[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-114592-en":3,"doc-seo-114592-105":28,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":89},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":11,"is_downloadable":11,"audit_status":11,"page_count":20,"language":21,"language_code":22,"site_id":23,"html_lang":22,"table_of_contents":24,"faqs":25,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":26,"read_time":27},114592,1099514067415,"Rowan","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/100002539d78ffe74a7?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1779092875211072502",1,"Story & Novel","The Gambler’s Heart - Prologue","The Gambler’s Heart opens in December 1815 at an English country inn overwhelmed with stranded travelers. Lady Madelyn Fairchild, traveling alone under harsh weather, is forced to seek shelter while managing the pressures and judgments of the inn’s occupants. Negotiating with the host, she faces the reality of limited rooms and social expectations, while her anxiety remains focused on practical concerns rather than status. The prologue establishes a tense, emotionally charged foundation for a high-stakes Regency romance involving debt, marriage, and hard-won acceptance of love.","“I am not a whore,” Madelyn said softly.  \n“A woman who sells her body for money? What else are you pretending this is? It’s a business transaction and nothing more. Are you even a virgin?” Jean-Luc asked bluntly.  \nShe flinched against the question.“No,” she whispered.  \n“Not even a virgin. Tell your brother—”“I’m a widow.” She interrupted whatever jeering message he wanted her to deliver.“Married for how long?”  \n“For five years,” she told him, but he couldn’t know the horror of those years.  \n“A well-used widow,” he said cruelly, fighting against his growing need to hold her, to kiss away whatever had caused the distress that was clearly associated with those years. He fought, too, against the mental image of gilt hair loosened and tangling over his shoulders while he supplanted with his lovemaking whatever remembrances of her marriage had caused that look Something was wrong here…  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nDear Reader,  \nThe Gambler ’s Heart is the third book in Gayle Wilson’s trilogy, which began with The Heart’s Desire, the title that won her a RITA Award nomination for Best First Book. This month’s title features a war-scarred French gambler who acquires a wife as payment for a debt, and must learn to accept her love for him. We hope you enjoy this passionate love story from up-and-coming Regency author Gayle Wilson.  \nWe are also pleased to bring you Devil’s Dare by Laurie Grant. In this fast-paced Western, a sweet-talking cowboy and a straitlaced preacher ’s daughter wind up married, despite their differences. And from Susan Paul, the second book in her medieval Bride Trilogy, The Heiress Bride, the lively story of a rogue knight running from his past and a strong-willed noblewoman running from her future.  \nElizabeth Lane’s Lydia is our fourth selection for the month. It’s the touching story of a former Union spy who moves to Colorado and falls in love with the brother of a man who died as a result of her actions. Whatever your taste in reading, we hope that Harlequin Historicals will keep you corning back for more. Please keep a lookout for all four titles, available wherever Harlequin books are sold.  \nSincerely,  \nTracy Farrell  \nSenior Editor  \nPlease address questions and book requests to:  \nHarlequin Reader Service U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269  \nCanadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, OnL L2A 5X3  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nThe Gambler’s Heart  \nGayle Wilson  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nBooks by Gayle Wilson  \nHarlequin Historicals  \nThe Heart’s Desire \\#211  \nThe Heart’s Wager \\#263  \nThe Gambler ’s Heart \\#299  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nGAYLE WILSON  \nteaches English and history to gifted high school students. Her love of both subjects naturally resulted in a desire to write historical fiction. After several years as the wife of a military pilot, she returned with her husband to live in Alabama, where they had both grown up.  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nFor all those who dream and for Chris, the fulfillment of my dreams  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nPrologue  \nDecember 1815  \nThe inn teemed with stranded travelers, its entrance hall redolent of  \ntheir wet woolens, now drying in the welcoming heat provided by the enormous fireplace. A representative sample from every class in England was companionably gathered around its fire. The freezing rain, which had finally turned into blinding snow, had leveled the social standings of the inn’s occupants far more effectively than the late Revolution in France had ever managed.  \nWith a reluctant anxiety that centered more on the welfare of the struggling horses than on any concern for herself or for her late stepfather ’s retainers, Lady Madelyn Fairchild had finally given in to the necessities of the situation and called a halt to her own journey.  \nShe stood now in the smoky entry hall of the country public house where she had been forced to take shelter, well aware that she was the focus of ","cbCaij8YJoNTjVQC","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaij8YJoNTjVQC","pdf",1650221,264,"English","en",105,"# Prologue\n## December 1815","[{\"question\":\"Where does the prologue of The Gambler’s Heart take place?\",\"answer\":\"It takes place in an English country inn during December 1815, where stranded travelers fill the entrance hall and dry their wet clothes by a large 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