Scarlet Lady

Scarlet Lady
SARA WOOD

The Hon. Leo and his Scarlet Lady! Ginny loved her modeling career, just as she had always loved Leo Brandon. But a lost libel case bringing the Brandon name into disrepute meant the last straw for her marriage. Leo wanted a divorce. Two years later an ad asking Ginny to contact a man who could be her real father drew her to Saint Lucia.It was a timely moment for a woman in love. Not least of all because Leo had followed her. His pretend reason: to prevent Ginny dishonoring his precious family name again through any association with the infamous St. Honore. His real reason: to love, protect and remarry the woman he had once let go.Three women are looking for their family - what they truly seek is love. Things are rarely as they seem in Sara Wood's intriguing family trilogy.

“For a moment there, you made me forget everything.” (#udf19caca-85c6-50e9-8942-bb24f768089a)Letter to Reader (#ua722471d-f2a5-5ad5-932c-67255367480b)Title Page (#u97bfe1a0-0b1c-5c8d-ba8e-f02d620c6d7a)Dedication (#u295bd113-3e0f-5b03-a07e-f5d4728ba57b)CHAPTER ONE (#u6138c5c5-1f95-50c8-832d-082878d2cb04)CHAPTER TWO (#u06854b48-8fa7-5a56-8db3-8350f433b928)CHAPTER THREE (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)Teaser chapter (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

“For a moment there, you made me forget everything.”

Leo continued. “We were lovers again—but lovers as we’d never been before. And then I realized that some other man—or men—must have been teaching you the art of love.”

“No!” she wailed.

“I wish I could believe you!” he said fervently. “I wanted to be that man, Ginny!”

“Leo, I—I wanted you to...care for me, to help me,” she jerked out.

“Sure. You let me have you because you wanted something. Now I do believe the stories about you.”

“I am innocent, Leo,” she said, wondering if she could ever crack that icy regard.

“I should have seen it coming. I can’t entirely blame you. That’s the kind of world you entered. But you’re right. Our worlds don’t mix. Pack your things. You’ve got an hour to be out of here. Leave nothing behind to remind me of a very bad mistake I made. We’re finished, Ginny.”

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Sara Wood’s colorful new trilogy. The series is full of family intrigue, secrets, lies and, of course, love. It involves the St. Honoré family, which has a reputation second to none in Saint Lucia. Mandy, Ginny and Amber are drawn into this notorious family and the secrets of its past. Each of these intrepid heroines is looking for love and each of them will find it—but only where they least expect it! But then, as you’ll discover, in this series things are rarely as they seem!

In White Lies (#1910), Mandy Cook is desperate to find her father, and perhaps Vincente St. Honoré can help her. If she can ever find him! For first she must wrest herself from the arms of his commanding and charismatic son—Pascal.

In Scarlet Lady, Ginny MacKenzie is a successful fashion model, but her worst nightmares are confirmed as she is wrongly branded a scarlet lady by the press and loses her husband, the Hon. Leo Brandon, as a result. It is only when, two years later, she decides to search for love elsewhere that Ginny is reunited in Saint Lucia with the man she has always loved—Leo! The question is, why is he there?

In Amber’s Wedding (#1922), Amber Fraser has just married Jake Cavendish, not for love but for convenience, companionship and to secure a father for her unborn child. On their wedding day Jake reveals to Amber a secret that will change her life. A secret that will finally reveal the truth about the St. Honoré family. They honeymoon in Saint Lucia where love appears to blossom after all—until Amber discovers Jake’s real motive for marrying her. You can read Amber’s story in November 1997.

Happy reading!

The Editor

Scarlet Lady

Sara Wood

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

With my grateful thanks to Mrs. Joan Devaux,

Gary Devaux, Maria Monplaisir

and all at Anse Chastanet

CHAPTER ONE

SHE’D lost. To the tune of nearly a million pounds in costs. A million pounds! Ginny sat frozen and immobile while the words roared around her head and slowly, brutally their meaning became clear. All her efforts to make herself financially independent—the self-denial, the relentless sacrifices which had begun to threaten her marriage—were to be wiped away by a judge’s decision.

Her perfectly painted mouth trembled. The sacrifices had been too great. She’d lost almost everything because she’d decided to sue the newspaper which had printed outrageous lies about her. The court had upheld the journalist’s story and she had been ordered to pay all of the defendant’s costs.

Yet she was innocent! Ginny all but sobbed in despair. She loved her husband—and her self-respect—too much to sleep around. It appalled her that anyone would believe she’d furthered her career by doing so.

As the room whirled in a kaleidoscope of colour, a friendly arm came around her shoulder. ‘Ginny,’ said her bodyguard gently, ‘let’s get out of here, huh?’

The arm steadied her. Now she focused on a sea of faces, all looking at her. She was used to scrutiny, though not for this reason. From force of habit she smoothed her face of any revealing expression and eased down her breathing till it was normal.

‘Sure, Chas,’ she said evenly. And she thought that few people must realise how hard she had to work to control her voice, her eyes, her limbs as she uncoiled her near-six-foot length and gracefully shrugged on a fake fur coat against the bitter cold that awaited outside. ‘Take me home,’ she said gratefully, aware that only Chas knew how badly she was shaking and how deeply the verdict had wounded her sense of decency and pride.

She needed Leo. Her darling husband. The man she’d loved from the moment their eyes had first met. It was all she could think of—Leo’s arms around her, comforting her, cradling her and murmuring soothing words of tender love.

The Press were already exploding flashes in her face, even in the courtroom, shouting cruel questions that made her wince. Like ‘Where’s your husband, Ginny?’ That hurt. If only he’d been by her side instead of administering an estate that had managers galore!

She drew in her breath when she thought of Leo and how disappointed she’d felt when he hadn’t been prepared to accept her preoccupation with this case. She’d realised that he couldn’t completely abandon Castlestowe, but she’d needed him. Leo’s continued absence during the trial had been like a dagger in her heart.

She’d been nineteen when they’d married and for four wonderful years they had loved one another with a passion that had had her floating on air. He’d been kind, gentle and cherishing. Her empty soul had flowered with his love. It was the first time in her life that she’d felt truly whole.

He’d been eager in the old days to hurry back to their London home after his visits to the family seat in Scotland. And when she’d returned from an assignment abroad he’d be waiting at the airport, arms full of flowers, and exciting boxes at his feet containing perfume and silk fripperies, his handsome face alight with love.

Her eyes glowed with memories. Deep down he was sensitive. He’d see how upset she was. He’d put Castlestowe to one side and take her in his arms and their differences would be forgotten. Their love would knit them together again.

Slowly she walked out of the courtroom with the famous seamless stride that made her slender body flow within her beautifully cut cerise suit—the stride and sway which had won her the title of Catwalk Model of the Year.

‘Ginny! Over here... Ginny! Give us a flash of yer legs! Where’s old Leo, darlin’? Ginny! Here, Ginny...!’

Knowing that she’d be pestered mercilessly otherwise, she gave the Press a minute or two more, maintaining her serene calm and the same elegant tilt of her blonde head that had prompted the media to dub her ‘the new Grace Kelly’. It had taken her a while to force her own name on the public consciousness but at last she had become the Ginny McKenzie.

Few ever mentioned the fact that she was a Brandon by marriage, Leo being the son of Viscount Brandon. Her refusal to change her name had caused trouble with his family—but how could she have done that when it had taken her so much effort to become recognised? It would have been professional suicide.

‘Here, Gin! Over here! Good girl! Look at me, babe!’

‘They think you’re a dog, or somethin’?’ growled Chas.

‘Their property,’ she said ruefully. And steadied her voice. No outsider must know how she felt. ‘OK. That’s enough. If they can’t get a decent photo out of those shots, they don’t deserve a job. Get me out of here,’ she begged.

And she clamped a hand on her Garboesque brimmed hat as Chas manoeuvred her through the pushing crowds to the waiting limo.

‘Hell,’ he muttered. ‘I don’t know how you stand this!’

Exhausted, she pulled down the blinds to shut out the excited faces outside. Fans and enemies. The envious and the angry. And she wondered how she stood it. And why. Was it worth it?

When the car had picked up a little speed and Sue, the chauffeuse, began to weave in and out of the back streets to throw followers off the scent, Ginny finally let out a long, heartfelt groan and slumped into the white leather cushions.

‘I can’t believe it,’ she said. ‘I’m innocent and I’m being forced to pay the court costs for a disgusting tabloid which printed lies about me!’

Chas took her hand, his blue eyes angry, and leaned close in sympathy. ‘I wish I could help. I’m—Damn!’ he swore as a blinding flash illuminated their faces. ’Stop the car!’ he yelled, clambering over Ginny as Sue screeched to a halt.