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RESCUED BY A ROGUE . . .
Orphaned at seventeen, Cajun beauty Angelique Fremont is left to the tender mercies of her profligate uncle Giles in antebellum New Orleans. Then Giles cruelly betrays his niece, offering her on the auction block to his depraved poker companions! Only the intervention of Jean Pierre Delacroix, notorious rogue turned Cupid, saves innocent Angelique from a fate worse than death. Yet Jean Pierre knows he can never make this untouched angel a proper husband, so he engineers a marriage of convenience for Angelique with his wealthy, enigmatic cousin Roland.
TO BECOME A PLANTER’S BRIDE
Angelique is stunned to find herself forced into marriage to handsome, formidable Roland Delacroix. All too soon she is Roland’s bride and mistress of Belle Elise Plantation. Angelique’s mysterious bridegroom both allures and unsettles her, and she struggles between her pride and her budding desire for him. Why does her masterful husband seem to want her one moment, then shun her the next? Why is he so jealous, so determined to control her every move? What are the terrible hurts, ghosts, and betrayals haunting Roland, painful secrets he withholds from her even as their passion ignites? Barely past girlhood, Angelique must confront a woman’s dilemma and fight for Roland and their marriage. For only through overcoming Roland’s demons can the tempestuous couple find true passion, love, and happiness together.
Cajun Bride is a vivid and emotional historical romance of approximately 120,000 words.
Excerpt:
Why does her bridegroom
shun her bed?
Angelique spotted
her husband sitting slumped on the loveseat in his shirtsleeves and
trousers, his body outlined in quicksilver light. Roland’s shirt
was partially unbuttoned, revealing the dense, dark hair on his
chest, and his sleeves were rolled up, baring his muscular forearms.
He was asleep. A crisp breeze wafted through the window beyond,
billowing the curtains, and she reasoned that the wind must have
blown out the lamp.
She approached
him, and found there was something quite endearing about his
countenance as he slept, his breathing deep and regular.
Leaning over him,
she whispered his name.
He didn’t
respond and she said it again, louder.
Her husband’s
eyes opened and he stared up at her.
“Roland, I’m
sorry,” she whispered achingly.
When he still
didn’t respond, she added breathlessly, “I mean—about the
things I said today. They were cruel and—it’s not like me to be
cruel.”
Still, he said
nothing, just staring up at her with his beautiful, deep-set eyes,
hypnotizing her. He looked sad and oddly vulnerable. After a moment,
for a reason she couldn’t fathom, she leaned over and pressed her
mouth gently on his—
The next thing she
knew, she was dragged down onto Roland’s lap, his arms like bands
of steel around her as he crushed her lips with his own. His mouth
was hot, devouring, tasting heavily of brandy. Her senses swam in his
male scent. His tongue stole into her mouth, drinking boldly of every
texture and recess. She felt electrified, shaken, aroused . . . And
she couldn’t have been more conscious of the fact that she was
half-clothed, totally vulnerable to this powerful stranger.
Within seconds,
she was pressed beneath him on the love seat, his dark gaze burning
down into hers. And then he spoke—hoarse, agonized words. “Do you
know why I’ve been staying away, little Cajun? Haven’t you any
idea how you’ve haunted me? Oh, I want you, ma chère. I do
want you so!”
His words were
tortured, the naked desire in his eyes making her heart race, and
even as he spoke, his strong thighs were nudging hers apart, a bold
hand raking up her bare thigh.
“By God, tonight
you’ll find out,” he said, lowering his lips to her own . . .
Copyright © 1990 by
Eugenia Riley Essenmacher
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