Virgin With Butterflies
She's a smooth blonde with enough real glamour not to need makeup–especially when she's in tight white satin. She's honest and sort of naive, but she knows how to get a man or get rid of a wolf.She's a cigarette girl in a spot just off Chicago's loop, but she's about to start really going places. As she goes, she collects an Indian raja, an amorous sheikh and a mysterious gentleman reputed to be the Rockefeller of Burma. These gents are after something, chasing the gal around the world to get it, and it ain't hay. That's where her butterflies come in–they flutter hard, warning her when she's scared or propositioned, and they're working overtime. Effectively?–read the book and find out.
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Dear Reader,
Harlequin is celebrating its sixtieth anniversary in 2009 with an entire yearâs worth of special programs showcasing the talent and variety that have made us the worldâs leading romance publisher.
With this collection of vintage novels, we are thrilled to be able to journey with you to the roots of our success: six books that hark back to the very earliest days of our history, when the fare was decidedly adventurous, often mysterious and full of passionâ1950s-style!
It is such fun to be able to present these works with their original text and cover art, which we hope both current readers and collectors of popular fiction will find entertaining.
Thank you for helping us to achieve and celebrate this milestone!
Warmly,
Donna Hayes,
Publisher and CEO
The Harlequin Story
To millions of readers around the world, Harlequin and romance fiction are synonymous. With a publishing record of 120 titles a month in 29 languages in 107 international markets on 6 continents, there is no question of Harlequinâs success.
But like all good stories, Harlequinâs has had some twists and turns.
In 1949, Harlequin was founded in Winnipeg, Canada. In the beginning, the company published a wide range of booksâincluding the likes of Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, James Hadley Chase and Somerset Maughamâall for the low price of twenty-five cents.
By the mid 1950s, Richard Bonnycastle was in complete control of the company, and at the urging of his wifeâand chief editorâbegan publishing the romances of British firm Mills & Boon. The books sold so well that Harlequin eventually bought Mills & Boon outright in 1971.
In 1970, Harlequin expanded its distribution into the U.S. and contracted its first American author so that it could offer the first truly American romances. By 1980, that concept became a full-fledged series called Harlequin Superromance, the first romance line to originate outside the U.K.
The 1980s saw continued growth into global markets as well as the purchase of American publisher, Silhouette Books. By 1992, Harlequin dominated the genre, and ten years later was publishing more than half of all romances released in North America.
Now in our sixtieth anniversary year, Harlequin remains true to its history of being the romance publisher, while constantly creating innovative ways to deliver variety in what women want to read. And as we forge ahead into other types of fiction and nonfiction, we are always mindful of the hallmark of our success over the past six decadesâguaranteed entertainment!
TOM POWERS
was born in Kentucky on July 7, 1890. He first made a name for himself in musicals on Broadway, then moved to more dramatic theater productions. In 1944 he agreed to appear in the movie Double Indemnity, and spent the rest of his career in front of the camera. He was also an author, writing fiction, poetry and an autobiography. He died in California in 1955.
CONTENTS
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
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER ONE
THIS WHOLE ADVENTURE started when I met the gentleman from India. I didnât know anything about India that first night he bought the cigarettes from me, and neither did Millie.
Millieâs the other cigarette girl, the one that was at the café selling cigarettes before meâonly they had to let her quit because she was getting ready to have a baby. But she still hung around the café nights, looking to see if the feller wouldnât maybe come back that had gotten her that way.
Anyway, she didnât know what to make of this gentleman, either. He spoke soft and was not like most of the slickers that come to the café; he was more of a gentleman, with plenty of money and a ring with a red set in it that Millie said was a bum flash, though I donât know how she could be sure it was fake.
But Moe, the waiter, used to be a jeweler on the other side of the ocean. But Hitlerâs police cut off his thumbs, so he couldnât be a jeweler anymore, as it seems that youâve got to have thumbs to be a jeweler. Well, Moe said it was a ruby, and I guess it was. And I guess thatâs what was the cause of what Iâm going to tell about, the cause of everything that happened to me during all those months that me and this gentleman was together, and that got me into the papers even more than when I had been in court back home all those times at my brother Willieâs trials. It was knowing this gentleman that finally pretty near got me in the movies even, though not quite Iâm proud to say.
But that first night he came in I didnât even notice him or his ruby. I was trying to get past the big table, the one over next to the juke box, where five smart guys were drinking some Mexican stuff that Butch had sent Snowball out for. They had money all right, and sharp-cut suits and watch chains. But their hands was hot. And they had thumbs for pinching, all right. And I didnât like the fat one with pimples at all.
