Judith Polley

England...a country torn in two by a bitter and bloody civil war. The handsome young king, Charles II, was on the run, ruthlessly pursued by Cromwell's Puritan forces. And with him, the man they called the King's Shadow, the legendary Sir Justin Douglas. Katherine Ashley had her own reasons for wanting to see him captured, for it was as Sir Justin's hands that her beloved John had died, and now she lived only for the vengeance that she prayed would bring peace at last to her tormented heart. But an ironic fate had decreed otherwise. Soon the Puritan woman and the King's man would be joined in an epic passion that still echoes through the centuries...

The war-torn Mexico of Maximilian and Carlota serves as the exciting backdrop for this novel of passion and revenge. Antoinette Dubec, a young Frenchwoman, is determined to bring to justice the mysterious rebel leader El Padrino, whom she believes is responsible for her father's death. She vows, even at the risk of her own life, to see the bandit hang for robbing her of the one she loved most in the world. Antoinette is assisted in her search by the brooding and defiant Loyalist Mexican officer Ramon Chavez, whose love of country comes before family or morality. His tactics are often ruthless and cruel, but Antoinette begins to see in him a man she can respect and trust. A strange secret he will not reveal keeps him aloof from her, and even when he brings her to his family estate, Val Verde, she is unable to connect the man she has come to know with the dark soul she fears is hidden beneath the surface. The mystery of Val Verde, and of the man who owns it, is compelling to Antoinette, even though it frightens her. Although she tries to free herself from Ramon's power over her, she discovers that she is bound to the land she once hated as she is bound to the man she never thought she could love.

A French general's daughter, lovely Antoinette Dubec had come to war-torn Mexico to be with her father and enjoy the court favors of Maximilian and Carlota. But when she arrived, she learned that her father was dead, a victim of the mysterious rebel leader El Padrino. Vowing to avenge his death, Antoinette accepted the assistance of brooding, handsome Ramon Chavez, an aristocratic Mexican officer whose ruthlessness and passion both frightened and attracted her. But it wasn't until she reached Chavez's estate, Val Verde, that she realized the depth of her own fears or the burning rage of her desires. For suddenly she had become the willing captive of a man she hated because of a love she could not deny....

Antoinette Dubec arrives from France to the war-torn Mexico of 1866 to learn of the death of her soldier father. Who is the fierce Mexican Major who breaks the news? Why does he act so coolly towards her? Against his advice she decides to stay on in Mexico to unravel the events of her father’s death and avenge him. By so doing she becomes more involved with the strangely fascinating Major Chavez, the mystery of the amulet he always wears around his nexk and the woman who gave it to him. Her investigations lead her into high adventure, danger, and intrigue, jealousy and passion and eventually even prison before her father’s death is finally avenged.