“You owe me for saving your life.
You told me so yourself. You called it something. A life present?”
Gage hadn’t forgotten. The debt he owed Jenna had weighed heavily on his mind over the past weeks. He had every intention of returning the favor. Somehow. Someway. If he did not, he would suffer for all eternity, for his soul would not be permitted to cross over to the other side. However, he refused to believe that the gift would take the form of a wedding band.
“Life Gift,” he corrected. “But you can’t expect me to marry you.”
“Do you owe me, Gage Dalton?”
Chagrin shot through him, and he knew she sensed it. And it only made her doggedness all the stronger.
“Are you going to pay your debt…or aren’t you?”
Jenna Butler had him backed into a corner, and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it.
Dear Reader,
What is the best gift you ever received? Chances are it came from a loved one and reflects to some degree the love you share. Or maybe the gift was something like a cruise or a trip to an exotic locale that raised the hope of finding romance and lasting love. Well, it’s no different for this month’s heroes and heroines, who will all receive special gifts that extend beyond the holiday season to provide a lifetime of happiness.
Karen Rose Smith starts off this month’s offerings with Twelfth Night Proposal (#1794)—the final installment in the SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE continuity. Set during the holidays, the hero’s love enables the plain-Jane heroine to become the glowing beauty she was always meant to be. In The Dating Game (#1795) by Shirley Jump, a package delivered to the wrong address lands the heroine on a reality dating show. Julianna Morris writes a memorable romance with Meet Me under the Mistletoe (#1796), in which the heroine ends up giving a widower the son he “lost” when his mother died. Finally, in Donna Clayton’s stirring romance Bound by Honor (#1797), the heroine receives a “life present” when she saves the Native American hero’s life.
When you’re drawing up your New Year’s resolutions, be sure to put reading Silhouette Romance right at the top. After all, it’s the love these heroines discover that reminds us all of what truly matters most in life.
With all best wishes for the holidays and a happy and healthy 2006.
Ann Leslie Tuttle
Associate Senior Editor
Bound by Honor
Donna Clayton
Books by Donna Clayton
Silhouette Romance
Mountain Laurel #720
Taking Love in Stride #781
Return of the Runaway Bride #999
Wife for a While #1039
Nanny and the Professor #1066
Fortune’s Bride #1118
Daddy Down the Aisle #1162
*Miss Maxwell Becomes a Mom #1211
*Nanny in the Nick of Time #1217
*Beauty and the Bachelor Dad #1223
†The Stand-By Significant Other #1284
†Who’s the Father of Jenny’s Baby? #1302
The Boss and the Beauty #1342
His Ten-Year-Old Secret #1373
Her Dream Come True #1399
Adopted Dad #1417
His Wild Young Bride #1441
**The Nanny Proposal #1477
**The Doctor’s Medicine Woman #1483
**Rachel and the M.D. #1489
Who Will Father My Baby? #1507
In Pursuit of a Princess #1582
††The Sheriff’s 6-Year-Old Secret #1623
††The Doctor’s Pregnant Proposal #1635
††Thunder in the Night #1647
The Nanny’s Plan #1701
Because of Baby #1723
Bound by Honor #1737
Silhouette Books
The Coltons
Close Proximity
Logan’s Legacy
Royal Seduction
DONNA CLAYTON
is a bestselling, award-winning author. She and her husband divide their time between homes in northern Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore. They have two sons. Donna also writes women’s fiction as Donna Fasano.
Please write to Donna care of Silhouette Books. She’d love to hear from you!
Dear Reader,
I have long been interested in and captivated by Native American cultures, and I’ve done quite a bit of research that I’ve used in such books as The Doctor’s Medicine Woman, Close Proximity, in my three-book series called THE THUNDER CLAN, and in this book, Bound by Honor.
Although many Native American tribes did not have a written language, they did have a strong oral tradition that kept (and continues to keep) their history vividly alive. Naturally, this custom touches the storyteller in me. I can easily imagine sitting in an intimate circle with family and friends while listening to dramatic tales of the past.
While doing some reading from my ever-growing reference library, I came upon an account of the belief in the Life Gift. If a person’s life is saved by another, then that person owes a Life Gift—a debt that must be repaid. The idea intrigued me, and soon the plot of Bound by Honor began to take shape.
This book holds a special place in my heart. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
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