Falcon and the Flower

Zusatztext "The best in romantic fiction." --Rendezvous Informationen zum Autor Virginia Henley is the New York Times bestselling author of eight romances published by Dell, including Seduced, Desired, and Enslaved. She divides her time between Ontario, Canada, and St. Petersburg, Florida. Klappentext Astride her white palfrey, surrounded by a nimbus of silver-blond hair, Jasmine was a vision to strike a man mute with desire. But the violet-eyed love child of King Richard's half brother had vowed that no man would ever rule her heart. Until she saw the face of the Devil himself in her crystal ball--the dark, brooding knight who would kill to make her his own. She would risk a dissolute court and a maddened, lustful king to keep destiny at bay, anything to keep her from the hypnotic eyes and burning caresses of... The Falcon. A wickedly handsome warrior who lived by blood and the sword, Falcon de Burgh wanted to wed no woman--until he laid eyes on the exquisite Jasmine, and he vowed to possess her, to teach her all the wondrous ways a man could love a woman, no matter what it might take to conquer her fiery, unyielding heart. Falcon knew only blind, reckless passion as he swore to tame, at the risk of his life... The Flower. Chapter 1   The young virgin lifted her arms high while the old woman adorned her naked form with a silvery robe as finely spun as a spider’s web. The filmy material drifted down to her ankles, which were encircled by delicate golden chains studded with amber, chosen for its mystic qualities. The maiden’s hair, pale as moonbeams, was unbound in all its glory and fell to her waist in curling tendrils.   The old woman pulled back into the shadows of the high tower room, while the girl went forward gracefully, stepping inside the circle of thirteen green candles. She moved with such fluid grace the flames barely flickered before they rose up straight again, burning yellow, then narrowing and lengthening to blue flame.   She began the ritual by crushing herbs and spices in an alabaster bowl, then setting them to smolder with a long taper. The scent of rosemary, cloves, and myrrh spiraled into an aromatic smoke that filled the senses headily. As she had been taught, she lifted the jeweled chalice and sipped the blood-red wine, then in a beautiful, clear voice she chanted the magic wish:   “I call upon all the Powers of the Universe to send the king and queen to England to set up their royal court. Blessed be.”   She then gazed intensely into a crystal orb, which seemed to fill and swirl with gray smoke before slowly clearing. Her eyes were an unusual lavender color that darkened to purple as she stared into the sphere. She willed herself to “see” a royal couple upon thrones with crowns upon their heads. The gray smoke swirled up in the crystal orb, then cleared again to show the king and queen on a ship crossing the sea from the Continent to England.   The old woman watched her granddaughter with pride and possessiveness through shrewd, hooded eyes that had once been as beautiful as the maiden’s. “Bastard of a bastard,” Estelle whispered as she watched the girl, then her hand reached up to pluck the ugly words from the air before they had a chance to float off into time and space. There were, at the very least, two ways of looking at everything. Jasmine was a love child, and she had drummed into the girl’s head since childhood that by blood she was a royal princess!   The late, great King Henry II’s illegitimate son, William Longsword, had taken Estelle’s lovely daughter for his mistress. The planting of his seed had killed her. She had been too delicate and small to bear a child, yet even though the babe had been a puny and sickly thing, through Estelle’s determined efforts it had survived. Jasmine, she mused, fragile and delicate as the flower for which she was name...

Product details

• Authors: V. Henley, Virginia Henley
• Publisher: Dell Publishing Inc.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 05.08.1989
• EAN: 9780440204299
• ISBN: 978-0-440-20429-9
• No. of pages: 480
• Dimensions: 62 mm x 1751 mm x 5 mm
• Series: Medieval Plantagenet Trilogy; Medieval Plantagenet Trilogy
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature