The Princess And The Duke

The Princess And The Duke
Allison Leigh

Princess Meredith Elizabeth Penwyck had filled her fantasies with Duke Pierceson Prescott's silvery-green gaze for as long as she could remember. But then they shared a steamy kiss at a royal wedding, and the pristine princess discovered that her feelings were much more than make-believe….Plagued by his perilous past, Duke Prescott had shielded his desire for Princess Meredith since he was a young cadet. But once her lips opened the floodgates of his passion and the truth behind his dark secrets came tumbling out, would he learn that the hole in his heart could only be healed by the princess's tender touch?

“I know when a man has kissed me,”

she said to Duke Prescott. But Princess Meredith Elizabeth Penwyck wasn’t sure. Not at all. For all she knew, she might have imagined that returned pressure of his lips. That sense that he was kissing her back, feeling some semblance of the madness that had stricken her. Imagination? Wishful thinking?

His head lowered an inch and she barely kept herself from taking an unthinkable step away from him. “When I do kiss you, Your Royal Highness, I assure you that you’ll know it.”

She locked her knees to keep them from wobbling. “When?”

“If.”

“It’s not like you to retreat, Colonel. Or misspeak.”

“Of course.” His expression was once again frustratingly inscrutable. “Good morning, then, Your Royal Highness.”

Meredith watched him leave.

When he kissed her?

If only.

The Princess and the Duke

Allison Leigh

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

ALLISON LEIGH

started her career early by writing a Halloween play that her grade-school class performed for her school. Since then, though her tastes have changed, her love for reading has not. And her writing appetite simply grows more voracious by the day.

She has been a finalist for the RITA

Award and the Holt Medallion. But the true highlights of her day as a writer are when she receives word from a reader that they laughed, cried or lost a night of sleep while reading one of her books.

Born in Southern California, she has lived in several different cities in four different states. She has been, at one time or another, a cosmetologist, a computer programmer and a secretary. She has recently begun writing full-time after spending nearly a decade as an administrative assistant for a busy neighborhood church, and currently makes her home in Arizona with her family. She loves to hear from her readers, who can write to her at P.O. Box 40772, Mesa, AZ 85274-0772.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Epilogue

Prologue

“I am going to dance with him.” Meredith’s voice was soft, but filled with certainty. She smoothed her hands down the sides of her ball gown. It was the first time she’d been allowed to wear a strapless gown, and the pale, shimmering green fabric clung to her seventeen-year-old curves.

Her sister Anastasia made a skeptical noise beside her. “Then go ask him,” she goaded with the tormenting disgust of a sister three years younger. “If you are so certain.”

“Be quiet, Ana,” hushed Megan, often the voice of reason between her focused, intelligent older sister and her passionately opinionated younger sister. “Meredith, you have every male in this place under thirty years of age practically desperate to dance with you. I’m sure that Lieutenant Prescott feels the same.”

“He’s old enough to be her father. And he is on duty,” Anastasia reminded them sarcastically. “Remember?”

“The guards are allowed breaks,” Megan countered soothingly.

“Frankly, I can’t imagine what the appeal is,” Anastasia muttered.

“Keep your voice down, Ana,” Meredith warned softly. “Or perhaps you’d like your comments to be printed in tomorrow’s papers.” And the Lieutenant is seven years older than I am, she added silently with a mental, So there.

“Exactly,” Megan murmured. “The three sisters of Penwyck. Meredith the horny, Megan the boring and Ana the loudmouth.”