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full justice. Not with mere words on a printed page.
    No, living life fully was the only way to understand love, and so she loved well.

 
    Author’s Note
    C OLONEL W ILLIAM D UROY retired from the military after the Battle of Waterloo. The time had come for him to be a man of peace. He ran for Parliament from Yorkshire and was elected as a representative of the Tory party. He was knighted for his service to his country in 1827. He and his wife, Pippa, enjoyed a long and fruitful marriage. They were the parents of eight children, three sons and five daughters, all of them redheads.

 
    Don’t miss
    LYON’S BRIDE,
    the first book in
    Cathy Maxwell’s unforgettably romantic new series,
    THE CHATTAN CURSE—
    On sale NOW
    Only from Avon Books
    When a Chattan Male falls in love, strike his heart with fire from above . . .
    They call him Lord Lyon, proud, determined—and cursed. He is in need of a bride, but if he falls in love, he dies. And so he wants a woman he cannot love. His fervent hope is that by marrying—and having a son—without love, perhaps he can break the curse’s chains forever.
    Enter beautiful Thea Martin—a duke’s headstrong, errant daughter and society’s most brilliant matchmaker. Years ago, she and Lyon were inseparable until he disappeared from her life without a word. Now, she is charged with finding Lyon’s Bride—a woman he cannot love for a man Thea could love too well.
    Or will the power of love be enough to overcome all obstacles?

 
    The Curse
    Macnachtan Keep
    Scotland, 1632
    A MOTHER KNOWS. ’Tis the curse of giving birth.
    She feels life enter this world, a knife-sharp pain and one gladly borne for the outcome. She nurtures, protects and prays for her child’s safekeeping with every breath she draws . . . and so is it any wonder she would also sense, know , the moment that precious life is cut short?
    Fenella, the wife of the late Laird Macnachtan, was in the south gallery where the sun was best, plying her needle when terror seized her heart. She looked to her kinswomen, all gathered around for an afternoon chat as was their custom. These were her husband’s cousins, his sisters, and her daughters Ilona and Aislin—
    “Where’s Rose?”
    A mother should not have a favorite, but Fenella did.
    Her other daughters were merry and bright, but Rose was special. She shared her mother’s gift of healing. Fenella had delighted in the realization that the powers of her mother and her nain —her grandmother—now flowed through her to her youngest. Rose would be “the one” to receive the Book That Contained All Knowledge.
    Of course, Rose’s golden beauty was the stuff of legend, and that set her apart as well. The suitors for her hand had formed a line across the land, but there had only been one man for Rose—Charles Chattan of Glenfinnan.
    Rose’s love for Charles reminded Fenella so much of her younger self, that self who had challenged and won the heart of the handsome Macnachtan. That self who was willful and bold.
    But Chattan had proved a faithless lover. He’d handfasted himself to Rose and then accepted marriage to another—an Englishwoman from a family with power. Sassenach power.
    With a jolt, Fenella realized today was Charles and the Englishwoman’s wedding day. She should not have forgotten the fact. No wonder Rose had been so quiet this morning and was not here amongst the chatter of women this afternoon. Fenella’s worry eased a bit.
    Rose had loved Charles hard and well. Her heart hurt, but Fenella would see that Rose would recover. Thank the Lord, Macnachtan was not alive to witness the Chattans’ dishonoring of his daughter. It had been all Fenella could do to keep her sons from calling Charles out. She refused to spill her family’s blood over the traitor.
    She could not see Rose’s future—her gift failed her when she attempted to discern Fate—but there would be another love for Rose. There must be. The powerful gifts handed through accident