Saturday, September 12, 2009

FORBIDDEN LOVE ANTHOLOGY



My Outlaw by Stormy Glenn
After getting injured and losing his horse during a cattle drive, Daniel Branson is ordered to ride the stagecoach home back home. Little does he realize that it will put him in the hands of the notorious outlaw, Black Bart. And the handsome outlaw has plans for Daniel that don’t involve holding him for ransom!

Forbidden by H.C. Brown
England 1075—Sir Renoir Danier finds himself in an intolerable situation when he is ordered by King William to marry an elderly Spanish countess. Five years earlier, he met the great love of his life, Sir Sebastian. This deeply sensual dark angel taught him all that a man could give to another. Renoir became a slave to his erotic punishment. After a month of bliss, Sebastian sailed to Spain. Will he return or leave Renoir with a shattered heart?

Poisoned Heart by Anna O'Neill
The ultimate betrayal . . . . In Edo-period Japan, a prominent family might choose to foster a son from another clan in order to encourage peaceful political relations. When Raiden's family invites twenty-three year old Masashi into their lives, their gesture has the opposite effect: Masashi kills Raiden's parents. Now years later Raiden is studying with a master of magic who allows Raiden the chance to go back in time to kill Masashi before Masashi can lift a finger against his family. But when Raiden is faced with his guest-brother once again, much to his horror he finds that his old feelings for Masashi return. With the weight of the future bearing down on Raiden's shoulders, can he overcome these troublesome emotions, or will his new weakness destroy everything?

Deliverance by Aleksandr Voinov
William Raven of Kent joined the Knights Templar to do penance for his sins. Formerly a professional tournament fighter and mercenary, William is brought face-to-face with a past he'd thought he had escaped.


From Stormy Glenn's My Outlaw:
Texas, 1880
“Are you traveling far, sir?”
Daniel Branson glanced across the dusty stagecoach to the young woman sitting across from him. He smiled at her and shook his head. “No, ma’am, I’ll be getting off at Brownsville.”
“You have family in Brownsville?”
Daniel nodded. “You could say that, ma’am.”
The woman glanced at the older gentleman who seemed to be sleeping beside her. Daniel didn’t understand how anyone could sleep through such a rough ride. Every few minutes, the stage coach hit a rut or a pothole and lurched from side to side. His ass felt like it had been dragged through a pile of cactus brush.
“Do you know any outlaws?” she whispered as she glanced over at Daniel again.
He chuckled. “I haven’t met any personally but I hear Black Bart and his gang hole up out this way.”
“Black Bart?” The woman gasped, her eyes widening. “Is he an outlaw?”
“One of the worst, ma’am.” Daniel leaned forward a little. “Why, I hear he’d just as soon shoot you as look at you.”
“And he’s in Brownsville?” the woman asked, a hand covering her mouth and her eyes growing wide.
Daniel shrugged, sitting back in the seat. “I can’t rightly say, ma’am, but I’ve heard a lot of tales about Black Bart since I entered the territory.”
Daniel glanced out the small side window as the woman’s face paled. He could tell from her manners and dress that she had never set foot west of the Mississippi River. He’d wager she was from way back east, maybe even as far as Boston.
He wished the best for her. The west could be an unforgiving place for people not prepared for the rough, harsh realities of life in the uncivilized territories. Many didn’t make it through their first winter before high-tailing it back to civilization.
“You don’t think he’s around here now, do you?”
Daniel turned his attention back to the young woman. He felt a little bad that he had worried her but not enough to take back what he had said about Black Bart. Most of the people he had met on his travels west had no business being out here. He wished they would all just turn around and go back home.
The west was no longer built on dreams from the 1849 gold rush. It was made with the blood and sweat of cowboys and ranchers and settlers strong enough to fight tooth and nail for every inch of land they could dig out of the cold, hard earth.
“No, ma’am, I’m sure he’s moved on to some other area.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Brownsville isn’t a big place. It’s mostly ranchers, some townspeople, and a few outlying farms. I don’t imagine there’s a lot to keep any outlaw in the area for too long a spell.”
The woman seemed to regard Daniel for so long he began to grow uncomfortable. He tried not to fidget, clasping his hands together in his lap to keep from pulling at the collar of his white woolen shirt or the blue bandana tied around his neck.
“If there’s not much in Brownsville, why do you stay there?” the woman finally asked. Daniel could see the curiosity covering her pert little face. Underlying that was a spark of interest he would rather ignore.
“I live just outside of Brownsville, ma’am,” he replied. “I was point rider on a herd of cattle we drove up the Chisholm Trail to Abilene. My horse stepped in a prairie dog hole on the way back, just outside of town, and I had to put him down. I injured my ankle when my horse fell. Cattle boss told me to catch the stage back to the ranch.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” the woman said quietly. Daniel could see the sympathy in her face, hear it in her voice. Even a woman from back east knew the heartache a cowboy felt when they lost a horse, especially a cattle cutting pony. It took years to train an animal to work cattle the way Stickler had. He’d missed that damn peg pony.
When the young woman glanced at the man beside her again then smiled over at him, Daniel’s stomach fell to his feet. He had seen that particular look on enough female faces to know that the flirting was about to begin.
Before he could dissuade her, a loud gunshot sounded outside and the stagecoach jerked to a stop. Daniel leaned out of the side window to see what was going on. His heart pounded frantically when he spotted the five masked men surrounding the stagecoach, their guns drawn.
“What is it?”
Daniel turned to see the young woman had gone as pale as Texas butter. The older man next to her still slept. Daniel held his fingers to his lips and glanced back out the window.
He grimaced as the shotgun rider tossed his rifle to the ground and climbed from his seat. The stagecoach driver followed behind him. They both immediately held their hands up in the air and moved off to one side of the stagecoach. This was not good.

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