, though there was a slight edge to it. Very quietly, he slipped her grandmother’s ring upon her hand. “Careful, woman, you are talking about the father of your future children.”
The smile that rose to her lips came slowly and flowered like a sunrise reaching its zenith. Love radiated from it, as well as from her eyes. She looked down upon the ring and watched it catch the sun. It was time to accept it, she thought. The ring and her love.
“Yes, I suppose I am, aren’t I?”
It was then that he saw it. His salvation. She was his salvation, redeeming him from the depths of the hell where life had cast him. And he would never take that for granted.
He took both her hands in his. “Beth, the last two and a half months were the worst I have ever spent, even worse than the two weeks I languished in the Tower, waiting to be hanged.”
“You never did tell me how you came to be there,” she reminded him.
He kissed the top of her head. “Another time, when we are lying in one another’s arms and the night that stretches out before us is long. The point is, my own men were about to hang me if I didn’t come here to you.”
So it hadn’t been his idea, but someone else’s? No, she thought, no one could make Duncan do what he chose not to do. Still, she could not resist teasing a little. “So they are to blame for your being here?”
He shook his head and said solemnly, “No, Beth, that blame lies with you.”
“With me?” She laid her hand on his chest and felt his heart beat beneath her fingers. Warmth began to curl through her. “How am I the cause of your long travels?”
He took her once more into his arms and swore he would never let her free as long as he lived.
“For being everything I never believed existed. For haunting my days and my nights for wanting you. What I told your father was true. I am a poor man on my own. Save for the money I have put by, what I have belongs to Sin-Jin.”
She knew Sin-Jin and knew that he would never force Duncan to leave his land. But that had never been the point.
She slowly shook her head. “No, that is not true.” When he raised his brow questioningly, she explained. “I don’t belong to Sin-Jin, and you have me. You have always had me.”
Duncan’s heart felt as if it would surely burst in its joy. “Then I truly am the richest man on the face of the earth.”
She could feel the heat of his body as it spoke to hers. She smiled at him invitingly and looked over her shoulder. There were none watching now. She blessed her father for that.
Beth twined her fingers with Duncan’s.
“Come, there is a back way to my room that only I know of.” Her smile grew as mischief entered her eyes. “Perhaps you would like to sift your newly regained treasure through your hands.”
“Eagerly.”
Her expression grew serious for a moment before she led him inside. “It’s been too long since you touched me, Duncan, and my body cries for yours.”
“No more than mine does for you, Beth. No more than mine does for you.”
It was some time before they emerged again to speak with her father. And none went to look for them.
None would have dared.
Marie Ferrarella
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And read the second book in the Moonlight series!
Moonlight Lover
Sin-Jin and the Irish Spitfire!
Rachel needed nothing but her brother and a good musket to hold off the men who came at her like hungry wolves--until Sin-Jin Lawrence taught her what love was really for.
An unforgiving heart
In the bitter wake of devastating tragedy, Rachel O'Roarke and her brother had fled Ireland to seek refuge on the shores of Colonial America. But Rachel could never forget how the British had destroyed her family, and knew she'd hate them until she died. Then a tall, blond-haired stranger showed up on the doorstep of their Virginia home. His name was St. John Lawrence, he was obviously English…and far too handsome for his own good. Though she vowed to have nothing to do with him, the spirited, flame-haired beauty soon found herself unable to resist his virile charms…especially when he swept her into his arms in the silvery moonlight and claimed her lips in a heart-stirring kiss that made her senses reel and her heart cry out for his loving caress!
An unrelenting passion
St. John had turned his back on his oppressive homeland to throw in his lot with the rebels. But the former officer found himself facing off against a very different kind of adversary when he escorted drunken Riley O'Roarke home…and was confronted by a fiery Irish beauty wielding a loaded musket! Headstrong Rachel made clear that he was unwelcome in her home. But the reluctant passion blazing in her emerald eyes told a different story indeed! And now all the enflamed Englishman wanted to do was draw her lush curves close against him, kiss her until she begged for more--and posses her forever in love's ultimate embrace!
Buy it at Amazon now!
The Women's Contemporary Originals from Marie Ferrarella--Read them all!
SAPPHIRE AND SHADOW
"A look at the grit beneath the glitz and one woman's triumph over both"--Nora Roberts
SAPPHIRE AND SHADOW is a vivid and compelling story of heart break and betrayal, of facing the death of dreams you've built your life on, of picking up the pieces and learning to live again. Johanna Whitney somehow draws from deep inside to find the strength to triumph in the end.
CHOICES
Shanna Brady has spent her whole life living in the shadow of her family, from her mother the socialite to her father the senator to her husband the aspiring politician. When she finds her husband in bed with his secretary, she vows to stand on her own. But a brilliant speech writer desperately wants to stand beside her. .
FLASH AND FIRE
She's smart, she's tough, she's beautiful. But can she type?
Never mind. Amanda knows what she's doing and she doesn't need the incredibly annoying Pierce Alexander, who thinks he's the world's gift to women, trying out his latest seduction techniques at every turn. But there he is, getting under her skin, being adorable with her baby, befriending her nanny, and ambushing her at the supermarket. She gives in--just a little--only to find him taking over her job when her main antagonist at the television station where she's an anchor sets her up for dismissal. Can she fight them all on her own?
Just watch her!
Marie's Women’s Contemporary Originals
USA Today and Publisher's Weekly bestselling author Marie Ferrarella is releasing her three hard-to-find women's contemporary novels written in the tradition of Danielle Steel, Nora Roberts and Debbie Macomber. Finally available again, these heart-tugging stories explore the tangled emotional lives of three women. Buy them now.
Marie’s Originals
are reprints of books published earlier by Bantam’s Loveswept line or Berkley/Jove and made available again in e-book form. There are six books currently being published in this format only.
1. Irresistible Forces
2. No Way to Treat A Lover
3. December 32….And Always
4. Smoldering Embers
5. Scenes From The Heart
6. Claimed by Rapture
They can be read in any order. Enjoy them all!
You can buy one here:
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Moonlight Surrender (Moonlight Book 3) Page 33