Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open for the barest second. “No,” she breathed. “It can’t be. How do you know? You said you didn’t know where it was; you didn’t even know what I was talking about.”
“Not until you called it a map. My brother wrote a letter to me shortly before he died. In it, he mentioned a treasure map, but not a tapestry. I discounted it as the product of his fanciful imagination, something he was prone to.”
“Then it’s still here.”
He narrowed his eyes slightly. “It is not. Several people offered to buy it, and someone attempted to steal it prompting my brother to hide it. I now wonder, however, if one of those buyers was as desperate as you to find the map.” He looked at her intently. Had she been one of the interested parties?
Miss Bowen lifted her hand to her chest. Her eyes widened with concern. “Whatever do you mean?”
“Tell me, Miss Bowen, what do you know of my brother’s accident? I find I must ponder whether it was an accident at all.”
Order Romancing the Earl here!
Books by Darcy Burke
Historical Romance
Legendary Rogues
Lady of Desire
Romancing the Earl
Lord of Fortune
Captivating the Scoundrel
The Untouchables
The Forbidden Duke
The Duke of Daring
The Duke of Desire
The Duke of Defiance
The Duke of Danger
The Duke of Ice
The Duke of Ruin
The Duke of Lies
The Duke of Seduction
The Duke of Wishes
The Duke of Mischief
Secrets and Scandals
Her Wicked Ways
His Wicked Heart
To Seduce a Scoundrel
To Love a Thief (a novella)
Never Love a Scoundrel
Scoundrel Ever After
Ribbon Ridge
Where the Heart Is (a prequel novella)
Only in My Dreams
Yours to Hold
When Love Happens
The Idea of You
When We Kiss
You’re Still the One
So Hot
So Good
So Right
So Wrong
Author’s Note
I chose to set this story in and near Wales both because of the subject matter and because my grandmother, Selma Rita King Finney was born in Cardiff in 1916. I still have family there and was fortunate enough to visit several years ago. It’s a beautiful land with charming people, and while the Welsh language is difficult to pronounce, I find it lovely—probably because I can still hear my great-uncle Alec singing it.
The thirteen treasures of Britain are mythical objects that appear in various legends. They have been used in countless stories and in many ways (Harry Potter’s Deathly Hallows are somewhat based on them). I adapted them for this series and added the Heart of Llanllwch for purely narrative purposes. The Silurum Stone is real and I plan to visit the Caerwent Church to see it some day.
The Order of the Round Table is a completely fictional group, but is based on the myriad secret societies that have existed for centuries. Edmund de Valery and Anarawd are fictional characters as are the documents they produced.
Acknowledgments
This book was so much fun to write, especially during the epic writing week I spent with Joan Swan/Skye Jordan and Elisabeth Naughton. There was so much good writing mojo that it transformed this book from a novella to a novel! Researching Arthurian legend and creating aspects to enhance the story was great fun and I want to thank Joan, Elisabeth, and Rachel Grant for helping me plotstorm.
I also want to thank Rachel, Elisabeth, and Janice Goodfellow for reading drafts. Your feedback is always spot-on and helpful. Special thanks to Janice and Emma Locke for their help with blurb-writing. Always a fun task, NOT.
Sending hugs and thanks to Erica Ridley, Lila DiPasqua, and Erica Monroe just because they’re awesome and they make life fun.
Most of all, thank you to my family who inspire me to come up with happily ever afters—it’s easy to do when you’re living one.
About the Author
Darcy Burke is the USA Today Bestselling Author of sexy, emotional historical and contemporary romance. Darcy wrote her first book at age 11, a happily ever after about a swan addicted to magic and the female swan who loved him, with exceedingly poor illustrations. Join her Reader Club at http://www.darcyburke.com/readerclub.
A native Oregonian, Darcy lives on the edge of wine country with her guitar-strumming husband, their two hilarious kids who seem to have inherited the writing gene, two Bengal cats and a third cat named after a fruit. In her “spare” time Darcy is a serial volunteer enrolled in a 12-step program where one learns to say “no,” but she keeps having to start over. Her happy places are Disneyland and Labor Day weekend at the Gorge. Visit Darcy online at http://www.darcyburke.com and follow her social media: Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/darcyburkefans, Twitter @darcyburke at http://www.twitter.com/darcyburke, Instagram at http://www.instagram/darcyburkeauthor, and Pinterest at http://www.pinterest.com/darcyburkewrite.
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