Nina Beaumont - Twice Upon Time

Bewitched. Bewitched. For the hundredth time, the word filled Bianca’s brain to the exclusion of all else. She was bewitched. She had to be. Otherwise she would not feel this overwhelming need to give Alessio what he wanted. What they both wanted. “You wanted to besiege me, Alessio. Wasn’t that what you wanted? Just like one of your fortresses.” She felt the anger rising from the pit of her stomach and welcomed it. “To besiege me until I became weak. Until I surrendered.” Her eyebrows rose with annoyance when he laughed. “Ah, Bianca. When you and I become lovers, it will have nothing to do with surrender.” She knew she should say something now. Something caustic, something clever, but she seemed to have lost the power of speech.... Letter to Reader Dear Reader, With Twice Upon Time, her second Harlequin Historical time-travel novel, author Nina Beaumont skillfully places her characters in a dangerous world of wealth and power as they struggle to balance the future with the past and prevent a sibling rivalry from turning into the curse that has haunted generations of their descendants. Don’t miss this exciting tale of a passion too strong to be denied. In the third book of Suzanne Barclay’s Lion Trilogy, Lion’s Legacy, a Scottish warrior is hired to protect a castle from English raiders, but discovers that his benefactor has nothing to give him in return but the hand of his unwilling granddaughter. And in Emily French’s Illusion, the growing love between an ex-soldier and an heiress who have been drawn into a marriage of convenience is threatened by embezzlement and extortion. Diamond, the fourth title for the month, is the first in Ruth Langan’s new Western series. The Jewels of Texas, which features four sisters who think they are only children until the death of their father brings them all together at his ranch in Texas. Whatever your taste in reading, we hope that Harlequin Historical novels will keep you coming back for more. Please look for them wherever books are sold. Sincerely, Tracy Farrell Senior Editor Please address questions and book requests to: Harlequin Reader Service US.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo. NY 14269 Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3 Title Page Twice Upon Time Nina Beaumont www.millsandboon.co.uk About the Author NINA BEAUMONT is of Russian parentage and has a family tree that includes the Counts Stroganoff and a Mongolian khan. A real cosmopolitan, she was born in Salzburg and grew up in Massachusetts before moving to Austria, where she lived for twenty-five years. Although she has relocated to the Seattle area, her European ties are still strong, so she plans to stick with the exotic settings she has had the opportunity to get to know firsthand. Books and music are her first loves, but she also enjoys painting watercolors and making pottery. Dedication To Mutti, Brigitte, Heinz, Markus (who looks like the hero of this book), Martha, Matthias and Lukas, my family-in-law, who will always be family. 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 Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Author Note Copyright

Bewitched.

For the hundredth time, the word filled Bianca’s brain to the exclusion of all else. She was bewitched. She had to be. Otherwise she would not feel this overwhelming need to give Alessio what he wanted. What they both wanted.

“You wanted to besiege me, Alessio. Wasn’t that what you wanted? Just like one of your fortresses.” She felt the anger rising from the pit of her stomach and welcomed it. “To besiege me until I became weak. Until I surrendered.”

Her eyebrows rose with annoyance when he laughed.

“Ah, Bianca. When you and I become lovers, it will have nothing to do with surrender.”

She knew she should say something now. Something caustic, something clever, but she seemed to have lost the power of speech....

Dear Reader,

With Twice Upon Time, her second Harlequin Historical time-travel novel, author Nina Beaumont skillfully places her characters in a dangerous world of wealth and power as they struggle to balance the future with the past and prevent a sibling rivalry from turning into the curse that has haunted generations of their descendants. Don’t miss this exciting tale of a passion too strong to be denied.

In the third book of Suzanne Barclay’s Lion Trilogy, Lion’s Legacy, a Scottish warrior is hired to protect a castle from English raiders, but discovers that his benefactor has nothing to give him in return but the hand of his unwilling granddaughter. And in Emily French’s Illusion, the growing love between an ex-soldier and an heiress who have been drawn into a marriage of convenience is threatened by embezzlement and extortion.

Diamond, the fourth title for the month, is the first in Ruth Langan’s new Western series. The Jewels of Texas, which features four sisters who think they are only children until the death of their father brings them all together at his ranch in Texas.

Whatever your taste in reading, we hope that Harlequin Historical novels will keep you coming back for more. Please look for them wherever books are sold.

Sincerely,

Tracy Farrell

Senior Editor

Please address questions and book requests to:

Harlequin Reader Service

US.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo. NY 14269 Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

Twice Upon Time

Nina Beaumont

www.millsandboon.co.uk

NINA BEAUMONT

is of Russian parentage and has a family tree that includes the Counts Stroganoff and a Mongolian khan. A real cosmopolitan, she was born in Salzburg and grew up in Massachusetts before moving to Austria, where she lived for twenty-five years.

Although she has relocated to the Seattle area, her European ties are still strong, so she plans to stick with the exotic settings she has had the opportunity to get to know firsthand.

Books and music are her first loves, but she also enjoys painting watercolors and making pottery.

To Mutti, Brigitte, Heinz, Markus (who looks like the

hero of this book), Martha, Matthias and Lukas, my

family-in-law, who will always be family.

Prologue

Sarah Longford lay dreaming.

The sea, so calm, so azure that it seemed like a painting, stretched alongside the flat, sandy beach. The two riders emerged from the forest of umbrella pines at a wild gallop that sent a spray of pale sand up behind them.

Bianca, her unbound black curls streaming behind her like a banner, her scarlet dress a dazzling contrast to her mount’s white coat, turned slightly, a smile on her lips. A smile perfectly calculated to provoke, to arouse. Her gaze swept over Alessio with approval. His black clothing blended with the glossy black hide of his stallion so that the man and his mount looked like one fabulously pagan, virile animal.

Alessio, his face dark with annoyance and the promise of passion, spurred his horse forward.

Bianca saw Alessio’s mount move closer, and her hands tightened on the reins as she urged her mare onward. With a whinny, her horse reared up, and the reins slipped through her fingers. With a cry she tumbled off the saddle onto the sand.

Disoriented, she lay still for a moment, both arms flung outward. The black stallion thundered to a halt a few feet away. As Alessio, his face dark with rage, leapt off his mount, she struggled up. Stumbling to a nearby rocky outcrop, she turned to face him, bracing her palms against the rocks behind her.