Pan original

"'Lalita!' he exclaimed. As he spoke, a flash of lightning revealed her frightened face framed by her fair hair. The next thing Lord Heywood knew, Lalita was clinging to him. He could feel her trembling. 'It is all right,' he said soothingly"--First preliminary page.

In the light from the candles and the moonlight outside, Kelda saw an expression in Lord Orsett's eyes that made her heart start beating furiously and she could not look away. "I want your heart," he began. "I want it more than I have ever wanted anything..." Because of the pain in his voice, Kelda was no longer afraid. "You... you want... me?" she asked. "I have loved you from the moment I saw you, but I told myself it was an illusion..." Lord Orsett said positively. "Tell me what I want to hear. Say it, darling!" "I love... you!" she whispered. But the words were lost as Lord Orsett's lips came down on hers, holding her captive. Now there was only him, and he filled the world and the sky.

"When I marry," Zenka cried, "I shall marry for love and no Queen or anybody else will persuade me to do otherwise." Her defiant vow was as brave as it was useless. Queen Victoria had already decided to marry the fiery-haired Princess to King Miklos of Karanya. Zenka was faced with two horrifying choices: follow Her Majesty's wishes and marry without love, or spend the rest of her life in a convent. The Queen might force her to marry Miklos, but she would have her revenge. She would make the King love her, then attack him with every weapon in her power. "He shall get exactly the kind of wife he deserves... a hell-cat!"

England, 1818. Lady Alvina Harling tore from her bedroom and along the corridor towards the master suite on the other side of the castle. She turned the handle and went into the small and elegant hall. There was one light flickering low in a sconce on the wall which guided her to the Duke of Harlington's bedroom door which she opened without knocking. The moonlight was diffusing the room with a magic iridescence which for the moment seemed almost blinding. Then she looked towards the bed and it appeared as if there was no one in it. The idea that Ivar Harling was already dead made Alvina feel a pain pierce her heart as if it was a dagger. In that moment of agony, she knew that she loved him....

Young and beautiful, Princess Marie-Therese of Wiedenstein is alarmed when her father tells her she is engaged to an English Duke -- she believes the English to be cold, arrogant and insensitive. And when her twin brother the Prince also hears unpleasant news, the two elude their escorts to spend seven carefree days in Paris before her marriage with the English Duke. In the glittering world of gaiety that marked the Second Empire, the Princess pretends to be Zena, her brother's mistress. This farce brings unexpected problems, especially when she falls in love with the French Comte de Graumont, who seeks love, but not marriage. Can love triumph over a royal decree and her father's anger?