Barbara Taylor Bradford’s 4-Book Collection
Four novels from the master storyteller, Barbara Taylor Bradford, bestselling author of A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCEVOICE OF THE HEART tells the story of two brilliant women and the men to whom they ransomed their hearts. With her stunning beauty, brilliant talent, and almost magical allure, irresistible Hollywood legend Katherine Tempest has the world at her feet. But Katherine irrevocably changes the lives of her closest friends: the two men who love her, and the woman who trusts her implicitly. She never looks back until she needs the one thing they alone can give her – forgiveness.ACT OF WILL tells the story of three generations of beautiful women and their journey from rags to riches. Moving from the bleak Yorkshire Dales, through London, to the glamorous world of haute couture, this classic novel sparkles as it entertains.THE WOMEN IN HIS LIFE is a glittering tale of a billionaire tycoon and the women that define him. Maximilian West appears to have everything. But in reality Maximilian is riven with internal conflict and torn apart by personal doubts. Many women have strived to reach his fortress heart, but only one woman holds the key that will unlock Maximilian’s secret – and set his soul free…DANGEROUS TO KNOW is a compelling story of old loves and old secrets. Sebastian Locke is handsome, charismatic, a man of immense charm and intelligence and head of the philanthropic Locke Foundation. But now, he is dead – murdered in mysterious circumstances that have the police at a loss. Who would want to kill the world’s greatest philanthropist? Could such an upstanding man have enemies? Vivienne Trent, his ex-wife and close friend, sets out to find the truth about his death – and about Locke himself.
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Barbara Taylor Bradford’s
4-Book Collection Voice of the HeartAct of WillThe Women in His LifeDangerous to Know
by
BARBARA TAYLOR BRADFORD
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
Voice of the Heart first published in Great Britain by Granada Publishing 1983 ‘Happy Birthday to You’, words and music by Mildred J. Jill and Patty S. Hill. Copyright © 1935 Birch Tree Group Ltd, Princeton, N.J. Used by permission.
Act of Will first published in Great Britain by Granada Publishing 1986
Dangerous to Know first published in Great Britain by HarperCollins 1995
The Women in His Life first published in Great Britain by Granada Publishing 1990 ‘There’ll Always Be an England’ (Parker/Charles) Copyright © 1939, Dash Music Co. Ltd, 8–9 Frith Street, London, W1V 5TZ Used by permission. All rights reserved. ‘The White Cliffs of Dover’ (Kent/Burton) Copyright © 1941, Shapiro Bernstein & Co. Inc., USA Reproduced by permission of B. Feldman & Co. Ltd, London WC2H 0EA. ‘I’ll Be Seeing You’ (Fain/Kahal) Copyright © 1938, Marlo Music Corp., USA Reproduced by permission of Francis Day and Hunter Ltd, London WC2H 0EA. Extract from Rich: The Life of Richard Burton by Melvyn Bragg is reprinted by kind permission of Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.
Copyright © Barbara Taylor Bradford 1983, 1986, 1990, 1995
Jacket layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2013
Jacket photographs © Shutterstock.com
Barbara Taylor Bradford asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780007395583, 9780007363728, 9780007330829, 9780007401550
Ebook Edition © OCTOBER 2013 ISBN: 9780007536245
Version: 2017-10-25
Contents
BARBARA TAYLOR BRADFORD
Voice of the Heart
For my husband Robert Bradford with love
I came back because I wanted to, of my own free will. No one forced me to return. But now that I am here I want to take flight, to hide again in obscurity, to put this vast ocean between myself and this place. It bodes me no good.
As these thoughts finally took shape, assumed troubling proportions and jostled for prominence in her mind, the woman’s fine hands, lying inertly in her lap, came together in a clench so forceful that the knuckles protruded sharply through the transparent skin. But there was no other outward display of emotion. She sat as rigid as stone on the seat. Her face, pale and somewhat drawn in the murky morning light, was impassive as a mask and her gaze was fixed with unwavering intensity on the Pacific.
The sea was implacable and the colour of chalcedony on this bleak and sunless day, one that was unnaturally chilly for Southern California, even though it was December when the weather was so often inclement. The woman shivered. The dampness was beginning to seep through her trench-coat into her bones. She felt icy, and yet there was a light film of moisture on her forehead and neck and between her breasts. On an impulse she rose from the seat, her movements abrupt, and with her head bent against the wind and her hands pushed deep into her pockets she walked the length of the Santa Monica pier, which was now so entirely deserted it looked desolate, even forbidding, in its emptiness.
