The Bride & the Beast Page 25

  Unshed tears stung her eyes. The sunlight pouring through the east windows only served to underscore the genteel shabbiness of the drawing room. The petit-point roses embroidered on the settee cushions had long ago faded to a watery pink. An unsightly mildew stain marred the plaster frieze over the door, while a moldy stack of leather-bound books was being used to prop up one of the broken legs of the rosewood pianoforte. Arden Manor might be a humble country house that reflected only a shadow of its former glory, but to them it was home.

  The only home any of them had known since they’d lost their parents over seven years ago.

  Slowly becoming aware that her brother’s and sister’s dejected faces mirrored her own, Laura rose, forcing a smile. “There’s no need for such long faces. We’ve an entire month before this Lord Devil arrives.”

  “But we’ve only a little over three weeks before your birthday,” George reminded her.

  Laura nodded. “I realize the situation seems hopeless, but we must always remember what Papa taught us—through prayer and persistence, the good Lord will provide.”

  “What should we tell Him to send us?” Lottie asked eagerly, bouncing to her knees.

  Laura pondered her answer for a long moment, her pious demeanor at odds with the determined gleam in her eye. “A man.”

  This edition contains the complete text

  of the original hardcover edition.

  NOT ONE WORD HAS BEEN OMITTED.

  The Bride and the Beast

  A Bantam Book

  PUBLISHING HISTORY

  Bantam hardcover edition published June 2000

  Bantam mass market edition/April 2001

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright © 2001 by Teresa Medeiros.

  Cover art copyright © 2001 by Alan Ayers.

  Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 00–023707.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-48251-8

  v3.0

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Part I

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Part II

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  About the Author

  Copyright