And Claire had always idolized and trusted Dane.With his worldly reputation, Claire conceded Dane was not the marrying kind, so when he agreed she promised to make no demands on him. But Dane made no promise in return - and insisted on a few conditions of his own.

    And Jared Faulkner was demanding a reckoning.Purdey wasn't proud of the way she'd treated Jared in the past, even though at the time she could see no real alternative.But it was a fearful price Jared wanted to extract from her-far greater than she'd expected to pay. And just as before she could see no other way out. Jared had her in his power and could so easily crush her....

    "So stop the charade about amnesia, Lyn. I don't want to hear any more of your lies."The girl's eyes darkened with hurt and weariness. What did he mean? He called her "Lyn," but she didn't really know who she was or where she had come from. He said they were engaged, yet he treated her with savage antagonism. He even suspected her amnesia to be a lie!Bewilderment and unhappiness fought in he paleface. If only she could remember . . . .

    Then he insisted she marry him--not because he loved her, but because of the result of his own unbridled passion. "No child of mine," he claimed, "is going to suffer for my mistakes. "Their marriage, seeped in mistrust, was doomed from the start. Rachel refused to be a surrogate wife and fled before Nick could stop her....And before her hungry, foolish heart told her to stay and fight for his love.

    She only knew that her new husband's heart seemed to have little room for love.Yet somewhere behind Vince's harsh unrelenting exterior, Cara glimpsed a man who might someday need more than a pawn in a deadly game of revenge.

    Autumn Milski had to see Saul Cresswell just one more time before she could reconcile herself to the fact that the man she loved hated her.... It was a reckless decision. Despite her assumed name, there was always a danger that Saul would recognize the girl she'd once been. A girl he blamed for the accident that had robbed him of his sight -- and whom he would clearly never forget or forgive!

    "And I always get what I want."Since Nick's cruel rejection, Abby had built a satisfying new life for herself and little Jonathan. And now Nick needed his son and was quite ruthlessly blackmailing her into returning him.But he needn't think he'd have everything his own way; this time Abby was determined to show that she was more than a match for him. If only the old attraction between them weren't still so powerful...

    Daniel didn't love her--he was just fulfilling a promise he'd made to take care of her.--So Laine fled--a married woman, but still an innocent!Two years later, broke and vulnerable, Laine has to face Daniel again. And this time Daniel will take the wedding night that should have been his.--

    Dawn Sheridan's beautiful, calculating mother had destroyed Logan's older brother, and Logan had sworn vengeance. When he won the Sheridan ranch in a poker game he should have been satisfied -- but he wasn't. Dawn, who resembled her beautiful mother so closely, was the perfect target for his anger. Yet Logan found that in hurting her, he came away wounded.Dawn understood what Logan was afraid to admit -- that what he wanted from her was love, not hatred. She gave him that love, risking everything to reach the gentle, caring man beneath his pain, knowing that if she lost, Logan would finally have the vengeance he sought.

    There she had met Matthew Silver.Meeting him again four years later was no accident. He had manipulated events to put her back in his power, and she found that the gentle, considerate lover she'd known had become an unfeeling, hard stranger.He blamed her for their breakup yet he was the one who had left. Carrie had resolved Matt would never know that her husband was a figment of her imagination and that her twin daughters were his own.

    That was before she was forced to marry Luke Gallagher, almost a total stranger.Cressy, Sara's selfish stepsister, had filled Luke's head with lies, and now he believed Sara to be a despicable fortune hunter. There was no way to change his mind.But Luke's hatred was only part of the trouble. For despite her efforts to the contrary, Sara found herself falling in love with her new husband.

    The Purchased Wife by Michelle Reid released on May 31, 2005 is available now for purchase.

    All he'd wanted was a lovely, biddable wife. Instead Francesca had taken off before the first dance at their wedding breakfast! But Rocco has tracked down his runaway young bride, and now she's back by his side--where a good Sicilian wife should be! Rocco was cheated out of his wedding night--and now nothing's going to stop him from taking his virgin bride....

    So why was he back? Elisa trusted Salvatore di Vitale as far as she could throw him. And, as the wealthy Sicilian was over six feet tall, that wasn't very far.Salvatore told Elisa he had come to protect her. And if their close proximity led to passion...and if passion should lead to pregnancy...all the better! Because then Elisa would have to marry him, which was Salvatore's plan all along.

    And as executor of the will he planned to do everything in his power to contest her claim.For the most part Tiffany could understand Eliot's obvious contempt for her. But she was confused by the passionate desire he was capable of arousing in her.Suddenly it became overwhelmingly important that Eliot learn the truth about his uncle—even if it meant jeopardizing her own happiness.