This Fiery Splendor

the long version

The exquisitly beautiful daughter of an English missionary, Annalise Devon had a simple life until her dying Father passed her destiny into the capable hands of the Queen's Colonel, Derek Clavell. Bold as brass, as immovable as the Kashmir cliff, the dashing aristocrat seemed to have everything a man could want: a fortune in India, a future in England, and a flame-haired fiancee who satisfied his sensual needs. Then he met young Annalise and discovered a passion beyond pleasure, a fire raging beyond his or her control. As her guardian, his only choice was to send her away. And so Annalise found herself alone once more, this time forging her independence from the searing memories of Derek's touch. But love, once ignited is not easily extinguished. As India's quest for Independence engulfed the land, Derek would follow a trail of English blood to Annalise's side. Together they would face a treacherous new world of vengeful enemies and duplicitous lovers....a world destined to bring them again and again, to both the brink of disaster and the dizzying, breathless heights of rapture.