REESE’S BRIDE – Kat Martin
The Bride’s Trilogy, Book 2
MIRA
ISBN: 978-0-7783-2744-8
January 2010
Historical Romance

England, 1855

Elizabeth Clemens promised to wait for Reese Dewar when he went off to fight with the British Cavalry. Now, eight years later, Reese is back home on his estate, Briarwood, and Elizabeth Clemens Holloway is the recently widowed Countess of Aldridge. Just scant months after she promised to love Reese forever, Elizabeth married Edmund Holloway, the Earl of Aldridge. For Reese, the pain went deeper than the injury he now lives with day in and day out, thinking she married Holloway for his money. Elizabeth was the love of Reese's life, and he will never let himself forgive. So, when Elizabeth ends up standing on his doorstep in the middle of the night asking for shelter for her and her young son, Jared, all Reese wants to do is turn her away. Instead, he gives Elizabeth, her son, and Mrs. Garvey, the nurse, a place to stay until he can sort things out in the morning. As far as Reese is concerned, one way or another, Elizabeth will pay for her treachery before she leaves his protection.

Elizabeth is afraid for her son Jared. Lately she has been unusually ill, so sick she can barely eat or remain awake in the day. Her weakness makes her doubt her own sanity, but instinctively she feels that her brother-in-law, Mason, and his wife, Frances, have been poisoning her; but she has no proof. Her only recourse is to find shelter away from the Aldridge estate, and so she flees to Reese's Briarwood, the one place that neither Mason, nor Frances, can penetrate with their influence. Now that Edmund is dead, Jared is the new earl, but he’s only seven years old, and unable to defend his inheritance, or protect his mother. Mason wants the earldom, and he will stop at nothing to get it, even killing Elizabeth or her son.

Soon, Elizabeth becomes REESE’S BRIDE. Their hasty marriage will give Jared the protection he needs, especially if Reese adopts him. Even so, Reese and Elizabeth tread a fine line around their own feelings. They are both in love with each other, but they have a long way to go before they willingly share a bed. Reese will protect Elizabeth against all odds, even though he can no longer trust her. When she married Holloway just a few months after her promise to him, he figured she waited just until he was out of the country before she went after money and a title, something he could never give her. Too many secrets lie between them, and one by one, both Reese and Elizabeth must unravel the tangled threads from the past so that they can see into a future together.

A host of charming secondary characters make their home in the pages of REESE’S BRIDE, among them: Reese’s brothers, Royal Dewar, the Duke of Bransford, and his wife Lily; and younger brother Rule. Other characters include Lady Agatha Tavistock, Reese's aunt; his best friend, Travis Greer, and his houseman, Timothy.

REESE’S BRIDE is the second in The Bride Trilogy, following ROYAL’S BRIDE (September 2009). RULE’S BRIDE (May 2010) will tell the story of the youngest Dewar. Each of these books stands alone, but they belong together, as any family does, so do not miss REESE’S BRIDE!

Diana Risso