Masked Desire — Elaine Angelus Kehler

Lord Raine Westcott never wanted the title he would inherit. He never wanted to return to England. He certainly didn't want a wife. Yet he is an honorable man. He leaves his tropical paradise to fulfill a promise he made years before--to marry the heiress, Amelia Beckwith. The task is not as easy as he thought. The mysterious seductress he meets at a masked ball is an intoxicating contrast to his proper and reluctant bride-to-be. Raine becomes torn between two worlds and his future is precariously balanced on the edge. Caught between honor and desire, dark secrets and the truth, great wealth and the killer stalking him. Amelia Beckwith, is promised to a man she does not remember, Lord Raine Westcott, the next Earl of Cotham. What better way to learn about her future husband than behind a mask at a Ball? Naïvely she imagines the evening will be as romantic and exciting as a scene from her favorite book. The encounter goes terribly wrong and she believes Raine is a scoundrel and not to be trusted. Angry and hurt, she vows she will never love him. Yet, when he is injured during a hunt she knows if he dies a part of her would die with him.