On the evening of her first masquerade, shy Elizabeth Anne Fitzgerald is stunned by Tyrell de Warenne's whispered suggestion of a midnight rendezvous in the gardens. Lizzie has secretly worshiped the unattainable lord for years. When fortune takes a maddening turn, she is prevented from meeting Tyrell. But Lizzie cannot foresee that that night is only the beginning... Tyrell de Warenne is shocked when, two years later, Lizzie arrives on his doorstep with a child she claims is his. He remembers her well - and knows that he could not possible be the father. What is this game she is playing...and why? Is Elizabeth Anne Fitzgerald a woman of experience, or the gentle innocent she seems? But neither scandal, deception nor pride can thwart a love too passionate to be denied...

Brenda Joyce is the bestselling author of 33 novels and four novellas. She wrote her first novella when she was 16 years old and her first novel when she was 25 -- and was published shortly thereafter.

She has won many awards and her very first novel, Innocent Fire, won the Best Western Romance award. She has also won the highly coveted Best Historical Romance award for Splendor and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Romantic Times. She is the author of the critically acclaimed Deadly series, which is set in turn-of-the-century New York and features amateur sleuth Francesca Cahill.

There are over 11 million copies of her novels in print and she is published in over a dozen foreign countries. A native New Yorker, she now lives in southern Arizona with her husband, son, dogs, cat and numerous Arabian and half-Arabian reining horses. For more information about Brenda and her upcoming novels, please visit her web site at www.brendajoyce.com.