Not Quite
a Wife
The Lost
Lords # 6
By: Mary Jo Putney
Releasing August 26th, 2014
Kensington
Marry in haste, repent at leisure.
James, Lord Kirkland, owns a shipping fleet, half a London gaming house,
and is a ruthlessly effective spymaster. He is seldom self-indulgent…except
when it comes to the gentle, indomitable beauty who was once his wife.
Laurel Herbert gave James her heart as an innocent young girl—until she
saw him perform an act of shocking violence before her very eyes. That night
she left her husband, and he let her go without a word of protest.
Laurel’s
remembering ended when Kirkland moved restlessly, his face shiny with
perspiration. She frowned and poured another cup of the fever tea. He needed
both the remedy and the fluids. She’d treated enough patients with fever to
know how unpredictable the course could be, alternating between chills and
fever and at its worst, delirium.
She propped him up on the pillows
and slowly coaxed him into drinking more tea. His dark hair was matted with
perspiration and needed a cut. He always wore it a little longer than fashion
decreed. Though she could see fine lines of strain around his eyes, she was
struck by how little his appearance had changed.
He was, what thirty-two now? A man
in the prime of life. When they’d met, he’d been twenty-one. Young.
He was only recently down from Oxford, and had been in possession of his
full inheritance for less than a year.
To her, he’d seemed like a mature
man of the world, but looking back, she realized that they were barely more
than children. If only they’d had sense to wait! But with passion blazing
through their veins, waiting was intolerable, and there were no barriers to
prevent them from marrying.
“Damn you, you’ll not get away with
that!” Kirkland cried out, his voice harsh. He swung his arm, striking Laurel
across her cheek and almost knocking her to the floor.
He began thrashing as if in a fight
for his life. Fearing he’d fall from the examination table, she caught his
shoulder. “James, stop struggling!” she said briskly. “You’re safe now. I’m
with you and you’re safe.”
He stopped trashing and raised his head
to stare at her with mad, unfocused eyes. “Laurel? Is that really you?”
She stroked his damp hair back and
said soothingly. “Indeed it is, James. You’re having one of your fever attacks,
but you’re safe here. You’ll be all right.”
“Oh, God, Laurel!” He caught her around the waist and puller her onto the
table beside him in a crushing embrace. “I had the most ghastly dreams that I’d
lost you. I looked everywhere and couldn’t find you.” His grip tightened as he
said in a hoarse whisper, “You were gone and I was so afraid. So afraid…”
She gasped, shocked by being held
full length against his barely clothed body. She knew she should break free,
but the sheer physical rightness of being in his arms paralyzed her.
Even more shocking was the raw
emotion and need in his voice. When she’d left him, he’d seemed cool and
uncaring, as if relieved that she’d no longer require time and attention. He’d
shown no signs of pain.
Trying to control her trembling, she
said, “I’m not lost, I’m right here. You need to rest and drink more Jesuit’s
bark tea. By morning you should be fine.”
“Now that I’ve found you again” – he
rolled over so that he was braced above her – “I’ll never let you go.
Mary
Jo Putney is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has written
over 60 novels and novellas. A ten-time finalist for the Romance Writers of
America RITA, she has won the honor twice and is on the RWA Honor Roll for
bestselling authors. In 2013 she was awarded the RWA Nora Roberts Lifetime
Achievement Award. Though most of her books have been historical romance, she
has also published contemporary romances, historical fantasy, and young adult
paranormal historicals. She lives in Maryland with her nearest and dearest,
both two and four footed.
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