Danielle Dulac has just been sacked after spurning her employer's lecherous advances. Penniless and without references, she is desperate to acquire the position of governess at Esterly House on the bleak Yorkshire moors. When the mail coach slides into a ditch in the middle of a blizzard, she is forced to seek shelter at the nearest house, Blackmoor Hall. But visitors are not welcome at Blackmoor Hall and she gets sent to the stables to shelter from the storm. She is jerked out of sound slumber by a snow-blasted horse bursting into the stall, practically trampling her beneath his slashing hooves. Anthony Markham, the Duke of Blackmoor, has just returned home after six months of dissolute living in London. He is surly, sarcastic, enigmatic, and hostile. And the most sensuous man Danielle has ever met. The attraction between them is instantaneous, combustible...and forbidden. Though a descendant of French nobility, Danielle is still a mere governess and Anthony Markham is a Duke. When the position at Esterly House falls through, she has nowhere to go and faces a bleak future. To her shock, it's Anthony Markham who comes to her rescue, offering her a position as governess to his four-year-old son, Geoffrey. Against her better judgment, she accepts. She soon discovers that the Master of Blackmoor is haunted by a dark and tragic past filled with lies, betrayal and death. Unfortunately, the past is not over. Evil stalks Blackmoor Hall. The danger is escalating and all the clues point to the Duke himself. As the passion between Anthony and Danielle rages out of control, so does the peril they face. Will they solve this mystery in time? Or will it wind up destroying them both?
About the Author: My writing has run the gamut from fairies in the garden at age 9 to handcuffs in the boudoir at age 69. In the years between I graduated cum laude with a B.A. in French followed by a Master's Degree in Library Science. Having thus procured those two necessary but ultimately irrelevant pieces of paper, I launched a successful career as a children's librarian, followed by an even more successful, 30-year career as a professional storyteller and puppeteer. In 1991 I published Kidstuff, an award-winning, monthly newsletter, as well as a book, Puppets, Poems and Songs, both major language arts resources for early childhood educators. At various points in my life, when asked what I wanted to be, my answer would have been (in rough chronological order, since some of these lofty ambitions overlapped): a fairy, a princess, a ballerina, Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, a paleontologist, Scarlett O'Hara, thin and beautiful, an actress, and a writer. Now, at age 73, my answer to that question is, "younger". Followed closely, of course by bestselling author. Oh, and a princess. Some dreams die hard. Now retired, I live in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia.