Book excerpt: Stephanie Laurens, the phenomenal New York Times bestselling superstar is back with The Elusive Bride—the second book in her magnificent Black Cobra Quartet. Never before in print, this masterful blend of passion and intrigue follows The Untamed Bride, the first in the four-part historical romance series that Booklist calls, “fabulously entertaining.” A spellbinding tale of destiny, duty, desire, and peril—with ties to her popular Bastion Club novels and her well-loved romantic adventures featuring the endearing family of rogues, the Cynsters—The Elusive Bride confirms Laurens’s well-deserved standing as one of the genre’s premier storytellers.