A Woman's Heart

Rosalyn West

4/97 - Avon (Historical)
ISBN: 3-380-78512-9
(Click on the ISBN to order online at Amazon.com)
(Author also writes as Nancy Gideon and Dana Ransom)

Eliza Parrish has it all-- a loving father and brother, a doting fiancé, a life of promise. Then her hopes and dreams are dashed when first her brother, then her father die. Her fiancé's father, Justin Montgomery, was her father's partner and now controls Eliza's destiny. Unable to pay her father's debts, Eliza is forced to become a bond servant to the Montgomerys rather than the wife of William Montgomery. Over night, she goes from a woman of status to little more than a slave. As a companion to William's sister Philomena, Eliza is to accompany her from Salem to England. Then disaster strikes.

The dreaded pirate Coeur Noir over takes their ship and boards, intent on only one prize-- Philomena Montgomery. The spoiled and spiteful Philomena is only looking out for herself when she asks Eliza to switch places with her. In exchange, she promises to send help and release Eliza from her servitude. Becoming the prisoner of Jean-Luc Gautier until her ransom is paid seems a small enough price for freedom. But Luc is more than a pirate-- he is a man after revenge.

Rosalyn West has written an incredible tale of love and honor. A Woman's Heart is a heart wrenching and emotionally powerful story that does not let go of the reader until the very end. Luc is wonderful as the tortured, brooding Black Heart consumed by his need for revenge. The scars on his soul can only be healed by Eliza, but her deception could destroy their love. A Woman's Heart is truly the best novel this author has ever written. One content note: Ms. West's plot includes brutality and rape that may make some readers uncomfortable. However, Ms. West handles these issues in a sensitive manner, dealing with the aftermath of the violence rather than describing the violence itself.
"Rosalyn West is superb! A Woman's Heart is one of the best historical romances to come along in awhile! Don't miss it!"
"An amazing love story! Ms. West's characters will wrap around your heart! Bring out the tissues for this wonderful book!"
"From the pen of Rosalyn West... comes excellence! By any other name, this author is one of the finest!"
  - Kristina Wright, The Literary Times

An excerpt from A Woman's Heart:

Eliza straightened, the moist tingle of the kiss lingering on her lips. She was at a loss with the attraction, how to defy it. how to resolve it, when her future was properly engaged to William Montgomery. She was playing a lie here on this ship, pretending to be who she was not. Nothing was real. not the role, not the feelings. not the situation. She must remember that.

She brushed her mouth with unsteady fingertips wondering how to regain her balance. It tumbled out of control in her fascination with this unsuitable man. A man who professed to despise what she was -- or rather who he thought she was. Passion was what she felt for him, the same lustful interest he resumed. Nothing more. Nothing deeper. This was not love, this warm liquefying of her sensibilities. Love was not the excitement pounding within her breast nor the panic sparked by his nearness. It wasn't love that drew her to kiss him so boldly upon the mouth-or to enjoy it so despite her best intentions.

What, then? Something to be denied until safely removed from the source, until fondly resumed to the familiar. Then this adventure would cease in its charm, and the Frenchman would no longer hold her both captive and captivated.

He dreamed. It wasn't of a lovely young woman serving him kisses for breakfast. He dreamed of pain. throbbing up from his shattered hand, twisting within his empty belly. Of darkness and wet stones, chains that chafed and bound him in helplessness. Of air too dank and awful to breathe because it was thick with death and disease and despair. Of solitude and loneliness so deep it echoed to the soul upon wails of madness. Of hope deserted, of life abandoned, of trust destroyed.

Horrible dreams that were really memories.

He woke with a soft cry, disoriented by the heavy shadows in the room. For a moment. he lay trembling in his own sweat, thinking himself back there, shackled. imprisoned, forgotten. Then the lulling movement of his ship reached him, and the tang of salt air cleansed his nose of the fetid stench of helplessness. His lips moved in a silent prayer that it had been a dream and not a waking nightmare. And he wondered what breathed the whisper of past terror back into his slumber.

Then he saw her slumped over the curl of her arms, head pillowed there upon the tabletop. Philomena Montgomery. The bastard's daughter. The means through which to purge his past and regain his future dreams.

He would not, could not forget that again, not as long as the frightful reminders haunted his mind and tormented his soul. He would look upon her lush lips and see the unspeakable things he d had to force between his own in order to survive. He would see his own suffering reflected back in her fearful gaze. And when he would offer tenderness and passion with gesture or word he would recall the hateful glare of her father, liar that he was as he said, "Break his fingers until you break his silence." Her misery was naught compared to his own. They owed him, those pampered Montgomerys, and they were going to pay.

In making that promise to himself, the blackness was back surrounding his heart, a blackness no woman's wiles could penetrate. A darkness no amount of desire could brighten.

Only in vengeance could he gain freedom. Only though this woman could he realize his rightful dreams.

And the memory of tear - filled blue - green eyes and the tormenting sweetness of a single kiss were drowned in the surge of that tidal fury.

He was once again Coeur Noir.

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