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Informationen zum Autor Judith O'Brien is a romance author. She previously worked as an editor at several publications, such as Self , when she discovered her love for romance and writing. She is now the author of numerous titles, including Timeless Love , Maiden Voyage , The Forever Bride , and Once Upon a Rose . She also contributed to A Gift of Love , alongside Judith McNaught and Jude Deveraux. Klappentext Once the toast of Richmond, Virginia, Constance Lloyd left a string of misfortune behind and traveled to England to become a mere governess for an upper-class British family. Her high-spirited American ways are not always appreciated, nor is her refusal to act like an empty-headed ninny when around gentleman. But when her beauty catches the eye of none other than the Prince of Wales, Constance is suddenly a social sensation -- and finds herself proposed to by the son of the Duke of Hastings! But as she waltzes in the halls of royalty, Constance is less than madly happy -- for she is filled with doubts about her fiancé and his secrets.Then she meets her intended's best friend, Joseph Smith, an all-too-handsome, self-made man. Now, about to embrace the priveleged life she's always desired, Constance begins to dream of forbidden and unexpected love -- with the one true prince in Britian's glittering palaces. Chapter One COWES, ISLE OF WIGHT, ENGLAND AUGUST 1874 My goodness, Miss Lloyd! You are so very, very lucky! How I envy you! Was there ever a more fortunate girl on the face of the earth?" Constance smiled as she held the veil over her head. "I doubt it, Melody. I doubt it very much indeed. But at the age of twenty and seven, I do believe I ceased being a girl sometime during the last decade." "Do you know how the other girls envy you? The coming out was for us, after all. And who won the glittering prize? Who danced with the Prince of Wales himself for three waltzes in a row? Who did the son of a duke ask to be his wife? My own governess! Honestly, Miss Lloyd, if I didn't love you so much, I do believe I would hate you." Constance was about to respond when she glanced at her former charge. "Oh, Melody," she breathed. "I can scarcely believe it myself" A luscious breeze, sharp and salty from the sea, billowed the curtains of Constance's room. It seemed impossible that, after nine years in the employ of Mrs. Whitestone as a governess and, more importantly, as a friend, she would be leaving within the week to join her fiancé at his family's estate. And he would arrive in his father's carriage, ducal emblem encrusted on the doors, any day now, to escort her to her new home. It would be a temporary home, of course, because she was sure that when they were married, he would want to establish a household of their own. Perhaps they would live in London. Perhaps her fiancé had a different idea, one he had not shared with her yet simply because the whole engagement had been so deliriously swift. Her fianceé. The word seemed peculiar, a different feeling entirely from when she had been engaged during the war. Wade had seemed such a child, perhaps because she had known him all of her life and could even now recall him as a little boy with freckles and a chipped front tooth. Now the very word fiancé was filled with mystery and surprise and romance. "Oh, Miss Lloyd, please tell me again. Tell me the whole story." Melody Whitestone sighed as she rested her head upon her hand. She was the prettiest of the two Whitestone girls and, unfortunately -- in spite of all of Constance's attempts to counter Melody's high opinion of herself -- she knew it, and used those charms mercilessly. Her beauty was of the plumpish sort, a childlike softness that reminded Constance of an idealized Cupid, all pink cheeks and golden curls. Constance, by contrast, was tall -- some said too tall -- and da...
