Mills & Boon Classics

The glamorous, successful folk singer Sara Winchester was trying to make a fundamental decision—whether or not to marry a charming, eminently suitable man, who was very much a part of her world and who loved her deeply. But still she hesi-tated. Whys It was for a reason that took her back six years—to another, utterly different world. In those days Sara had been little more than a gipsy, roaming the huge, untamed stretches of the Orinoco River of Venezuela with her stepfather. Sara would have been happy for it to have gone on for ever, but everything changed when her stepfather died and left her in the charge of another, very different roamer, Jonathan Logan. Whatever might happen In the future. Sara soon knew that between her and her guardian had been forged a link that would never subsequently be broken . .

When Trina Meriton first went to work in Andrew Dalwin's big country house not far from Sydney, she wondered why there were no photographs of him about. As soon as she set eyes on him she knew the reason. His face had been badly scarred in an accident. As she grew to know him better she realised that the episode had marked him in more ways than one, for it had left him convinced that women were selfish and worthless and that all who appeared interested in him were only after his money. So it came about that when Trina, herself recovering from an unhappy affair, found that she was falling in love with Andrew, she had before her an exceptionally difficult task in overcoming his suspicion and distrust.

Pat Brading had gone out to West Africa partly to be with her father and partly to avoid the situation which was developing between her and her old friend Stephen Holman. She felt it was not fair to Steve's fiancee - and anyway, the prospect of Africa had always fascinated her. It turned out to be everything Pat had always dreamed it would - so much so that, when Steve followed her out there, announcing that his engagement was off and begging her to marry him and return to England, Pat refused. But what was she really clinging to - Africa, or the teak-hard rubber planter Nick Farland, who had always treated her as a kid sister but never as a woman?

"Just pretend that the man you wish to marry is standing before you," the famous designer Florian instructed Anthea as she waited to model the wedding dress in the grand finale of his Paris Spring Collection. But the man Anthea wished to marry was out there in the salon - with the woman who had taken Anthea's place as his future bride.

The first time he saw Tess Bentley, Dave Patterson mistook her for a boy. When he found that she was, in fact, a nineteen-year-old girl, and that she was running, single-handed, a general store in the middle of the African veld without relative or friend to help her, he went into action. Despite Tess's protests, in no time he was arranging to take the store out of her hands and reorganizing her life in typically ruthless fashion. The gentle, undemanding friendship of Martin Cramer came as a welcome antidote to Dave's forceful tactics -- but Martin's need of her was to bring Tess grief and misunderstanding when, in spite of herself, she fell in love with the overwhelming stranger who had taken over her life.

When Andre Savary, a bachelor and by no means an old one, found himself responsible for the upbringing of three orphaned nieces, he decided that they must have someone to look after them, make a home for them and see that they did not forget their English--their mother's language. And that is how Lorna Darwell came to be installed in the spacious Savary villa on the shores of the beautiful lake of Lugano. There, and in their chalet in the Alps, she learned to feel a real and deep affection for the girls, and her care for their welfare proved to be a key that unlocked the door to her own happiness.

Nicola Graham, who is sweet and ordinary and not without her dreams, accompanies Helen Raynor to the huge West African estate which is owned by the Raynor brothers. John is Helen's husband, and his older brother, David, is a bachelor and very much against bringing women into the tropics. He has given in to Helen's plea to be with her husband with the greatest reluctance. From the beginning David regards Nicky as a nice little thing who would be happier in an English suburban home. At every opportunity he urges her to leave West Africa before the climate exacts a toll of her health. But Nicky cheerfully combats boredom, pests and food difficulties. She would have been exceedingly happy had not an attractive young war widow claimed David's help and loyalty. Quite obviously, Diana Godfrey intends to acquire as a husband the wealthy and elusive David Raynor. Nicky is unsophisticated; she has no weapon against the experienced Diana, nothing to offer David but her own sturdy personality. Her problem is happily worked out against the lush background of rubber and palm oil plantations, and the dazzling coastal town of Cape Fargas.

Did she really want to be left alone. Lynden Russell was dismayed on her arrival in West Africa to discover that all the arrangements made for her had fallen through. However, she certainly wasn't going to admit that to the intimidating Dr. Adrian Sinclair! When he took the solution to her difficulties into his own hands, she was very angry at his high-handed interference - but she soon began to wish that his care of her were not quite so impersonal.

To hop from Kensington to Nyasaland at a moment’s notice was disturbing, but so intent was Lou Prentice on her mission, that she scarcely noticed the flight. Lou was to pick up her cousin’s little boy, suddenly left an orphan, and bring him home. It proved to be a very difficult matter!

When Mrs Browne read Lisa’s tea leaves, she prophesied two patches of trouble, probably connected with a man. Lisa didn’t worry. For years she has wanted “things to happen”, and now at twenty two, she was setting off on a voyage to South Africa and life seemed exciting and infinitely promising. But before she had even set foot aboard ship, she had attracted the unfavourable notice of the liner’s coldly efficient captain, and from then on she found herself struggling in the tide of new and strange emotions.

Jenny sat gazing out at the lagoon and thinking about Philip Brooke. He was a stranger. He had said that in a crowd they might not even notice each other, but Jenny knew better. Almost certainly that arrogant gaze of his would pass over Jenny Manson, but there wasn't a woman anywhere who could come within a dozen yards of him and not be conscious of his magnetism. In any case, they weren't in a crowd! They were alone, quite alone, on a tropic beach.

You may think you're in possesion,' said Marcia when she heard of her cousin Teresa's engagement to Elliott Burdern, 'but I can end all that when I like. Will you give him up quietly? Or will you put me to the small trouble of taking him from you?' It was true that Elliott's proposal had been an unorthodox one. It was true that his uncle's eccentrie will had drastcally limited his choice. Still, within those limits he had chosen Teresa and not Marcia, and now Teresa knew that she had no intention of retreating. And so began a struggle that was to be harder than either she or Marcia anticipated.

Angela Gordon was glamorous and ambitious, and determined not to live for ever in London in near-poverty. When she and her sister inherited an unexpected legacy, she persuaded Sara to spend it on a luxury trip to the Bahamas, where she felt sure that she at least would find a rich husband. So they flew off to the romantic, sunny Caribbean, and in no time Angela's hopes were justified when a young American millionaire fell in love with her. But Stephen Rand, the owner of the hotel where they had established themselves, seemed more attracted by Sara's quieter charms - and Sara soon realised that she was returning his love. But she had led him to believe she was a rich Society girl, and sooner or later she would have to confess the truth. Would it mean the end of everything between them?

For all her twenty-three years Justine Field had been completely under the thumb of her elderly, domineering father with the result that she had never begun to learn to make the best of herself and was a stranger to any form of emotion. But it didn't help at all when she over-heard David Cassano pointing all this out to a friend! So why did she have to fall in love with him - a fabulously wealthy, attractive man of the world, with scores of beautiful women waiting to fall into his arms; the one man, in fact, who could never make her happy and could hurt her far more than her father had ever done?

Heartfree, carefree, a favourite of fortune – that was Hamilton Roone. With looks, position, and money, he certainly merited the description. So when he found and married the little nobody Anna, rescuing her from a life of dullness and poverty, his family were genuinely horrified. For her own part, Anna felt guiltily that she was receiving everything from him and giving nothing in exchange; the fact that she loved him deeply and sincerely seemed to her to carry little weight in the face of the material benefits she was receiving from her marriage. And so began Anna’s long hard struggle to save the situation – but it was only when things went wrong trhat the two of them at last began to find each other.

Her aunt's legacy of a cottage on the Costa Brava had some curiously hampering conditions attached to it, Linda thought. In fact, it was really a thinly-disguised attempt to manoeuvre Linda into marrying a Spaniard. Aunt Natalie had even chosen the man, and he was handsome and charming as anyone could wish. Linda's English neighbour had charm too, and the whole situation might have developed into a pleasant, harmless comedy if Maxine had not turned up. For where Maxine went, drama — and even, if she was thwarted in getting her own way, disaster —tended to follow.

A young boy, his friends, and their parents discover many things about themselves and each other during a hurricane on the Massachusetts coast.

Hoping for some degree of solitude and complete relief from women, Julian Caswell goes as plantation manager to the tropical island of Valeira. When he discovers a lone white girl in his fastness of men he is, not unnaturally, hostile, and Philippa Crane is commanded to leave. But Phil is young and unspoiled and full of pluck; she is also determined to remain on Valeira. She wins the first round against the cold, inflexible Julian, but as the guarded friendship grows her fortunes vary. Julian's experience of women has made him cruel; in spite of his unfailing generosity there is no piercing him. A heart-breaking problem for a girl who is falling in love. Inevitably climate and circumstances take a hand. The story develops against the vivid back-cloth of equatorial Africa: steaming heat and vicious sunshine which too often rouse the worst in human nature. The characters, typical of their environment, are drawn with knowledge and compassion.

It takes a very special type of courage to admit defeat, but Lesley and her father now had to face the inevitable. Two tobacco crops had failed, and reluctantly they must sell up and start again elsewhere. But the buyer of their farm was Fernando del Cuero, chief engineer of the nearby hydroelectric scheme. And Senor del Cuero announced that the valuable mineral, berillium, had been discovered on their land. Lesley was unwilling to profit from an industry that would ruin the beautiful land she loved, and was instinctively antagonistic to the man who had stepped in and taken over their lives. But she found events slipping out of her control. The arrival of Virginia, her elder sister, disturbed her deeply. This glamorous young woman's actions were always self interested. She came to Africa anxious only for what she could take, not what she could give.

Dominic Halstad was the most attractive man Susan had ever met – tall, handsome, celebrated and rich. Small wonder it was that in comparison with him Susan found her fiancé weak, dull and unimaginative. And as she gradually began to wonder if she was as important in David’s life as his mother, she found the seeds of trouble were being rapidly sown. For even if her first loyalty were not still to David, what right had she to think of Dominic – and what right had Dominic to return her feelings – when he was a married man?

Karen was young and vulnerable and very much in love with her new husband, and it was a shattering blow when she found, only a few days after the wedding, that he had only married her to further his own career — as a Government official in the romantic South Sea Islands. What was she to do now? One thing was certain — she could never stop loving him.

An unknown benefactor had sufficient faith in Anthea Benton's singing voice to pay for her training under the celebrated operatic conductor, Oscar Warrender. She was ecstatic, but her joy was short-lived when she came face to face with the great man. Cold and forbidding, he proved to be a hard taskmaster. She felt her dreams can be coming true... but would she be tough enough to work under such and exacting taskmaster?

Lise supposed she ought to be grateful to the imperious Conde Leandro de Marcos Reyes for helping her out of an awkward situation — but not so grateful that she was willing to repay him as he suggested and pretend to be his fiancée. A domineering Spanish nobleman was not her idea of a comfortable husband! However, she reluctantly agreed to the deception, just for a short time .. .

Philippa had an absorbing job on the "heart page" of a big newspaper. Then she advised a young girl to elope with her boyfriend. Unfortunately, the girl turned out to be the niece of Philippa's boss, the formidable newspaper tycoon, Marius Lyon, who soon gave Philippa the sack. But even after she was fired, she continued to meet and cross swords with him, and, inevitably, it ended with her falling in love. But it was a hopeless love, for even had Marius looked at her as a prospective wife, the glamorous Celia had every reason--and all the means--to prevent such a marriage.

Stephanie McMaster thought the world of her father, and would have done almost anything to make him happy – but she had never imagined that her loyalty to him would be stretched as it was being now. For her father was facing ruin, and the only way Stephanie could save him was to accede to Santino Venturo’s request that she should marry him and go to live with him in his castle in Sicily. Santino made it clear from the start that it was not a real wife that he wanted but a companion for his little motherless daughter; the marriage would be in name only just for the sake of propriety. In any case, it was clear that Santino was still devoted to the memory of his dead wife Sanchia. So why had he wanted to marry Stephanie at all? And where did her feelings come into it?

Chrys didn’t trust men, and she had no intention of allowing herself to fall in love with one and sacrifice her career as a ballet dancer as a result. And when an unhappy accident meant that she must rest for a year and forget her dancing altogether during that time, she was even more determined not to get involved in any romantic situation. It was not, therefore, the best time for her to meet Anton de Casenove, who was just the type of man she most needed to be on her guard against – half Russian prince, half man of the desert; a romantic combination. Conscious of his overwhelming masculine appeal, Chrys hurriedly got a job that would take her right away from him, into the heart of the Arabian desert. But Anton de Casenove was a determined man…

There had been two men so far in Madeline's life - her late husband, Joe, and her boss, Adrian. Both had been kind and uncomplicated, wanting only to cherish and look after her. But now another man had surged into her life - Nicholas Vitale. Handsome, dynamic, devastatingly attractive, he was utterly unlike anyone she had ever met before. But he certainly could not be described as gentle or kind, still less did he want to protect and cherish her. And Madeline could not resist him. In getting so far out of her depth with Nicholas, was Madeline doing anything but stirring up trouble for herself? And what about her duty to that other important person in her life - her young daughter Diana?

Elizabeth's journey to Cape Town included the very reverse of a shipboard romance, for a lively mutual dislike was established between her and a certain tall, dark passenger. So it was a shock to her to learn on landing that there was a very close connection between this man, Nigel Van Kane, and the father she had come so many miles to see. Worse, she was going to be in a position where she would have to be grateful to him! Yet Elizabeth wasn't at all keen on the alternative - to accept help from the beautiful Carol Wainwright. And too late she realised why: she was jealous of the undoubted power Carol had over the aloof Nigel ...

Young Ashley Calder’s whole life changed when she met Jake Seton. For Jake was unlike any other man she had ever met, and beyond her reach in just about every way. He was far too old and sophisticated for her, his social sphere was far removed from her own – and above all, he was shortly to be married this fiancée, the glamorous Barbara Forrest. So why did he persist in making it clear to Ashley that the attraction was by no means only on her side?

When Erica married her boss she was under no illusions as to the nature of the marriage. She knew that for Oliver it was merely one of convenience, that he would never have considered her had he not lost the woman he really loved. All the same, Erica did love him, and she couldn't help hoping that with time and patience her marriage might turn into something deeper and more satisfying than a business arrangement. But Erica had managed to conceal from Oliver the fact that just before the wedding his old love had come back and tried to get in touch with him. Would he ever forgive her if he discovered how she had deceived him?

Louise was the relation as far as her cousins, the Chaileys, were concerned, and when her glamorous cousin Melissa was planning her wedding to wealthy playboy Piers Merrick, Louise was given the comparatively humble part of the youngest (and least important!) bridesmaid. Nevertheless, when at the last moment Melissa walked out on him, it was to Louise that Piers turned, and asked her to marry him instead - a proposal which she was happy to accept.