Lady Of The Lake

Elizabeth Mayne

Keeper Of The Ancient SecretsTala ap Griffin was both princess and priestess to the people of Arden Wood. And Lord Edon Halfdansson had succumbed to her mysterious charms. But was her power simple woodland sorcery, or the force of eternal love?His liege had decreed that Edon, Wolf of Warwick, return to his lair and take to wife the bewitching Tala, uniting their warring fiefdoms in peace - though a marriage bed shared with the fiery princess could prove nothing more than a battlefield!

Table of Contents

Cover Page (#ud251d3e6-513f-5f5b-aee8-75dce03fc558)

Excerpt (#uabd13c01-3c6c-5118-9b65-8f12110c27f4)

Dear Reader (#u9a96f358-77a6-55ba-8054-1b5d2ae7c510)

Title Page (#u4d484286-24c5-5133-be03-eebbc90038a0)

About The Author (#u3fc2065e-455d-5b3b-ab4d-35fb75719d43)

Dedication (#uf6b29205-334e-5b63-b45e-02cefc91695f)

Chapter One (#u775f1a31-f9ef-540e-83b0-53e3fd9d2c00)

Chapter Two (#u2ce30f32-6add-5277-b48b-bbd3073f1344)

Chapter Three (#uad4d0828-5c16-5337-934f-1c3e5a147218)

Chapter Four (#u16169e58-b87f-55d9-b07a-391033fcfa97)

Chapter Five (#ue0cd6945-b4da-57aa-b7e5-b971a83d207e)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Author note (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

“Release me at once, Viking!”

Tala commanded.

“Lady,” Edon warned her, his patience dwindling fast. “Speak to me again in that tone of voice, and I will have no choice but to teach you to respect the man you see before you.”

“Strike me and I will kill you with my bare hands, Viking.” Tala gulped, struggling for her breath.

“And how will you do that, hmm?” Edon taunted her. “With what weapon will you slay me, woman? Your viper’s tongue?”

Edon used his head as a pointer, nodding to her bared breasts—exposed in the beam of moonlight that spilled into the chamber from the open portal.

“The only success you have had thus far is in baring your breast. Continue the show. I shall enjoy seeing what other charms your struggles reveal.”

Dear Reader,

A pagan princess and a Christian warrior must form an alliance if either of their people are to survive in RITA Award nominee Elizabeth Mayne’s Lady of the Lake. Forced to surrender her heritage and marry Edon, the man responsible for her father’s death, Princess Tala fights her feelings for her new husband, afraid that she will let down her guard and reveal a secret that could tear their gentle truce apart. Don’t miss this intriguing tale.

Cally and the Sheriff, by Cassandra Austin, is a lively Western about a Kansas sheriff who falls head over heels for the feisty young woman he’s sworn to protect, even though she wants nothing to do with him. And in Judith Stacy’s The Marriage Mishap, two people who’ve just met, wake up in bed together and discover they have gotten married.

In our fourth title for the month, Lord Sin by Catherine Archer, a rakish nobleman and a vicar’s daughter, whose lack of fortune and social position make her completely unsuitable, agree to a marriage of convenience, and discover love.

Whatever your tastes in reading, we hope you enjoy all of our books, available wherever Harlequin Historicals are sold.

Sincerely,

Tracy Farrell

Senior Editor

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Lady of the Lake

Elizabeth Mayne

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

ELIZABETH MAYNE

is a native San Antonian, who knew by the age of eleven how to spin a good yarn, according to every teacher she eve