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  “Oh?” The word froze in her throat as he began to unbutton the dress military jacket.

  “I think if I had the opportunity to ask my father if he had any regrets about loving my mother, about making her his wife, he’d tell me no. And my mother would have no regrets either. I remember their love for each other and know that even if they knew what the future held for them, they would have chosen to have the years that they did of love and family together.”

  She stared at him, her breath caught in her chest, afraid to try to guess where this all might lead.

  “The past can be a tricky thing, Beth. It can bring you enormous joy or it can cage you like an animal at the zoo. I’ve been caged for a very long time.” He shrugged off the jacket, exposing a white shirt beneath. He dropped the jacket to the floor and stepped so close to her she could feel the heat of his body warming hers.

  “You take my breath away, Beth Taylor. For you I want to bend the bars of my cage and break free. I want to rebuild your house and make it big enough for a family. I love you, Beth, and I want to stay here with you and raise children and horses and embrace the happiness I know my parents would want for me.”

  Joy blossomed inside her, a joy that brought tears to her eyes as she threw herself into his arms. He wrapped her in a tight embrace that felt like love, that felt like safety, but more importantly felt like home.

  “Antoine, I love you with all my heart, with all my soul,” she said.

  He released a sigh of sweet contentment and smiled. “You know that when we marry, you’ll become a princess.”

  “I don’t care about that,” she replied. “Just being ordinary rancher Antoine Cavanaugh’s wife is more than enough for me.”

  “Then I think we should go to the suite and start practicing to make the babies that you want,” he said as his hands cupped her buttocks and pulled her even closer against him.

  “Impertinent,” she exclaimed, “definitely impertinent.”

  He laughed and his eyes blazed as his lips found hers and took them in a kiss that promised everything Beth had ever dreamed of, a kiss that spoke of love and passion and forever.

  Special thanks and acknowledgment to

  Carla Cassidy for her contribution to

  the Cowboys Royale series.

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-0829-2

  BY ORDER OF THE PRINCE

  Copyright © 2011 by Harlequin Books S.A.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  +The Recovery Men

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven