A Perilous Attraction

A Perilous Attraction
Patricia Frances Rowell

The Altar Made An Inauspicious Start To MarriageBut because dire financial straits had bound her to the enigmatic Earl of Caldbeck, Catherine Maury resolved to make the best of it. Yet could she break through his mysterious restraint and uncover the secret of his true nature?Charles Randolph, Earl of Caldbeck, had always guarded his emotions closely, and an insidious danger to his people only deepened his reserve. But now that he'd taken fiery, greathearted Catherine to wife, he could feel that the walls around his heart were close to tumbling down!

“You are badly in need of money. I have a great deal of it.”

Catherine felt the color flooding her face again. “I hope I am not so mercenary.”

“No, I don’t perceive you as mercenary—the word I would use would be desperate.” He waited patiently for a reply.

Catherine struggled with warring emotions. He was right—her situation was desperate. Still, she balked at being forced into anything, let alone a marriage she didn’t want to a man she hardly knew and had no hope of understanding. She took refuge in anger, a much stronger and more comfortable emotion than desperation.

“And you wish to take advantage of my predicament!”

Caldbeck’s expression never changed. “I simply propose a mutually beneficial arrangement.”

“And what do you hope to gain?”

“Your beauty, your energy, your superb elegance. You…warm me….”

Harlequin Historicals is delighted to introduce debut author Patricia Frances Rowell

#619 BORDER BRIDE

Deborah Hale

#620 BADLANDS LAW

Ruth Langan

#622 MARRIED BY MIDNIGHT

Judith Stacy

A Perilous Attraction

Patricia Frances Rowell

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

Available from Harlequin Historicals and PATRICIA FRANCES ROWELL

A Perilous Attraction #621

For Judy Elise Rhodes,

my friend in this world and all others.

And for my chosen sister, Sue Harvey Harrison.

No one has encouraged me more.

And—always—for my hero, Johnny.

Contents

Prologue (#ua9337ae1-a082-5e06-bd93-31609f62b74a)

Chapter One (#ue8d6b6bd-b6e6-593c-a781-a254e26ece1c)

Chapter Two (#ude093556-9553-5469-84cd-2dffa3977ffb)

Chapter Three (#uc0de3e74-f4ae-5010-97a5-8f0b503d56e9)

Chapter Four (#u2dbc71fa-9ad6-55c6-aa25-4aaf5b88b5d9)

Chapter Five (#uecf86444-c46b-5059-8604-18c4fa857618)

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)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)