A Tradition of Pride

The honeymoon was over long, long ago.  Lara Cochran had once been a happy bride.  Then Trevor, her charming husband, had turned to other women.  Divorce was unheard of in Lara’s family, but she didn’t want one anyway.  One disastrous marriage was enough; she was now safely immune from men—all men.  Or so she thought until she met Rans MacQuade, the rugged and virile manager of her father’s Mississippi plantation.  But she knew she couldn’t let herself get carried away.  For that would mean making some dramatic, unwanted changes in her life…

“We Alexanders do not get divorces.”  Rans eyed her mockingly as she spoke.  “And so they live miserably ever after.  An Alexander makes a wrong decision and lives with it the rest of his life, without a second chance, a martyr to tradition.”  “I’m not interested in a second chance.  Once is enough for me,” Lara declared loftily.  “So you hold yourself aloof from the animal desires that plague the rest of mankind.  What a waste of such womanly beauty,"  he said, reaching out to touch her cheek.  “Don’t touch me!”  she snapped, pushing his hand away as if his fingertips had burned her skin.  “You’re afraid you might like it?”  “Never!”  Lara hissed.  The sun lines at the corners of his eyes crinkled at her defiant challenge.  “Never?” he murmured huskily.