Prince of Time

Prince of Time
Rebecca York

Frozen in Time…With an ominous rumble echoing in the Alaska wilderness, Cassandra Devereaux was buried under tons of snow in a freak avalanche. Trapped…alone. But when she scrambled into a hidden cave, she found she was far from alone. There, in an underground lair in the frozen earth, was a man–a gorgeous physical specimen, with the bluest eyes she'd ever seen…and he was naked!Heated By DesireWith one searing look Thorn drew her by curiosity. With one potent touch he held her by passion. Cassie knew this was the man who had inspired her fantasies…but exactly who was the mysterious stranger?

Dear Reader,

Pack your bags and join our heroine Cassandra Devereaux on a thrilling adventure to Alaska where she discovers Thorn—one of the most unusual heroes we’ve ever created. We also had a great time doing the research for Prince of Time. Ruth and her husband found the perfect setting for the book while on a trip to Alaska. And a scene in the story reflects her impressions of the flights she took with several bush pilots. Eileen’s investigations yielded fascinating facts on the origins of language.

And while working on our villain’s motivation, we both had the opportunity to take a closer look at some of the strange and scary predictions being made in conjunction with the approaching millennium.

Prince of Time is the twelfth 43 Light Street book. Lucky thirteen in the series will be a super release from Harlequin in 1996. It will feature Detective Mike Lancer, Jo O’Malley’s new partner, in a psychological thriller with a serious “identity crisis.” After that, we’ll be writing two more Light Street novels for Intrigue.

All our best chills and thrills,

Ruth Glick and Eileen Buckholtz

Aka Rebecca York

Prince of Time

Rebecca York

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

Cast of Characters

Cassandra Devereaux—On an expedition to Alaska, she met the man of her dreams.

Thorn—He was a stranger in a strange land. And his time was running out.

Jacques Montague—Collecting artifacts was his passion. Amassing power, his obsession.

Marie Pindel—Where did her loyalty lie?

Lodar—He took revenge on anyone who got in his way.

Zeke Chamers—Had he stumbled on the find of the century or a clever fake?

Feydor Lenov—The Russian followed orders—for a price.

Victor Kirkland—The State Department official was playing two operations close to his vest.

Marissa Devereaux—She’d do anything to save her sister.

Contents

Chapter One (#ub3174b9a-fea0-5475-a62d-37511dd7d14d)

Chapter Two (#u950eab41-b88a-5b46-87b4-6f65f457a82a)

Chapter Three (#u44b4e128-a2a8-53ad-ab2e-9ce548bd8875)

Chapter Four (#u134914e4-2702-5821-acab-402bc03396d4)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter One

One moment she was exhilarated, excited, trembling on the brink of discovery. In the next, an ominous rumble on the mountain far above her told Cassandra Devereaux she was going to die.

Glen Fielding, her Alaskan guide, was already running.

Early this morning he’d landed his float plane on a clear blue lake a hundred miles northwest of Denali National Park. And Cassie had been awed by the rugged peaks and endless green of the Douglas firs as she and Glen paddled his canoe to shore and hiked a couple of miles through the wilderness to this remote slope.

Glen was twenty feet below her and on the right, but it was already too late for either of them to escape.

Cassandra screamed as several tons of last winter’s snow came rumbling down the mountain like a glacier broken loose from its moorings. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not in summer.

She gasped Glen’s name as he disappeared under a blanket of white. Lumps of ice pelted her head and shoulders before she ducked under the shelter of a protective ledge. The mountain shook like a fortress under aerial bombardment, and she waited for the tumbling snow and boulders to sweep her away.

As suddenly as the avalanche had started, it stopped, leaving Cassie crouched in eerie silence. Cautiously, she moved her arms and legs. The worst pain she detected was in her right arm, but it was bearable.

“Glen? Glen?”

He didn’t answer.

She tried to struggle forward, tried to get to the spot where he’d disappeared. But she was trapped by a solid wall of white.

A choking sensation clogged Cassie’s throat. Ignoring it, she found her pack under a rock and scrabbled through the contents, cursing when she remembered that Glen had taken the trench shovel. Grimly, she set a flashlight on a pile of snow and started digging. But after a few minutes, her fingers stiff from the cold, she could see that her efforts only brought more snow down on her head.