Lorraine Heath

New York Times Bestseller • USA Today Bestseller

THE VARIOUS SERIES EXPLAINED

and Alternate Reading Orders Provided

If you have only just discovered my stories, rest assured that each story was written so you can enjoy it without reading the stories that came before it. But if you enjoy reading books in order, you can read my books in series order or in character order. Here are some tips that explain how all the various books are related.

In 1865, three English Lords sent their scandalous second sons to Fortune, Texas, in order for them to learn how to make their way in the world. The second sons were friends and their stories comprise the Rogues in Texas Series. While each book stands alone and can be enjoyed without reading the other books, if you want to read them in order, it is as follows:

A Rogue in Texas: Grayson's story that explains their arrival in Texas in 1865 and their first year of working the cotton farm.

Never Love a Cowboy: Harrison's story that explains how the second sons established the Texas Lady Cattle Venture that would eventually lead to other Texas Lady enterprises.

Never Marry a Cowboy: Kit's story that furthers his and his friends' adventures in Texas.

Now each of these English Rogues married Texas ladies; some of the ladies already had daughters that the English Rogues came to love as they would their own daughters. Several of the daughters have their own stories that appear in the Daughters of Fortune as well as The Lost Lords series. These books also stand alone and can be enjoyed without reading any of the other books, but if you want to meet the daughters when they were first introduced, the suggested order of reading is as follows:

Angela Bainbridge is the daughter of Jessye and Harrison Bainbridge and she first appears in the epilogue of Never Love a Cowboy. She then appears in her own story, The Outlaw and the Lady. Now to complicate things, Kit's family has a major role in this story, so for maximum enjoyment, you might want to read the books in this order: Never Love a Cowboy, Never Marry a Cowboy, The Outlaw and the Lady.

Lydia Westland, daughter of Abigail Rhodes, first appeared in A Rogue in Texas and then in her own story Love With a Scandalous Lord, which is the story of Grayson taking his family to England so that he can say goodbye to his dying father and Lydia falling in love with her stepfather's half-brother, the man who will become the Duke of Harrington. So if you want to follow Lydia's life, you could read Rogue and then Scandalous, but again Lydia's story can be enjoyed without reading Rogue.

Kitty Robertson, the illegitimate daughter of Jessye Bainbridge, the adopted daughter of the Robertsons, first appeared in Never Love a Cowboy. Her name then was Mary Ellen, but Kitty seemed a better fit for a lady who was at ease in the grandest parlors of England and so I gave her a nickname that better suited her personality as a young woman. Her story is An Invitation to Seduction. She is betrothed to the kind and "safe" Nicholas Glenville, the Marquess of Farthingham, and then she meets his best friend, the devastatingly handsome and dangerous to her heart and plans for a proper life, Richard Stanbury, the Duke of Weddington.

Now to further complicate things, Kit's brother, Christopher Montgomery, Viscount Wyndhaven, who would eventually become the Earl of Ravenleigh, visited Texas in Never Marry a Cowboy and fell in love with Abigail Rhodes' sister, Elizabeth Fairfield. Elizabeth had a daughter Lauren who was always flirting with a young man named Tom. Tom makes his second appearance in As an Earl Desires. However, As an Earl Desires is the story of two people who were introduced in Love With a Scandalous Lord. So these characters actually could comprise their own series and their books could be read in the following order:

Never Marry a Cowboy

Love With a Scandalous Lord

As An Earl Desires

Promise Me Forever

This leaves To Marry an Heiress and A Matter of Temptation. Both are completely stand alone as the hero and heroine in each story was not introduced in any other story. However, Georgina Pierce is friends with Lauren and Lauren appears in this book. So you might want to read Never Marry a Cowboy, but you certainly don't have to in order to enjoy or understand Gina's story.

A Matter of Temptation required an earlier time period than I usually write. A note is included at the end of the book that explains why I had to write the story in an earlier time period. As I was writing it, however, I realized that one of Robert's friends is the Duke of Weddington, the father of Richard who appears in An Invitation to Seduction. Richard's story was written first, and I'll admit that his mother's deep love for his father was what prompted me to give my readers a quick glimpse of their relationship. But again, you don't need to read any other story in order to enjoy this one.

And that, dear Readers, is how all the stories are related. I know it's quite a maze and might seem confusing, but as I wrote each story, so other characters would appear and would want their stories told and I would oblige them when they were quite persistent.

As of now, I am leaving all these stories and characters behind in order to begin a new set of characters and stories. The first story in the Rogues and Roses series, A Duke of Her Own, is now available. The second story, Just Wicked Enough, will be released in Oct. 2007.