Say You Love Me (38 page)

Authors: Johanna Lindsey

Tags: #General, #Romance, #Fiction, #Historical

BOOK: Say You Love Me

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It was midnight before Damian entered the town house he shared with his father. It was a huge, old mansion, too big for just two men, which is why Damian had never moved out when he had come of age. He and his father had lived there companionably, neither getting in the other’s way, yet both accessible when one or the other felt like conversation.

He looked at his home now and found it—empty. Never again would he share breakfast with his father before they left for the office.
Never again would he find his father in his study, or in the library late of an evening where they had read and discussed the classics. Never again would they talk business over dinner. Never again…

The wealth of tears that he had been holding back came now and wouldn’t stop. Damian didn’t make it up to his room, but there were no servants about at that hour to see his lapse from stern rigidity. He poured a glass of brandy that was kept on his bureau for when he had trouble sleeping, but he was too choked up to drink it.

He would find out what had really happened, because he would never accept that his father had ended his own life. There was no evidence to the contrary, no sign of struggle, yet Damian knew his father had been murdered. He knew his father too well, they had been too close.

Damian Senior wasn’t a man who prevaricated or attempted pretense. He never lied, because he gave himself away anytime he tried. So if something had been so terribly wrong to lead to desiring death as the only alternative, Damian would have known about it. Yet they had been planning a wedding. There had even been talk of remodeling the west wing of the house for more privacy if Damian wanted to bring his wife there to live. And Damian’s father had been looking forward to having grandchildren to spoil. He had been waiting several years now for Damian to settle down and start a family of his own.

Besides all that, Damian Senior had been genuinely happy with his life. He had no desire to ever marry again. He was perfectly content with the mistress he kept. He was wealthy in his own right but had also inherited a large fortune. And he loved the business that he ran, that had been founded by his own father, Damian I, and that he had since expanded very successfully. He had everything to live for.

But someone had felt otherwise.
Forgive me?
No, those weren’t his father’s words. There was nothing to forgive his father for. But there was much to avenge.

About the Author

Johanna Lindsey
has been hailed as one of the most popular authors of romantic fiction, with more than sixty million copies of her novels sold. World renowned for her novels of “first-rate romance” (
New York Daily News
), Lindsey is the author of forty-seven previous national bestselling novels, many of which reached the #1 spot on the
New York Times
bestseller list. Lindsey lives in Maine with her family.

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

Praise

America loves

JOHANNA LINDSEY

“FIRST RATE ROMANCE.”

New York Daily News

“JOHANNA LINDSEY HAS A SURE TOUCH WHERE HISTORICAL ROMANCE IS CONCERNED.”

Newport News Daily Press

SAY YOU LOVE ME

“A VERY ROMANTIC STORY TO SIGH OVER.”

Heartland Critiques

“SOME OF THE MOST LIVELY AND AMUSING SITUATIONS I’VE EVER ENJOYED…A TEMPESTUOUS RELATIONSHIP AND THE RETURN OF THE WONDERFUL MALORYS ADD DEPTH AND IMMENSE PLEASURE TO THIS STORY.”

Rendezvous

“LINDSEY STAYS TRUE TO FORM.”

Publishers Weekly

Other Books by
Johanna Lindsey

A
LL
I N
EED
I
S
Y
OU
• A
NGEL
• B
RAVE THE
W
ILD
W
IND

C
APTIVE
B
RIDE
• D
EFY
N
OT THE
H
EART

F
IRES OF
W
INTER
• A G
ENTLE
F
EUDING

G
ENTLE
R
OGUE
• G
LORIOUS
A
NGEL

H
EART OF A
W
ARRIOR
• H
EART OF
T
HUNDER

A H
EART
S
O
W
ILD
• H
EARTS
A
FLAME
• T
HE
H
EIR

H
OME FOR THE
H
OLIDAYS
• J
OINING

K
EEPER OF THE
H
EART
• L
OVE
M
E
F
OREVER

L
OVE
O
NLY
O
NCE
• T
HE
M
AGIC OF
Y
OU

M
AN OF
M
Y
D
REAMS
• O
NCE A
P
RINCESS

P
ARADISE
W
ILD
• A P
IRATE’S
L
OVE
• T
HE
P
RESENT

P
RISONER OF
M
Y
D
ESIRE
• T
HE
P
URSUIT

S
AVAGE
T
HUNDER
• S
AY
Y
OU
L
OVE
M
E

S
ECRET
F
IRE
• S
ILVER
A
NGEL

S
O
S
PEAKS THE
H
EART
• S
URRENDER
M
Y
L
OVE

T
ENDER IS THE
S
TORM
• T
ENDER
R
EBEL

U
NTIL
F
OREVER
• W
ARRIOR’S
W
OMAN

W
HEN
L
OVE
A
WAITS
• Y
OU
B
ELONG TO
M
E

SAY YOU LOVE ME
. Copyright © 1996 by Johanna Lindsey. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Excerpt from
All I Need Is You
copyright © 1997 by Johanna Lindsey

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 96-28812

ISBN: 0-380-72571-1
www.avonromance.com

EPub Edition © JULY 2011 ISBN: 978-0-06-210665-0

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