Praise for the novels of
JOAN JOHNSTON
âJohnston warms your heart and tickles your fancy.â
âNew York Daily News
âJoan Johnston [creates] unforgettable subplots and characters who make every fine thread weave into a touching tapestry.â
âAffaire de Coeur
â[Johnston is] a top-notch craftsman.â
âRT Book Reviews
âRomance devotees will find Johnston lively and well-written, and her characters perfectly enchanting.â
âPublishers Weekly
âMs. Johnston writes of intense emotions and tender passions that seem so real that readers will feel each one of them.â
âRave Reviews
âJohnstonâs characters struggle against seriously deranged foes and face seemingly insurmountable obstacles to true love.â
âBooklist
âA guaranteed good read.â
âNew York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Heather Graham
JOAN JOHNSTON
New York Times bestselling author of
The Hawkâs Way series,
The Benedict Brothers series,
which includes
OUTCAST
INVINCIBLE
and the Bitter Creek series,
which includes
THE COWBOY
THE TEXAN
THE LONER
THE PRICE
THE RIVALS
THE NEXT MRS. BLACKTHORNE
A STRANGERâS GAME
SHATTERED
Please visit her website at
www.joanjohnston.com for a complete listing of her titles and series.
How hard could it be to find spouses for her five grown children before she died? Bella supposed it depended on how long it took for her failing heart to give out. No one had ever accused the five Benedict children of being easy to handle. All of them over twenty-five, and not one of them ever engaged, let alone married.
That might have something to do with the lives they led as members of British royalty. Bella was actually Isabella Wharton Benedict, Duchess of Blackthorne. She certainly had her work cut out for her finding mates for four British-American lords and a lady. Bella corrected herself. Make that four gentlemen rogues and a spoiled rotten lady.
Could she do it? Did she dare try?
Bella stared out the window from her hospital bed at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, wondering where to start. She ran a brush through her shoulder-length black hair, which was threaded with more silver every day. She might be in the autumn of her life, but here in Virginia it was spring, when love blossomed.
Cardinals flirted in the flowering dogwood trees. Blue-and-black-and-yellow butterflies cavorted in the daffodils. Squirrels chattered at each other and played tag, tails flying. With any luck, her titled offspring would find themselves equally vulnerable to romance during this fertile season.
She threw the engraved silver brush onto the bedside table and turned her attention back to the doctor standing at the foot of her hospital bed. âWhatâs the verdict?â
âYouâre still at about thirty percent heart function.â
That was actually good news. At least she hadnât lost function since her last checkup. She could liveâfor a while, maybe yearsâwith that little heart function. But the point was, her heart was dying, and she was dying along with it.
Thatâs what she got for insisting she could ski down an icy slope in the Alps. Sheâd survived the blunt force trauma to her heart when sheâd lost control and gone over a cliff. But the injury had caused scarring that had resulted in reduced heart function and continuing heart failure.
âHow long do I have?â she asked.
âThe new meds I gave you should keep you up and running for a while.â
âRunning?â Bella said with a quirk of her lips.
âFiguratively,â the doctor qualified. âYou should certainly be exercising regularly to keep whatâs left of your heart muscle healthy. And take your meds!â
Bella eyed the numerous bottles of pills she needed to keep her heart functioning. She hated depending on all those pills, but they allowed her an almost-normal life. ACE inhibitors. Beta blockers. Aldosterone antagonist drugs. She couldnât begin to name the individual prescriptions. The problem was, at some pointâin the not too distant futureâher heart was still going to fail.
âHow long do I have?â Bella asked again.
âCanât say,â the doctor replied.
âGuess.â
The doctor shrugged. âA year for sure. Maybe two. Three if you take care of yourselfâand youâre lucky. Or you could have a heart attack tomorrow. We just canât predict these things.â
Bella shivered. That wasnât much of a future.
âI do have some good news,â the doctor said.
âIâll take what I can get.â
âWeâve been making enormous strides in stem cell therapy. Stay alive long enough and we may be able to rejuvenate that heart of yours with your own stem cells.â