The Passion Stone — Harriette De Jarnette

THE DESIRES KINDLED SET THE SOUTH ABLAZE

Her beauty was as exotic as the lush blossoms of her native South, weaving into her every movement a sensual rhythm that drove men mad with desire. Though she had been born a slave, her fair skin and tawny hair belied her heritage, a heritage which she was determined at all costs to deny. To achieve the freedom she craved, she ran away from Elmside plantation to the fabulous city of New Orleans, where a woman like herself could win the protection of a wealthy and powerful admirer. There was no deception she would not practice, no wiles she would not use, no friend she would not betray in order to conceal the secret of her birth. But she would always be haunted by the mysterious power of the loa stone, a reminder of everything she had vowed to put behind her until the day when she would be forced to face the true nature of her destiny, and confront the one man whose steadfast love remained the only constant in a world that was crumbling around her.