- Welcome to FictionDB, Guest
- | My Account
- | Help
The Sea Treasure — Elisabeth Barr
Leonora is beautiful, fragile and protected by a handsome nobleman. She lives in a comfortable home and wants for nothing. But she has two serious problems.
Leonora is not sure who she really is. She was the sole survivor of a terrible shipwreck and has lost her memory. Leonora isn't even her name.
She was found by the roguish Squire Dominic Pengallion, who dubbed her "Leonora -- my sea treasure." And that is her second problem. Dominic has decided to give her complete protection -- by pretending to everyone that she is his wife.
A band of savage brigands contrive a shipwreck near Cornwall, plundering and murdering everyone abroad--except for one. A young woman escapes to the beach, the only living witness to the crime. She is discovered and sheltered by the roguish squire Dominic Pengallion, who swears vengeance on the murdering bandits.
The young woman's testimony would mean death to the villains--if she could identify them. But she can recall only fragments of the sordid incident. Indeed, she remembers nothing of her personal history--even her own name escapes her. To Dominic she becomes Leonora, "the sea treasure," and he is entranced by her exotic charms as he seeks clues to the wrecking and her past.
With her knowledge threatening to incriminate the pirates, Leonora's true identity would make her a target for their vengeance. Local gossip has already aroused the suspicion of the villagers and the camouflage of "the sea treasure" is quickly fading. More-over, the culprits might include any of the townspeople; a wealthy and lecherous neighbor; a hulking, mute servant; a poor country doctor; a slow-witted gypsy boy. Leonora's unwilling memory races against time. Will she remember that awful scene before her secret is exposed? Or is it already too late...?
The woman who had escaped thrust out shorewards, crouching low when the water became shallow enough. She reached the beach and found a hiding place of sorts, in the form of a low spine of rocks, a series of humps like the backbone of a prehistoric animal, half-buried in the sand, its tip submerged by breaking waves.
Some part of her mind still worked clearly, urging her to stay where she was. In her dark dress, she lay so close to the ridge of rocks that she seemed part of them. Her teeth chattered with the intense cold; fatigue and exhaustion threatened to overwhelm her; but she forced herself to stay alert.
This cannot be England, she thought confusedly; it must be a hostile shore! Yet the men spoke English, and she had believed they were near the Cornish coast. Exhausted, she gave up trying to understand what had happened. Cautiously, she raised her head a few inches and peered through a gap between the humps; in the first grey light, she had a fleeting impression of a masked figure standing on the beach, looking seawards. The figure was wrapped in a long dark cloak, and fine, silvery hair flowed overs its shoulders. It shouted a command that she heard clearly.
"Kill! Kill! Kill! Make haste! Leave none alive!"
Hero: Dominic Pengallion
Heroine: Leonora (Mercy Daunton) (Elisabetta "Elizabeth" Cormandez)
Leonora is not sure who she really is. She was the sole survivor of a terrible shipwreck and has lost her memory. Leonora isn't even her name.
She was found by the roguish Squire Dominic Pengallion, who dubbed her "Leonora -- my sea treasure." And that is her second problem. Dominic has decided to give her complete protection -- by pretending to everyone that she is his wife.
A band of savage brigands contrive a shipwreck near Cornwall, plundering and murdering everyone abroad--except for one. A young woman escapes to the beach, the only living witness to the crime. She is discovered and sheltered by the roguish squire Dominic Pengallion, who swears vengeance on the murdering bandits.
The young woman's testimony would mean death to the villains--if she could identify them. But she can recall only fragments of the sordid incident. Indeed, she remembers nothing of her personal history--even her own name escapes her. To Dominic she becomes Leonora, "the sea treasure," and he is entranced by her exotic charms as he seeks clues to the wrecking and her past.
With her knowledge threatening to incriminate the pirates, Leonora's true identity would make her a target for their vengeance. Local gossip has already aroused the suspicion of the villagers and the camouflage of "the sea treasure" is quickly fading. More-over, the culprits might include any of the townspeople; a wealthy and lecherous neighbor; a hulking, mute servant; a poor country doctor; a slow-witted gypsy boy. Leonora's unwilling memory races against time. Will she remember that awful scene before her secret is exposed? Or is it already too late...?
The woman who had escaped thrust out shorewards, crouching low when the water became shallow enough. She reached the beach and found a hiding place of sorts, in the form of a low spine of rocks, a series of humps like the backbone of a prehistoric animal, half-buried in the sand, its tip submerged by breaking waves.
Some part of her mind still worked clearly, urging her to stay where she was. In her dark dress, she lay so close to the ridge of rocks that she seemed part of them. Her teeth chattered with the intense cold; fatigue and exhaustion threatened to overwhelm her; but she forced herself to stay alert.
This cannot be England, she thought confusedly; it must be a hostile shore! Yet the men spoke English, and she had believed they were near the Cornish coast. Exhausted, she gave up trying to understand what had happened. Cautiously, she raised her head a few inches and peered through a gap between the humps; in the first grey light, she had a fleeting impression of a masked figure standing on the beach, looking seawards. The figure was wrapped in a long dark cloak, and fine, silvery hair flowed overs its shoulders. It shouted a command that she heard clearly.
"Kill! Kill! Kill! Make haste! Leave none alive!"
Hero: Dominic Pengallion
Heroine: Leonora (Mercy Daunton) (Elisabetta "Elizabeth" Cormandez)
