GUARDIAN ANGELS He was heaven-sent...

SHE WAS HIS BEST FRIEND'S BRIDE-TO-BE...

VIRGIN BRIDES Celebrate the joys of first love with unforgettable stories by your most beloved authors.

Hail to thee, Wye-famed river of Siluria! Well deserving fame, worthy of warmest salutation! From thy fountain-head on Plinlimmon's far slope, where thou leapest forth, gay as a girl on her skip-rope, through the rugged rocks of Brecon and Radnor, that like rude men would detain thee, snatching but a kiss for their pains-on, as woman grown, with statelier step, amid the wooded hills of Herefordshire, which treat thee with more courtly consideration-still on, and once more rudely assailed by the bold ramparts of Monmouth-through all thou makest way-in despite all, preserving thy purity! If defiled before espousing the ocean, the fault is not thine, but Sabrina's-sister born of thy birth, she too cradled on Plinlimmon's breast, but since childhood's days separated from thee, and straying through other shrines-perchance leading a less reputable life. No blame to thee, beautiful Vaga-from source to Severn pure as the spring that begets thee-fair to the eye, and full of interest to reflect on. Scarce a reach of thy channel, or curve of thy course, but is redolent of romance, and rich in the lore of history.

The man who sees her beauty… Ben Hampton is the last man in England that workaholic historian Luce would ever choose to be stranded with. Tall, dark and infuriatingly arrogant, he's also a reminder of her not-so-glorious romantic history—something she's spent the past few years burying herself in work to forget. Hotel tycoon Ben knows there's fire behind Luce's buttoned-up exterior, and fanning its flames is an irresistible temptation. Luckily, getting snowbound in the countryside gives him the perfect opportunity to tempt out the real Lucinda Myles!

A man who for 23 years worked in the railway factory at Swindon writes about life as a hotter and stamper. An idealist with his feet on the ground, the author had some reputation as a poet while still at work and was unable to publish this account until illness drove him to leave the factory because the truth would cost him his job. He is appreciative of man's generosity and sense of fair play, his skill and strength, but scornful of his inhumanity and ruthlessness.