Love and Triumph: The Coltrane Saga, Book 8 (33 page)

“Well, exactly where is she?” Jade exploded.

Neither shipwreck, amnesia, kidnapping nor deception can keep these star-crossed lovers apart!

Love and Dreams

© 2012 Patricia Hagan

The Coltrane Saga, Book 6

When Colt Coltrane meets Russian prima ballerina Jade O'Bannon it is a case of love at first sight. But tragedy strikes when, on a voyage to America, a raging storm wrecks their ship, and Jade sees Colt swept overboard. Rescued from certain death by wealthy businessman Bryan Stevens, Jade slowly allows herself to think she might begin to love him. The only thing holding her back is the belief that Colt might actually be alive.

Then at a glittering ball, Jade is jolted by the sight of Colt. When it appears he does not recognize her, she thinks he is pretending due to each of them being married to someone else. But then she discovers he suffers from amnesia due to the blow to his head when he fell overboard.

Jade knows she cannot just announce the truth to Colt, that it will take time to ease into the reality of their situation. But, as when they first met, the two are inexplicably drawn together and fall helplessly into each other's arms…and in love. Too bad Bryan is willing to do anything to keep what he believes is his—Jade.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Love and Dreams:

The first peach and melon fingers of dawn began to slowly creep above the shadowy domes, spires, and crosses that made up the skyline of St. Petersburg, Russia, to stealthily push aside the clawing vestiges of night, parting the skies for a new day…in that late summer of 1893.

Jade O’Bannon stirred dreamily as she slept, there in the early morning mist of her mind. Visions of her world, past and present, passed in review, crowding out the anticipatory future.

Jade’s current affluent status was far removed from the rusticity of her beginnings. Her home in the magnificent palace of the brother and sister-in-law of Czar Alexander III, the Grand Duke Vladimir and Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna was so regally situated on the banks of the Neva River in St. Petersburg that it was more than just miles in distance from the small fishing village in Ireland where she’d spent the first years of her life as the daughter of a simple fisherman.

Fate had decreed another destiny for the green-eyed colleen, due to her not being a pure-blooded colleen at all. Russian blood flowed in her veins—royal Russian blood. Jade’s mother, Natasia, had been a first cousin to Czar Alexander II. However, her marriage to not only a commoner but a foreigner as well brought disfavor from the Imperial family. But Natasia obeyed the callings of her heart, turned her back on her heritage, and went to live in the homeland of her beloved, Patrick O’Bannon. Several years later, when he was lost at sea, she was left destitute but managed to scrounge means to return to Russia for the funeral of her royal cousin, only to die there soon after.

Jade, with her rare and special beauty, caught the eye and captured the heart of Marie Pavlovna, sister-in-law of the new Czar, Alexander III, and was unofficially adopted into the wealthy Romanov family, thus belatedly bestowing upon her a silver spoon of good fortune when she was eight years old.

Exposed to the very best of the world of art and culture, Jade was given the ultimate advantages to pursue her love of ballet. Studying under the expert tutelage of the renowned chief ballet master, Manus Petipa, she became a member of the Imperial Ballet by the time she was only thirteen.

Sought after by the rich, noble, and royal, Jade evaded romance in favor of her dancing. She was fanatically committed to her art…until John Travis Coltrane, known as “Colt,” came into her life…and her heart.

She had met him when she agreed to help a dear and beloved friend, Drakar Mikhailonov, as he sought to claim Colt’s sister, Daniella Coltrane.

Jade had always been a mischievous, fun-loving sort, given to pranks and practical jokes. To take part in Drakar’s scheme, by pretending to be a hard-working servant girl of poor background, seemed only a lark, at first.

The plan called for Colt, the handsome son of an American millionaire, long plagued by fortune-seeking women, to become smitten with Jade only to be rejected, thus eventually restoring faith in himself and dissipating doubts that a woman could care for him for any reason save his wealth. After all, he was to finally reason, if a poor servant girl could turn him down, then surely there was something to be said for the honesty of some, if not all, women, wasn’t there? This was to become blatantly obvious when, ultimately, he was to learn who Jade actually was: a wealthy member of the famous Romanov family, who would certainly never have to resort to being attracted to a man for money alone.

However, Drakar Mikhailonov’s plan went awry when Jade fell genuinely in love with Colt and, likewise, his heart was helplessly, hopelessly, mesmerized by the Irish-Russian ballerina named for the color of her devastatingly beautiful eyes.

For a time, Jade felt torn between her devotion to her dancing and her growing affinity for Colt. After all, a prima ballerina does not give every shred of her being over to her craft only to toss it aside the first time love beckons. But as time passed, Jade became achingly aware of the temptation to allow nothing, not even ballet, to take precedence over the great and abiding love thatgrew for Colt each day.

Yet, despite the stirrings within, the passion they shared, Jade spent much time wondering why Colt did not ask her to marry him. He professed to love her; he neglected his family in Paris and took up residence in Russia, studying the people and the language, and spending almost every moment with her.

But he did not speak of marriage…or of a future together.

A few months after they met, they attended the most lavish wedding Paris society had ever seen when Colt’s sister, Dani, married Drakar. During the ceremony their eyes had met and held with secret, heated messages of love, but still their own future matrimony was never discussed.

Then came the night when she was asked to dance as Imperial Prima Ballerina in Tchaikovsky’s
The Nutcracker
, choreographed by Lev Ivanov. It was truly the moment every dancer dreams of, and Jade was ecstatic. Costumed in frothy net, chiffon, and satin, she sparkled before the audience like the diamonds entwined in her coppery chignon. The Czar and his family sat in the royal box, but Jade did not see them or anyone in the aristocratic audience of the opulent blue and gold Mariinsky Theater. Her heart, mind, body, and soul were enraptured and dedicated to the hour for which she had surely been born.

When the performance was over, the patrons stood on their feet and applauded until the very floors and walls shook with the echoing thunder. Again and again the thick brocade drapes swished open and closed as Jade accepted the accolades, tears streaming down her cheeks. Bouquets of flowers were brought to her by ushers. Czar Alexander himself stood up to throw an armload of red roses at her feet. She blew him a kiss, then turned glistening, happy eyes to her adoptive mother, the Grand Duchess Marie.

The other dancers in the Imperial Ballet company gathered about her, themselves applauding and heralding their new star. The master himself, Petipa, came up on the stage to kiss her hand and bow before her.

Then, as the cheers and applause diminished, and the other dancers moved away from Jade, one man began to walk purposefully down the aisle toward the stage. Jade blinked against the bright lights, felt the sudden rush of love within as she realized it was Colt. She’d thought him to be in Paris, called there suddenly by his mother due to his father’s being ill, but now he was here to share her glory, her triumph, the culmination of every ballerina’s dream.

He stood beneath her in front of the stage, holding up a single yellow rose tied with a slender satin ribbon of green. She smiled through her tears of joy and gracefully leaned down to accept it—then froze, blinking in bewilderment.

A huge, glittering diamond ring was tied to the stem.

Colt gazed up at her adoringly as he continued to hold out the single yellow rose. “What better time,” he whispered so that only she could hear, “for you to decide which you want to be—a prima ballerina…or my wife.” Later, he would confide that his behavior was not premeditated, that he’d planned to make his proposal afterward, in the quiet and romantic atmosphere of wine and moonlight. But as the glory of her performance exploded, he had been struck with the notion that this was the time for her to truly understand the emotions surrounding her decision.

Jade’s smile of consent was conceived in her heart. She reached out with trembling fingertips to take the yellow rose, pressing it against her lips, her green eyes shining with love and glory…love and splendor…love and dreams.

Then, with all the grace and aplomb that had brought her to this night, this moment of stardom, she fell into his waiting arms…and he held her tightly, lovingly against him as he carried her away.

Dreaming.

Jade was dreaming.

Would reality destroy the dream, as so often happens in life?

Perhaps not.

Perhaps if love was strong and true, the dream could become the reality.

Jade opened her eyes, awakening to the dawn of a new day—her wedding day.

And the quest to make the love and dreams a reality began.

Love and Triumph

Patricia Hagan

The incredible final book in the Coltrane Saga journeys to revolution-torn Russia, where love and danger go hand-in-hand.

Marilee Coltrane embarks on a long journey from Spain to Russia, determined to reclaim her heritage, both as a Coltrane and an adopted member of the imperial family. However, she finds herself in extreme danger when the centuries-old dynasty of the Czar begins to collapse, and revolutionaries take her prisoner, intending to hold her for ransom.

Unknown to Marilee, handsome, strong-willed Cord Brandt has secretly vowed that no harm will come to the woman he fell in love with on sight. But even after he confesses his true identity as a counterspy, Marilee doesn’t trust him, despite how he turns her blood to fire with just a touch.

In a Russia aflame with chaos and rebellion, Marilee summons the tenacious strength of her Coltrane blood for the will to survive bloodthirsty revolutionaries and the love of a determined man.

This Retro Romance reprint was originally published in January 1991 by Avon Books.

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B

Cincinnati OH 45249

Love and Triumph

Copyright © 2012 by Patricia Hagan

ISBN: 978-1-60928-997-3

Edited by Heather Osborn

Cover by Valerie Tibbs

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Original Publication by Avon Books: January 1991

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: July 2012

www.samhainpublishing.com