00. Jubilee Introduction - The Eternal Collection

Barbara Cartland

Description

The Barbara Cartland Eternal Collection is the unique opportunity to collect as ebooks all five hundred of the timeless beautiful romantic novels written by the world’s most celebrated and enduring romantic author.Named the Eternal Collection because Barbara’s inspiring stories of pure love are just the same as love itself, the books will be published on the Internet at the rate of four titles per month until all five hundred are available. - The Eternal Collection , classic pure romance available worldwide for all time The Barbara Cartland Eternal Collection is the unique opportunity to collect as ebooks all five hundred timeless , beautiful romantic novels written by the world’s most loved and enduring romantic author.This specially priced volume of four titles is both a celebration of the Jubilee and your introduction to the Eternal Collection which will be published four titles per month until all five hundred are available.01 Elizabethan loverHaving sailed with Sir Francis Drake, swashbuckling privateer Rodney Hawkhurst yearns for a galleon of his own with which to plunder the Spanish Main in the name of Queen Elizabeth. Seeking investment from Sir Harry Gillingham, he has a fleeting encounter with an elfin, tomboyish golden-red-haired beauty – Sir Harry’s youngest daughter Lizbeth – and is bewitched by her limpid green eyes. Yet it is fair and golden-haired elder sister Phillida with whom he first falls in love...Granted his finances on the condition that Sir Harry’s weak, possibly even traitorous son sails with him in the hope that the mission will make him a man, Rodney embarks on a voyage of blood, honour and glory in which he gains great riches but loses his heart, not once, but twice. The risks are great but so are the rewards: wealth beyond compare and, as Rodney finally discovers, a greater, deeper, more passionate love than he ever imagined possible. 02 The Little PretenderIn 1750 Scotland, just four years after Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Rising of the Clans, it’s hard to know who’s loyal to the English and who is faithful to the Stuarts. And it’s beautiful seventeen-year-old Iona’s perilous mission to ascertain whether the Duke of Arkrae, head of Scotland’s most powerful clan, is a traitor – or is he in cahoots with the English. The plan is for Iona to gain the trust of the Duke and his clan by claiming to be the sister he thought to have died as a child. As all around her doubt her claim and call her a ‘pretender’, Iona struggles to hold her nerve. Her native wit and steel nerves do not fail her – but almost instantly, on meeting the imperious Duke, it’s her heart that lets her down. She’s fallen deeply, hopelessly in love! Traitor or not, surely the Duke could never love the Little Pretender who was sent only to ensnare him? 03 A Ghost in Monte CarloEighteen-year-old Mistral is an innocent abroad in the sophisticated Côte D’Azur, where princes and millionaires mingle in the casinos and sumptuous hotels while others plot to relieve them of their riches. Accompanied only by her embittered and domineering Aunt Emilie and kindly servant Jeanne, Mistral appears dressed all in grey like a ghost in the salons and ballrooms of Monte Carlo and sets Society’s tongues wagging. It’s not long before her waif-like beauty has men falling at the feet of Madamoiselle Fântóme – gentlemen such as Sir Robert Stanford.But on her sister’s bewildering but strict instructions, she must not converse with any but the Russian Prince Nikolai, who’s also keen to woo her, as is an opulent Indian Rajah…Something about Mistral touches Sir Robert’s heart – and he cannot understand why Mistral appears afraid to be with him. Yet both of them crave love. Only if Mistral’s innocent eyes are finally opened to the truth – that Aunt Emilie’s motives are borne not of concern for her niece but of pure evil and greed – will she find her heart’s desire…04 A Duel of HeartsJust seventeen, Lady Caroline Faye is already the toast of the Season and accustomed to the ways of genteel Society. So when notorious cad Sir Montagu Reversby offers to drive her in his phaeton from London to Sevenoaks, she innocently accepts – little knowing that he is planning to fake a broken axle so that she will be forced to spend the night alone with him at a remote country inn. "Barbara Cartland was the world’s most prolific novelist who wrote an amazing 723 books in her lifetime, of which no less than 644 were romantic novels with worldwide sales of over 1 billion copies and her books were translated into 36 different languages.As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, theatrical plays and books of advice on life, love, vitamins and cookery.She wrote her first book at the age of 21 and it was called Jigsaw. It became an immediate bestseller and sold 100,000 copies in hardback in England and all over Europe in translation.Between the ages of 77 and 97 she increased her output and wrote an incredible 400 romances as the demand for her romances was so strong all over the world.She wrote her last book at the age of 97 and it was entitled perhaps prophetically The Way to Heaven. Her books have always been immensely popular in the United States where in 1976 her current books were at numbers 1 & 2 in the B. Dalton bestsellers list, a feat never achieved before or since by any author.Barbara Cartland became a legend in her own lifetime and will be best remembered for her wonderful romantic novels so loved by her millions of readers throughout the world, who have always collected her books to read again and again, especially when they feel miserable or depressed.Her books will always be treasured for their moral message, her pure and innocent heroines, her handsome and dashing heroes, her blissful happy endings and above all for her belief that the power of love is more important than anything else in everyone’s life."

Sujets

• Downton Abbey
• Mills & Boon
• Thomas Hardy
• Jane Austen
• Harlequin

Informations

• Publié par: M-Y Books
• Date de parution: 14 octobre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 3
• EAN13: 9781782130000
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

C O N T E N T S
Elizabethan Lover
Having sailed with Sir Francis Drake, swashbuckling privateer Rodney Hawkhurst yearns for
a galleon of his own with which to plunder the Spanish Main in the name of Queen Elizabeth.
Seeking investment from Sir Harry Gillingham, he has a fleeting encounter with an elfin,
tomboyish golden-red-haired beauty – Sir Harry’s youngest daughter Lizbeth – and is
bewitched by her limpid green eyes. Yet it is fair and golden-haired elder sister Phillida with
whom he first falls in love...
Granted his finances on the condition that Sir Harry’s weak, possibly even traitorous son
sails with him in the hope that the mission will make him a man, Rodney embarks on a
voyage of blood, honour and glory in which he gains great riches but loses his heart, not once,
but twice.
The risks are great but so are the rewards: wealth beyond compare and, as Rodney finally
discovers, a greater, deeper, more passionate love than he ever imagined possible.
The Little Pretender
In 1750 Scotland, just four years after Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Rising of the Clans, it’s hard to
know who’s loyal to the English and who is faithful to the Stuarts. And it’s beautiful
seventeen-year-old Iona’s perilous mission to ascertain whether the Duke of Arkrae, head of
Scotland’s most powerful clan, is a traitor – or is he in cahoots with the English. The plan is
for Iona to gain the trust of the Duke and his clan by claiming to be the sister he thought to
have died as a child.
As all around her doubt her claim and call her a ‘pretender’, Iona struggles to hold her
nerve. Her native wit and steel nerves do not fail her – but almost instantly, on meeting the
imperious Duke, it’s her heart that lets her down. She’s fallen deeply, hopelessly in love!
Traitor or not, surely the Duke could never love the Little Pretender who was sent only to
ensnare him?
A Ghost in Monte Carlo
Eighteen-year-old Mistral is an innocent abroad in the sophisticated Côte D’Azur, where
princes and millionaires mingle in the casinos and sumptuous hotels while others plot to
relieve them of their riches.
Accompanied only by her embittered and domineering Aunt Emilie and kindly servant
Jeanne, Mistral appears dressed all in grey like a ghost in the salons and ballrooms of Monte
Carlo and sets Society’s tongues wagging. It’s not long before her waif-like beauty has men
falling at the feet of Madamoiselle Fântóme – gentlemen such as Sir Robert Stanford.
But on her sister’s bewildering but strict instructions, she must not converse with any but
the Russian Prince Nikolai, who’s also keen to woo her, as is an opulent Indian Rajah…
Something about Mistral touches Sir Robert’s heart – and he cannot understand why
Mistral appears afraid to be with him. Yet both of them crave love. Only if Mistral’s innocent
eyes are finally opened to the truth – that Aunt Emilie’s motives are borne not of concern for
her niece but of pure evil and greed – will she find her heart’s desire…
A Duel of Hearts
Just seventeen, Lady Caroline Faye is already the toast of the Season and accustomed to the
ways of genteel Society. So when notorious cad Sir Montagu Reversby offers to drive her in
his phaeton from London to Sevenoaks, she innocently accepts – little knowing that he is
planning to fake a broken axle so that she will be forced to spend the night alone with him at aremote country inn.
But Lady Caroline of made of sterner stuff than the predatory Sir Montagu imagined.
Escaping his lecherous clutches, she finds refuge in the imperious Brecon Castle only to
discover that her new-found haven and its master, Lord Brecon, harbour dark and terrible
secrets. A murderous plot is afoot and Caroline’s innocent mistake will come back to haunt her
as heartbreak and humiliation in the dark, foreboding castle turn to hope and then ardent,
allconsuming passion.
Other Books in This Series

About the AuthorELIZABETHAN LOVER
To WONDERFUL MOTHER this my 50th novel,
with all my love

The author wishes to express her most grateful thanks to Mr. C. Christopher Lloyd of the Navy
Records Society and Royal Naval College, Greenwich, for his valuable help and advice on ships and
armaments of the Elizabethan era, and also to Mr. C. A. Lillingston of Harrow School for historical
research.1
The road was dusty and deep-rutted from the snow of the past winter. The horse had to pick its way
warily, but his master raised his face to the green budding of the trees overhanging the road and drew
a sudden deep breath as they came upon a wood carpeted with bluebells.
He had forgotten the miracle of spring in England, Rodney Hawkhurst thought. After months at
sea it was breathtaking. It made him feel almost absurdly sentimental and at the same time excited as
he had been years ago when he first set out on a life of adventure. Now at twenty-nine he thought
himself old and blasé only to find that the spring could arouse his emotions as easily as a woman might
have done.
He drew his plumed hat from his head and felt the breeze upon his forehead. He had ridden hard
and fast and had long since left behind his servants and the packhorses carrying his luggage.
He felt the need to be alone. He wanted to think and to plan in his own mind what he was to say
when he arrived at Camfield Place. He had heard many conflicting reports of Sir Harry Gillingham at
Whitehall, but the majority had been reassuring. Sir Harry was rich and generous and there was no
reason to doubt that, were a proposition put to him in a proper manner, he would agree to it.
It meant so much to Rodney, more than he dared allow himself to think, and if Sir Harry
refused, where else could he turn for help? As he thought of failure, his lips set themselves in the hard
line of obstinacy and his chin squared itself.
Failure was something he had not previously encountered in his life and he did not intend to
anticipate it now. He must succeed, of course he must succeed, as he had done in so many other ways.
Deep in his thoughts he had almost reached a pair of high, imposing iron gates before he
realised where he was. He had arrived – here was his destination and here was the beginning of his
quest – a quest for gold!
The gates were open and the horse passed through them. The drive ahead was bordered by great
trees and a profusion of flowering shrubs. There were lilac bushes heavy with purple and mauve
blossom whose fragrance seemed to scent the air and made the traveller forget once again his anxiety
as he glanced around him.
Laburnum trees were fountains of gold, chestnut blooms starred the trees like Christmas candles,
pink and white. An early cuckoo called from the dark boughs of the cedars, there was a glimpse of
lawns ahead, soft and lush as green velvet.
It was spring! and Rodney felt light-hearted and assured at the beauty of it.
Then, as his horse carried him forward slowly, something flew swiftly through the air, striking
his hat and casting it violently from his head.
He turned startled, yet with that alertness to danger which comes to men who have lived close to
it for many years. He looked not to where his hat had fallen in the dust, pierced by a fine arrow, but in
the direction whence it had come. The lilac bushes were swaying as if someone moved behind their
screening leaves.
With a swiftness that bespoke an athletic body, well trained and utterly subject to the man,
Rodney Hawkhurst leapt from his horse and in three strides reached the bushes, plunging into them
he seized hold of someone who was hiding there.
He had moved so quickly that he himself had not expected that the fierce hardness of his hands
would encounter anything so soft as a white shoulder. But before he had time to consider, he had
gripped it fiercely and dragged its owner out on to the grass which bordered the drive.
He saw then that it was a woman he held captive, or rather, a girl. She was twisting and turning
in his grasp and for a moment it took all his strength to hold her. Then, as his fingers tightened
against her struggles, she was suddenly still.
“Let me go!”
She raised her face to his, throwing back as she did so a cloud of golden-red hair which hung
loosely around her small oval face. Her eyes were strangely green, set beneath arched eyebrows whichwere drawn together now in an angry scowl.
“Did you loose that arrow at me?” Rodney asked.
Her lips pouted for a moment and then suddenly she smiled.
“’Twas but a jest.”
Her smile was irresistible and Rodney found himself smiling back. She was a lovely, roguish
child and he imagined she must be the daughter of some employee on the place, he could see that she
wore a white apron and her loosened hair told him that she had no social position. But she was pretty
– her breasts were round beneath the tightness of her gown, and at sea one had only dreams of fair
women with which to relieve the loneliness of the long nights when one’s arms ached to hold
something warm and soft within them.
“If it were a jest,” Rodney said severely, “’twas a costly one, for my hat is ruined and I bought in it
Cheapside but a week ago.”
“I could perhaps mend it for you,” the girl suggested.
There was no apology in her eyes and her mouth still curved in a smile which had grown
mischievous, and strangely enticing.
“By Heaven you shall pay for it!” Rodney exclaimed.
“Pay for it?” She echoed the words in surprise as his arms t