by Brenda Joyce
Brenda Joyce
Secrets
CONTENTS
Part 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 16
Part Two
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Part Three
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
PROMISE OF THE ROSE
DANGEROUS PASSION
Beneath her soft palms she felt the strength of his arms and the power of his body and the tension that ran like a hot live wire through him. The atmosphere around them was charged with possibility.
"Elizabeth." His tone was unbearably intimate. His rough hands settled on her back and slid up to her shoulders. A wave of sensation the like of which Regina had never before experienced washed over her. Their glances came together.
It was there, the dark hunger she had seen before. Its power and starkness both frightened and compelled her. With a soft whimper she gripped him more tightly, knowing she should not, knowing she was ready to surrender completely.
He knew it as well. She saw it in the blaze of his eyes. Regina clung to him, waiting for him to take her…
Other Avon Books by Brenda Joyce:
After Innocence
Beyond Scandal
Captive
The Fires of Paradise
Firestorm
The Game
Innocent Fire
Promise of the Rose
Scandalous Love
Violet Fire
ATTENTION: ORGANIZATIONS AND CORPORATIONS
Most Avon Books paperbacks are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotions, premiums, or fund-raising. For information, please call or write:
Special Markets Department, HarperCollins Publishers Inc. 10 East 53rd Street, New York, New York 10022-5299. Telephone: (212) 207-7528. Fax: (212) 207-7222.
Brenda JOYCE
&
AVON BOOKS
An Imprint ofHarperCollinsPublishers This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
AVON BOOKS
An Imprint of HaxperColl insPublishers
East 53rd Street
New York, New York 10022-5299
Copyright © 1993 by Senior Promise of the Rose excerpt © 1993 by Senior Cover art by Harry Burman Inside cover author photograph by Roy Volkmann Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 92-93920
ISBN: 0-380-77139-X
www.avonromance.com All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address Avon Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
First Avon Books printing: April 1993 Avon Trademark Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. and in Other Countries, Marca Registrada, Hecho en U.S.A.
HarperCollins® is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
Printed in the U.S.A.
19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped book."
This one's for the men in my life: for Alvin, Ross, and David.
There is a moral to this story- love conquers all.
And for Elie and Adam, who don't need any morals yet, and hopefully never will.
Summer of 1899 “And you, my lady? Will you marry a duke as your sister did?"
Regina smiled slightly. "I doubt it, Mrs. Schroener. Marrying a duke was quite a feat for my sister. Generally, one marries precisely among one's peers."
"But your father is an earl."
Regina stared out the train's window at the passing scenery, a vista of sunburned saddleback hills thrusting against the sky. "An earl does not rank with a duke." She recalled the last time she had seen her parents, before they had left Texas; she had told them she would not be returning home with them, not just yet. The Earl of Dragmore had not been pleased, but he had allowed her to extend her stay in America with her relatives. Regina's heart twisted. She was not going home with the rest of her family because her former beau Lord Hortense was there, now engaged to someone else after her father had so decisively refused him.
"A beauty like yourself, why, I don't doubt you could have any man you wanted," Mrs. Schroener said enthu- siastically, standing with her charge at the window.
"Father will choose someone for me when I return home," Regina said quietly. She and her chaperone were in the club car of the Southern Pacific Railroad's Coast Line amid a dozen other first-class passengers. Most were gentlemen, either engaged in conversation or involved in their dailies. She preferred not being overheard.
Mrs. Schroener's eyes were wide. "He will what?"
Regina managed a smile, not wanting the kind old widow to know how much the prospect daunted her. She still loved Randolph Hortense. But it would not be. She could not go against her father's wishes. She was not the renegade her sister Nicole was. And she was no longer eighteen. Had she been going home now, she would be entering her third season. When she did arrive back home, her father would present her with a list of suitable candidates for a husband, and she would have to choose one of them.
"Do you mean to say that in Britain they still arrange marriages? That your father would arrange a marriage for you?"
"It's really the best way," Regina heard herself say.
"But look at your cousin Lucy! No one would have ever arranged her marriage to that Shoz Savage-and look how happy she is! I read all about their wedding just last month. The wedding of the century, they said it was. Now that's true love!"
Regina smiled. "It was quite an event." She and her family had come to Texas to attend the wedding, giving Regina the per
fect excuse to escape England-and Lord Hortense and his fiancйe.
"Soon you'll have just such a wedding, my dear. Indeed, with your being nobility, I imagine it'll be even bigger and grander!"
Regina murmured, "Undoubtedly," her smile turning wistful. And it wasn't a spectacular wedding celebration she was thinking of, but love. The love she could have had-but her father had denied her. Randolph was not a fortune-hunter, she told herself firmly, not for the first time. Not that it really mattered. He was marrying someone else. Like her, he would do his duty by his parents.
The train seemed to be slowing down.
"We should be in Paso Robles soon," Mrs. Schroener said, peering out of the window. "I think I'll enjoy those famous mud baths myself before I turn around and go back to Texas."
"You certainly should," Regina told her. "The Hotel El Paso de Robles is one of the greatest health resorts on this coast, or so my aunt and uncle have said." She was meeting the D'Archands there. After a long, relaxing weekend, they would head north to San Francisco where they lived. Regina intended to stay with them for the rest of the summer, having had enough of Texas. In September there would be no delaying the inevitable; she would have to go home and face her future.
Regina had opened the heavy gold velvet drapes so she could regard the scenery. They were passing through rolling hills. The summer sun had dried the wild grass to a lemon-yellow, but the gentle hills were spotted with thick, lush green oaks, and the skies were spectacularly blue. From time to time she could glimpse the dry bed of the Salinas River as it snaked alongside them. Regina found the landscape rugged, yet the sheer vastness of it was breathtaking.
"Someone as beautiful and nice as you deserves a prince," Mrs. Schroener declared, unable or unwilling to let go of her romanticism.
Regina smiled faintly. It seemed to her now that the train had definitely decelerated. "Why are we slowing?" She reached into her reticule and removed a well-worn rail schedule. Twenty minutes ago they had stopped at Santa Margarita, and her schedule indicated the train should only be stopping now if flagged. "The next stop is Templeton, but we can't be there yet. And after that we will be at Paso Robles."
"There's probably a farmer flagging us down," Mrs. Schroener said. "Nothing for you to worry about."
Regina could only conclude that her chaperone was right. Reluctantly, she turned to take a seat. But before she could do so, a gunshot rang out.
Her heart seemed to drop to her feet and the air to rush from her lungs. The sound of the gunshot echoed. It had been fired in one of the other cars, perhaps in the adjacent car, from which could now be heard screams and cries of fright.
Mrs. Schroener gripped her hand. Another shot rang out. The shooting was definitely in the car behind them. Through the chorus of general hysteria, a baby's crying could be heard.
Oh, dear God! Regina thought frantically. It's a rob beryl Chaos erupted in the club car. The men were on then feet, milling about, the women pale and shaking with fright and shock. From the other railcar came another gunshot and a woman's long, shrill scream of anguish Regina had never heard the sound before, but knew it for what it was-terror and grief.
It was at that moment that a man with a mask 01 his face, holding a huge revolver, burst into the club car from the car behind them, shouting, "No one move! Everyone freeze! Move and you're gonna get yoursel killed!"
Regina and Mrs. Schroener were standing at the other end of the car, with all of the passengers between then and the bandit. Regina froze. She could not believe this was happening!
Everyone obeyed the masked gunman, becoming motionless. The women were sobbing, and one of the gentlemen was also in tears. Roughly, the bandit reached out to the person closest to him, a young woman tearing her ear-bobs from her ears. She screamed, and the man cuffed her. Regina watched her hit the wall and collapse, blood staining her beautiful pink-and-white striped jacket.
The bandit leaned over her, ripping her necklace from her, too. The woman lay weeping.
"Maybe we'll take you with us," the bandit sneered. When she screamed, he laughed, then rose to his formidable height. He turned to the gentleman closest to him and yanked a wallet out of his pocket, then went for his pocket watch.
Regina was shaking. She was no longer shocked, no longer disbelieving. They were being robbed, and in a violent, terrifying way. The outlaw's threat to the young lady rang in her ears. She could barely think. She was numb, terrified. But she was aware that the door was very close behind her, leading to the platform between this car and the one in front of them. Were there outlaws in that car, too? No sounds had come from it. Yet even if there weren't, the outlaws-and she had not a doubt that there were several-would soon invade it, too. Regina's heart was pounding.
The bandit took a moment to look around the club car. His glance settled on Regina. For an instant their gazes locked. As he turned to rob his third victim, a young man, Regina felt panic overwhelm her. She shook. Sweat almost blinded her as she saw the robber raise his gun and hit the protesting gentleman with it. Her pulse roared in her ears. She swallowed a whimper, watching the bandit pocket a billfold and move to the next passenger. She did not wait to see what would happen next.
She moved. She shoved past Mrs. Schroener, who let out a startled cry. She ran the three steps to the door. She did not have to look backward to know that he had seen her.
"Stop!" he shouted.
Regina ignored him. Terror beat thickly in her heart. She gripped the iron bar and wrenched open the heavy door, stumbling onto the platform. A sob tore from her mouth as she saw how fast the train was still moving. For she would have to jump from the train.
A shot rang out again, this time behind her, close behind her. He was shooting at her.
She screamed, catching herself on the opposite rail, tor one last second watching the hard ground speeding by so far below her. And then, without another thought, Regina hurled herself from the train.
Part 1
Secrets
Chapter 1
“Can you hear me?"
It was hot. The heat was stifling, suffocating. And she was thirsty, her mouth as dry as dust. Her tongue felt swollen and numb. But she heard the words. They sounded far away.
"Are you hurt?"
He was speaking again. His tone was urgent, concerned. Yet she did not want to fight to swim up through the dark depths of sleep, and she wondered if she were dreaming.
"Can you hear me?"
His words were louder, insistent. Interfering. She wanted it to be a dream and she wanted him to go away so she could drift back into the total darkness again.
But it wasn't a dream. The instant he touched her she knew that. He was shaking her gently by the shoulder. She would have cried out in protest, told him to go away, but she could not q
uite utter the words. And then he touched her head, his fingers sliding over her scalp. Pain burst in Regina's skull. The darkness was sliced abruptly open.
Before she could protest he had swiftly unclasped her jacket and parted it. The cooler air was barely a relief. He was unbuttoning the high-necked collar of her shirtwaist, his blunt-tipped fingers grazing the nape of her neck. And as if he hadn't trespassed far enough, his hands moved over her shoulders and arms searchingly, then grazed her breasts, causing her nipples to tighten instantaneously. He did not appear to notice, intent as he was on probing every single bone of her rib cage.
Regina was frozen, suspended in fear. She was wide awake now, aware of the pounding of her head, the terrible heat, her unyielding thirst, and that she was actually lying upon the ground. And she was acutely aware of him. Now he was touching her legs. He was sliding his palms up from her ankles to her thighs, only a thin layer of silk separating his flesh from hers. The fact that the sensation was somehow disturbingly pleasant managed to pierce her fear-benumbed brain.
She lay rigid, not breathing.
"You can quit playing possum. I know you're awake."
Her breath escaped. Very slowly she opened her eyes.
He flipped her skirts down over her legs and rose to stand above her. The sun was behind him and she could barely see him. He was a dark shadow, looming over her. Confusion rose hard. Where was she? A quick glance around showed her that they were alone except for one saddled horse, alone in the middle of a valley surrounded by smooth straw-colored hills and a relentless blue sky. She levered herself up into a sitting position and for one moment, she was dizzy.
Instantly he squatted beside her and put his arm around her, preventing her from falling. His body was, hot, hotter than the air. When her head stopped spinning, their glances met and held.
