Verwandte Artikel zu Taboo (St. John-Duras, Band 3)

Taboo (St. John-Duras, Band 3) - Softcover

Buch 3 von 5: St. John-Duras

Johnson, Susan

 
9780553572155: Taboo (St. John-Duras, Band 3)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0553572156 ISBN 13: 9780553572155
Verlag: Bantam, 1997

Inhaltsangabe

Through eleven nationally bestselling books, award winner Susan Johnson has won a legion of fans for her lushly romantic historical novels.  Now she delivers her most thrilling tale yet--a searing blend of rousing adventure and wild, forbidden love...

Married against her will to the brutal Russian general who conquered her people, Countess Teo Korsakova has never known what it means to want a man...until now.  Trapped behind enemy lines, held captive by her husband's most formidable foe, she should fear for her life.  But all Teo feels in General Andre Duras's shattering presence is breathless passion.  France's most victorious commander, Andre knows that he should do the honorable thing, knows too that on the eve of battle he cannot afford so luscious a distraction.  Yet something about Teo lures him to do the unthinkable: to seduce his enemy's wife, and to let himself love a woman who can never be his.

Die Inhaltsangabe kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Susan Johnson, award-winning author of nationally bestselling novels, lives in the country near North Branch, Minnesota. A former art historian, she considers the life of a writer the best of all possible worlds. Researching her novels takes her to past and distant places, and bringing characters to life allows her imagination full rein, while the creative process offers occasional fascinating glimpses into complicated machinery of the mind. But most important...writing stories is fun.

Von der hinteren Coverseite

Through eleven nationally bestselling books, award winner Susan Johnson has won a legion of fans for her lushly romantic historical novels. Now she delivers her most thrilling tale yet--a searing blend of rousing adventure and wild, forbidden love...
Married against her will to the brutal Russian general who conquered her people, Countess Teo Korsakova has never known what it means to want a man...until now. Trapped behind enemy lines, held captive by her husband's most formidable foe, she should fear for her life. But all Teo feels in General Andre Duras's shattering presence is breathless passion. France's most victorious commander, Andre knows that he should do the honorable thing, knows too that on the eve of battle he cannot afford so luscious a distraction. Yet something about Teo lures him to do the unthinkable: to seduce his enemy's wife, and to let himself love a woman who can never be his.

Aus dem Klappentext

en nationally bestselling books, award winner Susan Johnson has won a legion of fans for her lushly romantic historical novels. Now she delivers her most thrilling tale yet--a searing blend of rousing adventure and wild, forbidden love...

Married against her will to the brutal Russian general who conquered her people, Countess Teo Korsakova has never known what it means to want a man...until now. Trapped behind enemy lines, held captive by her husband's most formidable foe, she should fear for her life. But all Teo feels in General Andre Duras's shattering presence is breathless passion. France's most victorious commander, Andre knows that he should do the honorable thing, knows too that on the eve of battle he cannot afford so luscious a distraction. Yet something about Teo lures him to do the unthinkable: to seduce his enemy's wife, and to let himself love a woman who can never be his.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

He knocked once on the parlor door before opening it and stepping into a blaze of candlelight.  He didn't realize he had so many candles.  And on second glance he saw he didn't; the scented tapers were all set in heavy silver Russian candelabra.

A servant watched him from the fireside with wary, timorous eyes, her features Asiatic, her costume Russian.  There was no sign of the countess.

"Where's your mistress?"

"In here, General," a clear, direct voice replied in French.  "Have you eaten?  Do you play chess?"

And when he crossed the carpeted floor and stood in the open doorway to the small dining room, he saw the countess for the first time, seated before a small chess table, apparently playing both sides in the game.

Her dark brows arched delicately against her pale skin as she gazed at him.  "Your engravings don't do you justice, General Duras.  You're much younger."

"Good evening, Countess Korsakova.  And you don't appear to be frightened.  Bonnay led me to believe my presence was required here to allay your fears."  If she thought him young, she was younger still, he reflected, and exotic-looking.  With Korsakov's family well connected at the Russian court, Andre didn't doubt that Korsakov had his pick of women.

"The young colonel mistook my reticence for fear," the countess replied, a luscious small smile lighting up her brilliant green eyes.

"You're not afraid, then."

She made a small moue of negation.  "Certainly, General, we both understand the rules.  You'll exchange me for one of your officers now languishing in Austrian hands-- when the opportunity arises.  He'll be glad to come home and I"--her dark lashes lowered marginally--"will return to my husband's household.  Do you play chess?"

"Yes."

Her mouth curved upward in amusement.  "Will you play chess?"

"I'm sorry.  Perhaps some other time."

"Have you eaten?"

He hesitated, debating the lie.

"You haven't, have you?  You must eat sometime tonight, General.  Why not now?"

He was a gentleman despite his disclaimer to Bonnay and it would have been rude to refuse when they both knew he'd have to have dinner at some point that evening.  "Something quick perhaps," he agreed.

Clapping her hands, she called for her maid, giving her directions for serving the general.  "I'll join you at the table," she graciously said, rising from her chair in a shimmer of absinthe velvet.

She waved away his offer to help seat her across from him and sat instead to his left.  "I recommend the ragout and the wines of course are wonderful here.  My husband is quite sure of his victory, you know.  So sure, he ordered me here to keep him company," she went on, leaning casually on the tabletop, meeting his swift, searching glance with a smile.  "I'm just making conversation.  He doesn't confide in me but my maids know everything."

Lifting a spoonful of ragout to his mouth, he said, "How old are you?"  She spoke with a girlish candor that he couldn't decide was coquettish or artless.

"I'm twenty-eight."

"You look younger."  He dipped his spoon back into the savory dish.  Her porcelain skin and black hair, her wide, ingenuous gaze and lithe slenderness evoked a youthful delicacy.

"He likes that."

Was her tone jeunesse dorée or just cynical?  "Do you miss your husband?"  he bluntly asked, tipping a tender piece of meat from his spoon into his mouth.

"Do you miss your wife?"

He gazed at her for a telling minute while he chewed and then swallowed.  "Will your husband want you back?"  he softly inquired, ignoring her question.

"Yes, definitely."  She sat back, a new coolness in her tone.  "I'm too valuable to misplace.  My husband has his own selfish reasons for--"

"Let's just leave it at that," Duras interjected.  "I'm not interested in family controversy."

"Forgive me, General.  I lack reserve, I've been told."

He ate for a few moments without replying, not inclined to discuss a relative stranger's reserve or its lack and when he spoke, his voice was impersonal.  "I can't exchange you now with the state of the war, but we'll endeavor to make you comfortable."

"How long will I be here?"

"Two weeks to a month, perhaps.  We'll keep you safe."

He put his spoon aside, the campaign once again intruding into his thoughts.  He'd moved his troops up to Sargans only two days ago and there was immense work to be done before the offensive began.

"Thank you.  You didn't eat much."

He shrugged and pushed his chair away from the table.  "I'll eat later.  If you require anything, ask for Bonnay," he added, rising to his feet.  "Good night, Countess.  It was a pleasure meeting you."  And with a nod of his head he turned and left.  That should satisfy Bonnay, he thought, striding back to his office.


It was well after midnight.  Only Duras and Bonnay were left at headquarters when a guard rushed into the maproom, apologizing and stammering, obviously agitated, his broken phrases finally merging into a decipherable account.

The Countess Gonchanka, it seemed, was in Duras's bedroom accosting General Korsakov's wife.

Swearing, Duras decided Natalie must be his penance for his multitudinous sins and then, breaking into the guard's disordered recital, briskly said, "Thank you, Corporal.  Bonnay and I will take care of it."

"Why me?"  Bonnay instantly protested.

"Because I'm ordering you to," Duras said with mock severity, "and I can't handle two women at once."

"Rumor suggests otherwise," his subordinate ironically murmured.

"Not, however, tonight," Duras crisply retorted.  "Now move."


The noise emanating from the burgomaster's second-floor rooms facing the street had drawn a crowd and ribald comments greeted Duras and Bonnay as they approached at a run.

"The show's over," Duras said, sprinting through the parting throng.

"Or just beginning, General," a cheerful voice retorted.

"Everyone back to quarters," Bonnay shouted.

"He wants them all to himself," another voice called out and the crowd roared with laughter.

"That's an order, men."  Andre Duras spoke in a normal tone from the porch rail.  "Back to quarters."

The laughter instantly died away and the troopers began dispersing.

"I hope the ladies obey as easily," Bonnay drolly said, motioning Duras before him into the house.

"Wishful thinking with Natalie," Duras replied.


Moments later at the sound of the men entering the bedroom, Countess Gonchanka turned from her prey.  "Damn you, Andre!"  she screamed, hurling the bronze statuette intended for Korsakov's wife at him.  "Damn your blackguard soul!"

Swiftly ducking, Duras...

„Über diesen Titel“ kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Verlag
Bantam
Erscheinungsdatum
1997
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0553572156
ISBN 13 
9780553572155
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
368
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Nicht verfügbar