A Bride To Honor. Arlene James

>

      “It’s not enough just to be your first, Cass.” Letter to Reader Title Page About the Author Letter to Reader Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Epilogue Copyright

      “It’s not enough just to be your first, Cass.”

      Paul took a deep breath, ignored the thickening of his voice and made himself go on. “Honey, you’re the kind of woman who needs and deserves everything a man has to give—his name, his children, his forever after. That’s not me. I wish it was, but it’s not. Somewhere out there is a man who’ll be your one and only, and I won’t rob you of that just to be your first, not even if it kills me.”

      

      “Why does it have to be like this?” she asked.

      

      He steeled himself and said, “Because I messed up, honey. Now, let me go before this attack of decency passes.”

      

      “Paul, please stay.”

      

      But they both knew he couldn’t. He looked down at her one last time. “Goodbye, Cass. And thank you.”

      

      At that moment Paul knew for once he’d done the right thing for someone else at his own expense, and that someone was Cassidy. No one mattered more....

      Dear Reader,

      

      You’ll find the heartwarming themes of love and family in our November Romance novels. First up, longtime reader favorite Arlene James portrays A Bride To Honor. In this VIRGIN BRIDES title, a pretty party planner falls for a charming tycoon...whom another woman seeks to rope into a loveless marriage! But can honorable love prevail?

      

      A little tyke takes a tumble, then awakes to ask a rough-hewn rancher, Are You My Daddy? So starts Leanna Wilson’s poignant, emotional romance between a mom and a FABULOUS FATHER who “pretends” he’s family. Karen Rose Smith finishes her enticing series DO YOU TAKE THIS STRANGER? with Promises, Pumpkins and Prince Charming. A wealthy bachelor lets a gun-shy single mom believe he’s just a regular guy. Will their fairy-tale romance survive the truth?

      

      FOLLOW THAT BABY, Silhouette’s exciting cross-line continuity series, comes to Romance this month with The Daddy and the Baby Doctor by star author Kristin Morgan. An ex-soldier single dad butts heads with a beautiful pediatrician over a missing patient. Temperatures rise, pulses race—could marriage be the cure? It’s said that opposites attract, and when The Cowboy and he Debutante cozy up on a rustic ranch...well, you’ll just have to read this TWINS ON THE DOORSTEP title by Stella Bagwell to find out! A hairdresser dreams of becoming a Lone Star Bride when a handsome stranger passes through town. Don’t miss the finale of Linda Varner’s THREE WEDDINGS AND A FAMILY miniseries!

      

      Beloved authors Lindsay Longford, Sandra Steffen, Susan Meier and Carolyn Zane return to our lineup next month, and in the new year we launch our brand-new promotion, FAMILY MASTERS. So keep coming back to Romance!

      

      Happy Thanksgiving!

      

      Mary-Theresa Hussey

      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

      A Bride To Honor

      Arlene James

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      ARLENE JAMES

      grew up in Oklahoma and has lived all over the South. In 1976 she married “the most romantic man in the world.” The author enjoys traveling with her husband, but writing has always been her chief pastime.

      Dear Reader,

      

      I knew I was going to like Cassidy Jane Penno, the heroine of A Bride To Honor, from the moment she popped into my mind. Cassidy is pragmatic but charmingly quirky. She is a woman of firm conviction and unconditional love. What’s not to like?

      

      Frankly, I wasn’t so sure about Paul Barclay Spencer. After all, Paul lets himself get into a tricky situation. But Paul turned out to be the finest of men, one who recognizes real treasure, who properly appreciates the rare and the true, a modern man of genuine honor. For Paul, like Cassidy, love runs much deeper than its physical expression, though even he didn’t understand that about himself until it was almost too late.

      

      It is that very principle that stands at the heart of the VIRGIN BRIDES series. We romantics know that true romance is about the depth of reward to be found in the expression of true love, physically and otherwise. Without love, sex is empty and totally self-serving. Within the context of total love and heartfelt commitment, sex is one of God’s greatest gifts to humankind. Cassidy’s innate wisdom tells her this from early on. It’s a truth that Paul has to learn the hard way, but learn it he does, and his reward is A Bride To Honor.

      

      God bless all true romantics,

      Chapter One

      “I know it’s important,” Cassidy said, righting her red yam wig and dusting off her white, ruffled pinafore. “It’s just that it’s so close to Halloween, and you know this is the busiest time of the year for me.”

      William looked as though he wanted to pull his short, expensively styled, yellow blond hair. He took a deep breath, though, and merely straightened his gray silk tie, saying carefully, “That’s why I need this favor.”

      Cassidy smiled and took pity on her too-serious brother. “I said I’d outfit him. I just hope he doesn’t want anything too exotic, that’s all.”

      William leaned across the glass display case, ignoring outrageous false eyelashes, rubber noses, skull caps and an impressive assortment of warts and moles, to seize his sister by the front