© 2009

Dear Reader,

Every once in a while a character, one who began as merely a friend of the hero or heroine, steals my heart and demands that their own story be told. Genevieve Ralston, who first appeared as a secondary character in my Regency-era historical Love and the Single Heiress, did just that. I’ve wanted to tell her story ever since she first appeared on the page-a woman who has fought to overcome both social and physical limitations. A woman who has known-and lost-love, and who never expects to feel it again. But when a handsome stranger calls upon her, she finds herself experiencing desires she’d believed long dead. However, there is much more to this man than she knows, and of course Genevieve has secrets of her own. And we all know where secrets can lead…

I hope you enjoy my first historical Harlequin Blaze novel-I had a great time writing about Genevieve and her handsome stranger’s adventures. Perhaps their story will inspire you to enjoy some adventures of your own!

I love to hear from readers! You can contact me through my Web site at www.JacquieD.com, where you can find out about all my latest news.

Happy reading and adventuring,

Jacquie D’Alessandro

Little Longstone, Kent, 1820

GENEVIEVE…alabaster box…letter inside proves who did this…

The Earl of Ridgemoor’s dying words echoed through Simon Cooperstone, Viscount Kilburn’s mind as he stealthily approached the cottage nestled among soaring elms, words the earl had gasped out with his last few breaths to Simon’s urgent question: “Who shot you?”

With any luck, Simon was about to find out the answer-and catch the killer trying to frame him for the earl’s murder.