Illusion. Emily French

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      Praise “You’re freezing. Come upstairs. I have a fire going in the drawing room.” Letter to Reader Title Page About the Author Dedication 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 Copyright

      What the critics had to say about Emily French’s first book

      —CAPTURE

      “...fast-paced, action-filled, and beautifully romantic...”

      —Affaire de Coeur

      “Emily French writes of tribal living in primitive North America with starling intensity...The sexual tension never ebbs...”

      —Romantic Times

      “...a touch of mysticism and spiritualism adds to the eerie feeling that her audience is living this novel.”

      —The Talisman

      “5s.”

      —Heartland Critiques

      “Put Capture on your must read list; it is a gripping tale of survival and love.”

      —Rendezvous

      “You’re freezing. Come upstairs. I have a fire going in the drawing room.”

      Seth Weston just stood there for a moment Doubt crossed his face. In a strange kind of elfin way, Sophy van Houten seemed timid and embarrassed, yet he knew she was playing a game. A dangerous game.

      Not only was she flirting with her looks, she was dangling her money as bait. She was even breaking conventions and inviting him into her private drawing room. It was incredible what a wealthy woman would do for amusement.

      He quickly weighed his chances of backing out and laughing the whole mess off as a joke, yet something stopped him. Looking down at her, he realized that Sophy interested him. Her eyes were huge with some carefully concealed emotion. As if it had taken an astonishing amount of nerve to confront him. For the first time in months, genuine delight flared in his blue eyes....

      Dear Reader,

      Emily French’s first book, Capture, was released in 1994 during our popular March Madness promotion and earned the author some wonderful reviews.

      Ms. French’s second book, Illusion, is the emotional story of the growing love between a couple drawn into a marriage of convenience that is threatened by embezzlement and extortion. We hope you will enjoy this intriguing story.

      In Lion’s Legacy, the third book of Suzanne Barclay’s Lion Trilogy, a Scottish warrior is hired to protect a tower from English raiders, only to discover that his benefactor has nothing to give him in return for his services but the hand of his unwilling granddaughter.

      Diamond is the first in award-winning author Ruth Langan’s new Western series, The Jewels of Texas, which features four sisters who think they are only children until the death of their father brings them all together at his ranch in Texas. And in our fourth book for the month, Twice Upon Time, Nina Beaumont’s second Harlequin Historical time-travel novel, the author weaves an exciting tale of an ancient curse and a passion too strong to be denied.

      Whatever your taste in reading, we hope to keep you coming back for more. Please look for Harlequin Historical novels wherever books are sold.

      Sincerely,

      Tracy Farrell

      Senior Editor

      Please address questions and book requests to:

      Harlequin Reader Service

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

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

      Illusion

      Emily French

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      EMILY FRENCH

      A living passion for the past, combined with the sheer joy of writing, has lured Emily French away from the cold ivory tower of factual academia to warm, heartfelt historical romance. She likes her novels to be full of adventure and humor, her heroes to be intelligent and kind, and her heroines to be witty and spirited.

      Emily lives on the East Coast of Australia with her husband, John. Her interests are listed as everything that doesn’t have to do with a needle and thread.

      To Wayne Pierre Beattie and

      Thomas Carroll Geoghegan

      soldiers both

      who saw service in Vietnam and World War II

      and to whom freedom owes a debt

      What if we fly

      on ethereal highs

      through cloud-soft illusions!

      Our dreams are welded

      to burning desires

      flares in the mind’s sky

      ...meteorites!

      The author acknowledges kind permission to use the extract from the poem, “being in love,” by Heather Farmer (Of Dreams and Desires, 1993)

      Chapter One

      Yonkers, New York—September, 1865

      “Did anyone ever tell you, you’re a mighty stubborn woman, Sophy van Houten?”

      Taking several deep breaths to choke back the sobs that were threatening to well up in her throat, Sophy focused very hard on the street scene outside the window. She was not one of the indomitable van Houtens for nothing. She would give a good account of herself if she had to. Resist as long as she was able.

      The van Houtens had always been proud. Their lineage