Tempting Bella
(Current Finalist, 2011 Maggie contest)
Mirabella can hardly remember the man she married as a girl. And it's just as well. She feels nothing but contempt for the man who married her for her fortune and promptly forgot she existed.
Since then, Bella's had no use for the company of gentlemen — until temptation appears in the form of an olive-skinned stranger with haunting eyes the color of a turbulent sea.
Sebastian has been apart from his child bride since their wedding day — after a teenaged marriage forced upon him to rescue his family from certain ruin. His attempt to honor his vows to his absent wife have earned him the nickname, "The Saint." But when he encounters an enchanting impish beauty at the opera, Sebastian cannot resist learning who she is.
He is thrilled to find she is none other than his long-ago bride.
Already resentful of his early abandonment, Bella is suspicious of her husband's unusual activities — mysterious midnight outings and apparent liaisons with pretty servant girls. Then there is the mounting evidence that Sebastian is not who he claims to be.
Guarding the painful secret of his true identity, Sebastian is entranced by Bella. Delighted by his good fortune, he is eager to make her his wife in truth. But he soon realizes the beguiling lady has no intention of coming meekly to the marriage bed!
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