Island Flame
Island Flame (Pocket Star Books Romance)
Karen Robards
Pocket Books (2012)
Dear Reader,
It is difficult for an author to choose a favorite from among her own books, especially when she has been lucky enough—as I have—to make a career out of doing what she loves. But some stories are memorable because they mark an important milestone in an author’s life, and for me, perhaps none is more special than
Island Flame
—my very first book. I was thrilled when it was published, and now, more than thirty years later, I am just as excited to share it again with you.
Island Flame
is a classic tale of romance on the high seas, featuring two extraordinary characters: the headstrong Lady Catherine Aldley and the legendary pirate Jonathan Hale. I don’t have to tell you that their tumultuous escapade sizzles with passion (
lots
of passion!), but what I hope you will take away most from Cathy and Jonathan is that dreams do come true—in love and in life. Mine did, and I hope yours will too.
I look forward to sharing many more adventures together in the future.
Enjoy!
Karen Robards
 | MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT SimonandSchuster.com THE SOURCE FOR READING GROUPS Also visit Romance. SimonandSchuster.com |
KAREN ROBARDS
“ROBARDS’S SINGULAR SKILL OF COMBINING INTRIGUE WITH ECSTASY … GIVES HER ROMANCES THEIR EDGE.”
—Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
“ROBARDS IS A STUPENDOUS STORYTELLER.”
—Midwest Book Review
“ROBARDS HAS A TRUE FLAIR FOR CHARACTERIZATION AND EXCELS AT ADDING LARGE DOSES OF HUMOR TO THE SPICY MIX.”
—Romantic Times
“ROBARDS IS EQUALLY GIFTED IN CRAFTING HISTORICAL AND MODERN ROMANCE.”
—Booklist
OTHER TITLES BY KAREN ROBARDS
Justice
Shattered
Pursuit
Guilty
Obsession
Vanished
Superstition
Bait
Beachcomber
Whispers at Midnight
To Trust a Stranger
Paradise County
Ghost Moon
The Midnight Hour
The Senator’s Wife
Heartbreaker
Hunter’s Moon
Walking After Midnight
Maggy’s Child
One Summer
Nobody’s Angel
This Side of Heaven
Dark of the Moon
THE BANNING SISTERS TRILOGY
Shameless
Irresistible
Scandalous
| Pocket Star Books |
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1981 by Karen Robards
Originally published by Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Pocket Star Books paperback edition February 2012
POCKET STAR and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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.
ISBN 978-1-4516-4978-9
ISBN 978-1-4516-4981-9 (eBook)
To Doug, with love.
Thank you for purchasing this Pocket Star Books.
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Contents
One
L
ady Catherine Aldley was beautiful, and she knew it. She was very much aware of the picture she made as she stood bracing herself against the rail on the deck of the
Anna Greer
, a light wind ruffling her hair and the setting sun turning its red-gold splendor to a vivid flame. The brisk sea air had whipped color into her cheeks, and her blue eyes sparkled.
She was only seventeen, and had been pampered and protected all her short life. Since her mother’s death ten years before, she had been raised by a nanny and a succession of governesses whose duty in life had been to teach their young charge the things that were important for a lady to know in 1842: to play the harp and the pianoforte, to execute insipid watercolors, to speak the French tongue like a native, and to appear sweetly mindless and childlike at all times. In this last, the good ladies were only partially successful. Cathy could assume the role of a gentle, well-bred young lady very well when it suited her, but when it did not, she was a termagant. Her explosions of rage had sent more than one governess running from the house in tears, vowing never to return. Which, in Cathy’s opinion, was just as well. She had no desire to learn anything that was contained between the covers of a book. She wanted to live life, not read about it!
“The girl’s plain ignorant!” her father snorted indignantly
on one occasion, and it was perfectly true. Although her various governesses had labored long and hard, trying to instill the rudiments of education into her saucy head, Cathy remained sublimely indifferent. When it was discovered that the only use she had made of her learning was to read racy novels, her long-suffering father gave up. Cathy was allowed to dispense with the tiresome business of being educated.