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Informationen zum Autor Jo-Ann Power is the author of romance novels, historical fiction, and mysteries. She lives in Texas. Find out more at Jo-AnnPower.com. Klappentext Jo-Ann Power's last exquisitely imagined story, Angel of Midnight, was "beautifully written with incredible warmth and passion," raved bestselling author Heather Graham. Now, against the lavish ballrooms and great estates of Victorian England, Power spins an equally captivating tale of a heartbroken lady torn between mistrust and love. The CatCatherine "Cat" Farrell stood alone at the altar on he her wedding day. Her beloved Spence had disappeared, leaving her to face the scrutiny of the unsavory London tabloids and the artful snubs of the rigid Proper Set. Only now, a year after her famous father's death and three years since Spence jilted her, does Cat dare to reenter Society. In her Worth gown she is a dazzling beauty all can admire, not a desperate, penniless woman being blackmailed for a treasure that her father may have stolen and that she cannot find....And the LyonnSpencer Lyonns is the hunter; Cat is his prey. Sent by the Crown to question her about her father, he can think only of taking her in his arms. But the fury she turns on him is soul deep, fraught with pain, and fueled by passion. Between them are the secrets that once drove him from her -- and the desire that brought him back. And when Cat is suspected of murder, Spence must be the Lyonns to protect her, clear her name, and possess her body, her heart, her love.... From "Treasures" Kent, England 1874 "If money could buy what I want here tonight, I'd empty the last few pounds in my bank account and run home. This minute." Cat met her friend Dorrie in the woman's upper hall and spun at her silent order to turn and let her inspect her new ballgown. "You've squeezed your last stone, though, Catherine Farrell. You did it for that dress Worth did you the honor to design." Dorrie Billington's eyes danced down the iris silk creation by the noted Paris dressmaker. Cat had depleted her inheritance to pay him, surrendering almost the last of her father's money to buy herself a chance at a rewarding future. "Honor, my foot." Cat's fingers skimmed her remaining treasure: her family's heirloom amethyst necklace at her throat. "If this gown doesn't help me make an impression, you must realize I'll be growing turnips to survive instead of trying to bleed a few here tonight!" Dorrie chuckled as she looped her arm through Cat's. "Come along and stop worrying. Blanding and I promise you no one will dare be rude to you." "Facing half of London and most of Kent downstairs in that receiving line and ballroom is my chance to save my school, Dorrie. If I fail..." She grimaced. "You won't." Dorrie patted her arm as they descended the grand staircase of Billington Manor. "I haven't danced in three years." She was blathering and she knew it but didn't care. "What if I don't remember? Suppose I go downstairs, waltz into that ballroom, and no one waltzes with me? What happens to a twenty-three-year-old jilted spinster who tries to open a school for girls and can't enroll enough students to meet the monthly butcher's bill? Hmmm? I'll be aimless. Idle. Still poor and ostracized!" "Will you please calm yourself?" Dorrie was grinning with her never-ending optimism. "How can I" Cat grit her teeth. She had to make the biggest impression of her life on these people tonight. She had to show them she was genteel, capable, worthy of educating their daughters. Before she'd gone to Mr. Worth, she'd sunk almost every penny of her father's bequest to her into the Farrell School for Young Ladies. She needed a few more students to operate her first term with a small profit. To flourish, however, her school required that laying on of hands society called acceptability . For that, she had to ...
