180. The Passion and the Flower

Strikingly handsome the Russian Prince Ivan Volkonski leaves a trail of broken hearts behind him wherever he goes. But, when his best friend, Lord Marston, takes him one evening to the famous Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, he witnesses a spellbinding dance performance of grace and spirituality that is to change his life forever. The dancer, a beautiful young woman known only as Lokita, mesmerises and enthrals him with her dancing and brings back emotional memories of his family that he had almost forgotten. And he is determined to see her again and make her his own. Frustrated to find that she will see no admirers in her dressing room at the theatre after her dancing, the Prince stages a ‘kidnapping’ to force her to meet him. Instantly Lokita and the Prince are in love and there is an electric magic between them and the Prince believes that Fate has brought them together and that they have loved each other in many previous lives so strong are their feelings for each other. But surely a commoner, no matter how beautiful and talented, cannot marry a Russian Prince? The Czar of Russia, an absolute dictator, would never allow it and anyway Lokita’s over-protective duenna and Guardian, the redoubtable Miss Anderson, is determined to keep Lokita as far away from the Prince and his advances as she possibly can.