116. A Wilder Kind of Love

Brought up in London by her widowed mother and her step-uncle and Guardian, Sir Uriel Reece, the beautiful Rosaleena knows little about the estate in Ireland she is about to inherit together with the lovely Rosscullen House. All she knows is that it is the place where she was born and where her father, the late Lord Rosscullen, died. She knows when he died and where, but how is a complete mystery. To Rosaleena amazement the subject is never discussed in Sir Uriel’s household – indeed, it is a matter that is actively avoided by everyone and no one will tell her the truth of what happened. Now, on the eve of her twenty-first birthday, Rosaleena is about to meet the man who will bring her face to face with her unknown past – the enigmatic and mysterious Colonel Joyce. When Rosaleena invites the Colonel to her birthday ball at Sir Uriel’s London house and he graciously accepts much to the strangely virulent disapproval of Sir Uriel, she sets in motion a sequence of events that will turn her life upside down. Journeying from fashionable London Society to the rugged mountains of a remote part of Ireland, Rosaleena will discover not only that true love never does run smooth but that it is by its nature never tame. After many twists and turns and disappointments, she gradually discovers the horrifying truth about her father’s death and how eventually she finds her heart’s desire is all told in this intriguing tale by BARBARA CARTLAND.