The Secret Daughter

Adam kicked at the ladder again.

“Quit swearing at the roof and hold still.”

Adam wondered if he’d imagined the woman who appeared to be digging through the honeysuckle below and to the left of his swinging feet.

“Are you hurt?” a low melodic voice inquired.

“A few scrapes,” he muttered. “Probably a bruised rib or two. If you can lift that ladder, sweet thing, chances are I’ll live.”

“Chances go down if you call me sweet thing again.”

Adam couldn’t see much of his Good Samaritan. But he fell instantly in lust with her sweet-as-sugar voice. Despite a downpour few women of his acquaintance would’ve ventured out in, this one had come from nowhere, raised his ladder and then climbed a few rungs to guide his feet to safety.

“Are…are you Jackson Fontaine?” she asked, her voice suddenly hesitant.

“I’m Adam Ross. I restore historic homes. I’m sorry,” he said abruptly. “I didn’t catch your name.”

“Noelani. Noelani Hana. I’m…Duke Fontaine is…”

So this lovely woman was the secret daughter. Duke’s little indiscretion. The illegitimate Fontaine heir.

Dear Reader,

One of the biggest challenges in writing linked books like the Raising Cane trilogy—especially a project involving three individual authors—is finding characters we love to love. Seeing the characters as people you’d want to know and live with for an extended period of time is essential to writing any book. When three writers carry over characters from each other’s stories, it’s like populating a small town.

Eve Gaddy, K.N. Casper and I met and brainstormed probably twenty scenarios and twice as many possible heroes and heroines before we decided to set our family in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the heart of sugarcane country. Casey and Jackson Fontaine have roots in their ancestral plantation, Bellefontaine, stretching back to the Civil War. They’ve grown up in the sugarcane business and are itching to prove their worth to a controlling father. When their parents go off on an around-the-world second honeymoon, it seems the perfect opportunity. Except the Fontaine family has enemies and family scandals. Love interests show up, which further complicate their lives. It takes three books to solve the family’s problems, bring in the crop of sugarcane and unite three sets of lovers. I hope you’ll enjoy Casey’s Gamble, The Secret Daughter and Jackson’s Girls.

Sincerely,

Roz Denny Fox

P.S. I love to hear from readers at P.O. Box 17480-101, Tuscon, AZ 85731, or e-mail me: [email protected].

Duke & Angelique Fontaine: Owners of Bellefontaine, recently deceased

Cassandra (Casey) Fontaine: Bellefontaine plantation manager and daughter of Duke and Angelique

Nick Devlin: Riverboat casino owner and builder; married to Casey

Jackson Fontaine: Bellefontaine business manager and son of Duke and Angelique

Megan Fontaine: Jackson’s four-year-old daughter

Esme Fontaine: Duke’s opinionated sister

Noelani Hana: Illegitimate daughter of Duke Fontaine and Anela Hana

Adam Ross: Nick’s friend and historic home renovator

Roland Dewalt: Long-standing neighbor of the Fontaines

Murray Dewalt: Roland’s son and longtime friend of Casey and Jackson

Vivian (Viv) Pontier-Renault: Casey’s best friend

Luc Renault: Jazz musician and Viv’s husband

Tanya Carson: Megan’s nanny

Betty Rabaud: Fontaine family cook

Bruce Shiller: Owner of sugar plantation in Hawaii where Noelani grew up

Denise Rochelle: Current Fontaine employee, romantically interested in Adam Ross

Chuck Riley: Copilot who flew with Duke Fontaine

Remy Boucherand: Police detective investigating suspicious events at Bellefontaine

In researching the trilogy, we discovered that everything we’ve ever heard about Southern hospitality is completely true. Our heartfelt thanks go to Kenneth and Mary Jane Kahao, longtime sugar growers in the Baton Rouge area, for squiring us around. Because of them, we were able to tour cane fields during cutting season and get an in-depth look at a working sugar mill.

Nor would our books be so rich with the history of the sugar industry if not for the generosity of Caroline Kennedy, Director, and Jim Barnett, Curatorial Assistant, of the West Baton Rouge Museum. (Caroline was quick to inform us she wasn’t that Caroline Kennedy.)

Our apologies for any errors or bits of poetic license we may have taken in order to weave the fictional fabric of our linked stories.

I also want to thank my husband for driving us to and from Louisiana, and for the hours he and Mary Casper spent reading our stories for continuity. They’re the best.

And thanks to Paula, Laura and Beverley, our editors, for their coordination, support and the insight needed to move this project from start to finish.

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN