Zebra Ballad Historical Romance (Paperback), ISBN 0-8217-7226-0
When Meaghan Reilly refuses to divulge her first kiss in a game of "truth or hazard," she must take the hazard -- and kiss the next man who walks through her aunt's parlor door. Little does she know that fate will deliver Nicholas Mansfield, Lord Ashton, into her arms, the very same young stranger with whom she shared her first kiss at the age of three.

In this joining of lips, 19-year-old Meaghan glimpses her destiny, called "the blessing" by those Reillys who experience it. Although responsive to Meaghan's fire and beauty, Lord Ashton has other things on his mind -- like coming to terms with his parent's death and finding the identity of the man trying to kill him.

Warned that her wanton behavior does not befit a lady, nor will it garner her the financial support she seeks for a Nightingale Society in Limerick, Meaghan must avoid Lord Ashton at all cost. Lord Ashton, on the other hand, must be careful not to get roped into a pretty trap while staying in what he considers "the enemy camp." But living under the same roof and fighting the magnetism that exists between them-this proves a difficult task.

Fate throws the reluctant lovers together at the oddest of moments, which not only fuels their passion, but results in thwarting attempts on Lord Ashton's life. Soon not only Meaghan's, but Lord Ashton's destiny becomes clear. But will the intertwining of their fates see the lovers to a tragic end?

Mary Lou Frank and Susan C. Stevenson, writing as Elizabeth Keys, create a wealth of romance, humor, mystery and desire in the fourth book of the Irish Blessing series. Here, one small kiss given by a child to a young boy ignites passions that will carry the reader to the last page

Lynne Remick

Lynne Marie Pisano is a freelance writer, poet, book reviewer, SCBWI Metro New York LI Critique Group Coordinator and Co-Chair of the Long Island Children's Writers and Illustrators. She lives in New York with her husband Michael, her son Kevin and a daughter named Kayla, and Dante, a Schipperke.

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