From The Mists Of Wolf Creek. Rebecca Brandewyne

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      Praise for New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Brandewyne

      “Like fine wines, some writers seem to get better and better, and Rebecca Brandewyne belongs to this vintage group.”

      —Romantic Times BOOKreviews

      “Among the Updikes and Bellows of the [romance] genre are…Rebecca Brandewyne.”

      —Newsweek

      “Rebecca Brandewyne is…a…powerhouse of the romantic novel industry.”

      —Houston Chronicle

      “Brandewyne’s latest is another winning romp.”

      —Publishers Weekly on The Crystal Rose

      “Enduring Brandewyne gives her readers what they crave—a well-researched, detail-rich, and gentle historical romance about deserving characters and evildoers who get their comeuppance.”

      —Booklist on The Crystal Rose

      “A lush novel brimming with rich historical details and written in the grand tradition of the Victorian gothic.”

      —Romantic Times BOOKreviews on The Ninefold Key

      REBECCA BRANDEWYNE

      is a bestselling author of historical novels. Her stories consistently place on the bestseller lists, including those of the New York Times and Publishers Weekly. She was inducted into the Romantic Times BOOKreviews Hall of Fame in 1988, and is a recipient of the magazine’s Career Achievement Award (1991). She has also received Affaire de Coeur’s Golden Quill Pen Award for Best Historical Romance, along with a Silver Pen Award.

      Rebecca Brandewyne

      From the Mists of Wolf Creek

      

www.millsandboon.co.uk

      Dear Reader,

      “Where do you get your ideas?” That’s invariably the question most asked of writers.

      So, what does inspire a tale? In the case of From the Mists of Wolf Creek, the answer might surprise you—because it was actually my two dogs who gave me the idea for this particular novel. One of my dogs is a beautiful black long-haired German shepherd. He looks and acts very much like the wolf in my story. My other dog is a sassy Australian cattle dog (red heeler) mix. He reminds me of my book’s hero, Trace—someone who drifted around quite a lot before finally finding a good home. My dogs are the best of pals, to the point that each somehow always knows what the other is thinking. They’re both extremely loving and protective, also, offering exactly the kind of care I thought my heroine, Hallie, needed in this novel. So she got a wolf and a man, courtesy of my two dogs—and of her own grandmother, a woman wise in the ways of Magick who casts a powerful spell that enchants more than one heart at Meadowsweet Farm, on the banks of Wolf Creek.

      Happy reading!

      Rebecca Brandewyne

      www.brandewyne.com

      For Wulfie and Buddy,

       who inspired this tale. With all my love.

      From the Mists of Wolf Creek

      The wolf padded silently

      From the mists of Wolf Creek

      Into the magic circle

      Where a wise witch did speak.

      With her jeweled pewter wand,

      She touched him on his head,

      Cast a spell of enchantment

      That bound him and so led

      To his role as protector

      At old Meadowsweet Farm.

      There, he would forever stay,

      Keeping all free from harm.

      The man padded silently

      From the mists of Wolf Creek

      Into the magic circle

      Where a wise witch did speak.

      With her jeweled pewter wand,

      She touched him on his chest,

      Cast a spell of enchantment

      That drew forth all his best,

      Eased the pain of the past,

      And bound him to the farm.

      There, he would forever stay,

      A stout heart, a strong arm.

      When the spell was finally done,

      Not the wolf nor the man

      Knew where one of them ended

      And the other began.

      Sharing a deep and special bond,

      They were as one, soul and mind,

      Their dreams and their thoughts

      Now and always entwined.

      Laid upon them was this charge:

      Guard the farm; keep it well;

      And when love comes softly

      To cast its magic spell…

      Like the mists from Wolf Creek,

      Greet it with willing arms

      And with a faithful heart.

      Revel in all its charms.

      Both wolf and man listened hard

      To the wise witch’s song.

      For too many full moons,

      They’d wandered far and long.

      But the mists from Wolf Creek,

      Now sweetly both bespelled,

      And love came as promised,

      At Meadowsweet e’er dwelled.

      Contents

      Prologue

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      Chapter 7

      Chapter 8

      Chapter 9

      Chapter 10

      Chapter 11

      Chapter 12

      Chapter 13

      Chapter 14

      Chapter 15

      Chapter 16

      Chapter 17

      Chapter 18

      Chapter 19

      Epilogue

      Prologue

      A Spell Is Cast

      Meadowsweet Farm, Wolf Creek, The Present

      Death drew ever closer.

      With her heightened senses, always so keenly attuned to her surroundings and her own being, Henrietta Taylor had discerned its inexorably nearing presence for some time now.

      At first it had only lurked in the shadows and hovered at the edges