The Determined Virgin

The Determined Virgin
Elizabeth August

FROM VIRGIN BRIDE TO VIRGIN WIFE?Newlyweds Garth and Hesper Lawton had agreed not to consummate their marriage of convenience. But as the groom fought his feelings and desire for his sweet, innocent bride, he grumpily realized she intended to remain a virgin wife forever!With her wedding ring gleaming on her finger, and her love for her husband gleaming in her eyes, Hesper wished she was more than a wife in name only. But how could she tell Garth what could happen if he introduced her to passion? Would he run for the hills? Or would he make their marriage as real as their love had become?

Table of Contents

Cover Page (#ufeccdf96-38d0-5cfb-8fa1-35420f07cb09)

Excerpt (#u97373f84-9d86-595d-8530-91c7dc48689d)

Dear Reader (#u24f95a83-9900-519d-8e72-70b1c90775ba)

Title Page (#u45e5712b-5f4b-5cc0-86a3-79bf422c76de)

About the Author (#u24ec864f-6507-5f19-b891-ee804c50864a)

Chapter One (#ue16c6667-1108-568b-9925-4eb8d19c2c62)

Chapter Two (#u58d7556e-7c43-5432-a8f3-2ce4446c92f7)

Chapter Three (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Garth lay quietly wondering what he should do.

When the alarm had gone off, he’d woken to discover his wife in his arms. He’d heard her groan of displeasure at being disturbed and lay quietly as she turned off the alarm and curled back up beside him. As she draped her leg over his, the arousal he’d been experiencing grew more intense. He knew she was more asleep than awake and, thus, not really responsible for her actions, but he couldn’t help noting that she was very sexy when her cold shield was down.

She’s your wife in name only, he reminded himself. He’d made a bargain with this woman that he would make no attempt to consummate their marriage—and he was a man of his word. But he was also only human and his control was being seriously tested….

Dear Reader,

The month of June makes me think of June brides, Father’s Day and the first bloom of summer love. And Silhouette Romance is celebrating the start of summer with six wonderful books about love and romance.

Our BUNDLE OF JOY this month is delivered by Stella Bagwell’s The Tycoon’s Tots—her thirtieth Silhouette book. As her TWINS ON THE DOORSTEP miniseries continues, we finally discover who gets to keep those adorable babies…and find romance in the bargain.

Elizabeth August is back with her much-loved SMYTHESHIRE, MASSACHUSETTS series. In The Determined Virgin you’ll meet a woman whose marriage of convenience is proving to be very inconvenient, thanks to her intense attraction to her “in-name-only” husband.

BACHELOR GULCH is a little town that needs women, and the name of Sandra Steffen’s brand-new miniseries. The fun begins in Luke’s Would-Be Bride as a local bachelor falls for his feisty receptionist—the one woman in town not looking for a husband!

And there are plenty more compelling romances for you this month: A lovely lady rancher can’t wait to hightail it out of Texas—till she meets her handsome new foreman in Leanna Wilson’s Lone Star Rancher. A new husband can’t bear to tell his amnesiac bride that the baby she’s carrying isn’t his, in Her Forgotten Husband by Anne Ha. And one lucky cowboy discovers a night of passion has just made him a daddy in Teresa Southwick’s The Bachelor’s Baby.

I hope you enjoy all of June’s books!

Melissa Senate, Senior Editor

Silhouette Romance

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

The Determined Virgin

Elizabeth August

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

ELIZABETH AUGUST

lives in western North Carolina, with her husband, Doug, and her three boys, Douglas, Benjamin and Matthew. She began writing romances soon after Matthew was born. She’s always wanted to write.

Elizabeth does counted cross-stitching to keep from eating at night. It doesn’t always work. “I love to bowl, but I’m not very good. I keep my team’s handicap high. I like hiking in the Shenandoahs, as long as we start up the mountain so the return trip is down rather than vice versa.” She loves to go to Cape Hatteras to watch the sun rise over the ocean. Elizabeth August has also published under the pseudonym Betsy Page.

Chapter One (#ulink_02b77563-2007-5385-8fc5-4054f8a7e391)

Garth Lawton watched the older model Chevy as it came up the driveway. His was not a passive inspection. It was a trained one. During his years in the military, under the code name of Raven, he’d been involved in undercover operations that had required an acute awareness of his surroundings in order to survive. The habit had become inbred and was now a part of his character.

Since retiring from the service, he’d been working for his former superior, Tobias Smith. From an estate outside of Craftsbury Common, Vermont, Tobias ran a very discreet, very expensive private investigative service. His clients found him through word of mouth and those mouths belonged to some of the most influential people in the world. Normally the ones who came seeking help arrived in limousines, Mercedeses or BMWs, sometimes even Rolls-Royces.

And they were very respectful. Garth had answered when the front gate intercom had buzzed. The female voice on the other end had asked merely for Tobias, not Mr. Smith, and she’d sounded angry and impatient. There had been no hint of the deference he was used to hearing.

Having served as Tobias’s personal bodyguard for the last years of his service, Garth’s natural reaction was to behave protectively toward his employer. He’d reported the visitor to Tobias but advised him not to admit her. However, when told that a Hesper O’Grady was at the gate, curiosity had flickered in Tobias’s eyes, then he’d grinned.

“Well, don’t keep her waiting. Admit her,” he ordered. “I’ll be in my study.”

When Garth had returned to buzz her in, he’d received an icy thanks, letting him know she resented being kept waiting.

Looks like Tobias might find he’s caught a tiger by the tail with this one, Garth thought as the car came to a halt and the driver climbed out. A classy tiger, he amended, noting the gray pin-striped suit with the fitted tailored jacket, pink silk blouse and wide-legged pants. The woman had a nice figure, curves in all the right places. She was medium build, not too skinny. He’d never cared much for skinny women. Practical, black, two-inch-heeled shoes matched her shoulder bag. He judged her height in bare feet to be about five feet seven inches.

The late-afternoon sun brought out the red highlights of her auburn hair. It was long, hanging in soft waves to below her shoulders. Redheads were generally trouble, he recalled. His gaze shifted to her face. Green eyes. Red hair and green eyes were definitely warning signals. And freckles. Carefully applied makeup hid them, but he was certain they were there. Her lips were sensuously full and her nose fitted the rest of her features. If she wasn’t wearing such a hostile expression, she’d be pretty, he decided, not gorgeous but pretty. As it was, he saw her only as dangerous. His body tensed for action.