New Love for Old — Ruth McCarthy Sears

Catherine Pragolisk's memories of Driftwood Downs were as grim and gray as the massive stone house that towered above the Pacific Ocean on a rocky cliff. Until three years ago delicate-featured Cathy had lived in shame at Driftwood, relegated to the humiliating position of scullery maid by shrill-voiced, domineering Angelique Demarest.

Although Cathy was the granddaughter of Andrew Demarest, the only child of his lovely daughter and an itinerant Polish sculptor, the old man was inexplicably powerless against Angelique, the widow of a distant relative and acting mistress of Driftwood. Angelique even insisted that Cathy address her grandfather as "Sir," darkly intimating that there had never been a marriage between Cathy's parents.

Even sardonic, brooding Julian Demarest, Andrew's black-eyed nephew, chuckled indulgently at Cathy's claim that she would one day inherit Driftwood, for her grandfather had promised it to her. Although hurt by Julian's disbelief, Cathy was thrilled by his ardent kisses, which burned her memory long after he cruelly abandoned her to return to his home in England.

Now, after a three-year absence that had included a tour of Scandinavia and a heady romance with a blond Norwegian, Cathy was back at Driftwood--and so was Julian, accompanied this time by his father. Old Andrew Demarest was dying, and he had convinced his family in order to personally reveal to them the conditions of his will. But Cathy's grandfather did not live to do so, for he was murdered in his sleep!