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Draycott Abbey #2
Bridge of Dreams
1794
Rake and reckless hero, Gabriel Montserrat falls prey to blackest treachery; his death a mystery to be locked away forever in the deepest recesses of Draycott Abbey.
1994
American-born beauty Cathlin O'Neill finds herself named in a strange bequest. But to claim her legendary treasure, she must spend seven days and nights in the hauntingly beautiful British Abbey where her mother was murdered years before.
Her co-inheritor is Dominic Montserrat; arrogant ex-royal bodyguard and confirmed cynic who must now protect Cathlin...and help heal the secret pain of her wounded heart. For grave danger prowls the abbey's ghostly halls where Cathlin and Dominic must confront the dark shadows of a mysterious past... in the sacred cause of a love too long unfulfilled and a passion too long denied.
Rake and reckless hero, Gabriel Montserrat falls prey to blackest treachery; his death a mystery to be locked away forever in the deepest recesses of Draycott Abbey.
1994
American-born beauty Cathlin O'Neill finds herself named in a strange bequest. But to claim her legendary treasure, she must spend seven days and nights in the hauntingly beautiful British Abbey where her mother was murdered years before.
Her co-inheritor is Dominic Montserrat; arrogant ex-royal bodyguard and confirmed cynic who must now protect Cathlin...and help heal the secret pain of her wounded heart. For grave danger prowls the abbey's ghostly halls where Cathlin and Dominic must confront the dark shadows of a mysterious past... in the sacred cause of a love too long unfulfilled and a passion too long denied.
389 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 1, 1995
341 people want to read
About the author
Christina Skye
61 books341 followersAKA Roberta Helmer
Roberta Helmer is an American writer of Chinese art and culture and as Christina Skye is a best-selling USA Today and Publishers Weekly writer of over 23 romance novels. Her romance book have been translated into 8 languages.
Roberta Helmer was born in Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A., an is a descendant of Revolutionary War hero Adam Helmer. She attended the University of Pennsylvania and obtained a doctorate in classical Chinese literature at Ohio State University, where she learned to speak fluent Chinese, French, and Japanese. Later, she worked as translator and as a consultant to the National Geographic Society and the American Museum of Natural History. She lived in on the western slopes of McDowell Mountains in Arizona.
Roberta Helmer is an American writer of Chinese art and culture and as Christina Skye is a best-selling USA Today and Publishers Weekly writer of over 23 romance novels. Her romance book have been translated into 8 languages.
Roberta Helmer was born in Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A., an is a descendant of Revolutionary War hero Adam Helmer. She attended the University of Pennsylvania and obtained a doctorate in classical Chinese literature at Ohio State University, where she learned to speak fluent Chinese, French, and Japanese. Later, she worked as translator and as a consultant to the National Geographic Society and the American Museum of Natural History. She lived in on the western slopes of McDowell Mountains in Arizona.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 6, 2013
love this author. love these stories.
May 31, 2017
Dominic and Cathlin have inherited a case of wine. A mystery surrounds it and someone will kill to get it. Read and see how all the roads lead back to the case of wine and other mysteries.
January 7, 2014
During some renovations at Draycott Abbey’s wine cellars, a skeleton is found behind a wall, and with him his last will and testament and a case of priceless wine. The Draytons are tasked with fulfilling this last will, and Nicholas Drayton, the current Viscount, surely intends to. Especially as it involved the skeleton of the Earl of Ashton, who disappeared a long time ago. The current tenth Earl of Ashton, Dominic Montserrat, is a friend and collegue of Nicholas, so contacting him is easy. Contacting the other person involved in this mess, is not so easy.
Cathlin O’Neill has no intention of answering his phone calls, as her mother died at the Abbey when she was ten years old. Dominic could really use the money the wine will make him to pour into his new vineyard, and so he takes it upon himself to get Cathlin to agree to the terms of the will. If she keeps refusing, the wine will have to be poured into the moat … and Nicholas fully intends to honor this wish.
Cathlin is still young, but she is one of the worlds leading authorities on old wine. She loves her job and she is very good with it. It took her best friend Serita a long time to get Cathlin to come to London and start a new business together, but now they are doing well. And when Lord Ashton keeps pestering her at the important wine auction Cathlin is attending, she is totally not interested in anything he wants to tell her. (Of course, he goes all wrong about getting her attention in my opinion). Serita takes pity on Nicholas though, and tells him where Cathlin lives, so he can follow her.
But danger seems to follow Nicholas to Cathlin’s house. And Cathlin also has no intention at all at inviting him in, but relents after all when he promises her to take a look at her leaking roof. Cathlin has recently inherited her family home and it is almost in ruins, but she loves it and wants to restore it. It just takes a lot more money than she has or will make in the near future. And so she decides to listen to Nicholas proposition. Still, going back to Draycott Abbey is not something she is looking forward to, even if it might give her some closure. No one ever found out what happened to her mother that night, but she does not believe it was suicide.
Nicholas did not tell Dominic all the rules to gaining his inheritance though … Cathlin and Dominic will have to stay at the Abbey for a whole week … being married. Having come so far, Cathlin agrees to the plan, in the understanding they will get a divorce as soon as that week is over. Dominic has other plans though, he has recognized Cathlin as his, and he will get her into his bed and into his life forever. There is a reason his mad Uncle Gabriel made that will, and he will discover what happened in the past, and try to rectify what went wrong then, in the present.
Of course other less scrupulous parties are after the expensive wine as well, and they don’t care how they will obtain it. So Dominic will have to update the security of the Abbey first and ask for additional help from his friends. And Cathlin will have to authenticate the wine, before they can sell it. And when the Royals express their interest in it, the stakes get even higher.
I think these old books are getting too old for me to enjoy, as I was irritated with Dominic and his alpha tendencies a lot. He showed so little common sense in dealing with Cathlin, wanting to take over her life and have her obey his every order. For her own safety of course. And in my opinion, being attracted to someone is very much different from being in love with him or her. They did not even know each other. The flashbacks to their former lives are very intriguing and I almost preferred that storyline to the current one.
Cathlin has made a good career for herself, and I admire her for that. Of course I don’t know anything about wine at all, except that I don’t like it. Which makes me wonder how a centuries old wine can still be drinkable after all that time, even as the conditions where it has been stored were perfect. I liked Cathlin and her refusal to come to heel, I totally understand her and agree with her.
Dominic is keeping his own life a secret from her, he doesn’t tell her anything about himself. Not his past as a bodyguard, nor his present as a vineyard owner in France. Yes, Cathlin has a prejudice against his work as it has taken her father from her as well, playing spy games until the one job he did not return from. But still, just tell her before she finds out otherwise.
The danger was very real, the mystery very well written and it kept me reading. But I will take a break from these old books for a while, so I will be able to enjoy the next one more. I did pick it up for my own reading challenge, of reading a book longer than a year on my shelves.
If you like romantic suspense, with ghosts and past lives, you really should pick up this series, especially if you like your heroes to be pushy and alpha.
7 stars.
Cathlin O’Neill has no intention of answering his phone calls, as her mother died at the Abbey when she was ten years old. Dominic could really use the money the wine will make him to pour into his new vineyard, and so he takes it upon himself to get Cathlin to agree to the terms of the will. If she keeps refusing, the wine will have to be poured into the moat … and Nicholas fully intends to honor this wish.
Cathlin is still young, but she is one of the worlds leading authorities on old wine. She loves her job and she is very good with it. It took her best friend Serita a long time to get Cathlin to come to London and start a new business together, but now they are doing well. And when Lord Ashton keeps pestering her at the important wine auction Cathlin is attending, she is totally not interested in anything he wants to tell her. (Of course, he goes all wrong about getting her attention in my opinion). Serita takes pity on Nicholas though, and tells him where Cathlin lives, so he can follow her.
But danger seems to follow Nicholas to Cathlin’s house. And Cathlin also has no intention at all at inviting him in, but relents after all when he promises her to take a look at her leaking roof. Cathlin has recently inherited her family home and it is almost in ruins, but she loves it and wants to restore it. It just takes a lot more money than she has or will make in the near future. And so she decides to listen to Nicholas proposition. Still, going back to Draycott Abbey is not something she is looking forward to, even if it might give her some closure. No one ever found out what happened to her mother that night, but she does not believe it was suicide.
Nicholas did not tell Dominic all the rules to gaining his inheritance though … Cathlin and Dominic will have to stay at the Abbey for a whole week … being married. Having come so far, Cathlin agrees to the plan, in the understanding they will get a divorce as soon as that week is over. Dominic has other plans though, he has recognized Cathlin as his, and he will get her into his bed and into his life forever. There is a reason his mad Uncle Gabriel made that will, and he will discover what happened in the past, and try to rectify what went wrong then, in the present.
Of course other less scrupulous parties are after the expensive wine as well, and they don’t care how they will obtain it. So Dominic will have to update the security of the Abbey first and ask for additional help from his friends. And Cathlin will have to authenticate the wine, before they can sell it. And when the Royals express their interest in it, the stakes get even higher.
I think these old books are getting too old for me to enjoy, as I was irritated with Dominic and his alpha tendencies a lot. He showed so little common sense in dealing with Cathlin, wanting to take over her life and have her obey his every order. For her own safety of course. And in my opinion, being attracted to someone is very much different from being in love with him or her. They did not even know each other. The flashbacks to their former lives are very intriguing and I almost preferred that storyline to the current one.
Cathlin has made a good career for herself, and I admire her for that. Of course I don’t know anything about wine at all, except that I don’t like it. Which makes me wonder how a centuries old wine can still be drinkable after all that time, even as the conditions where it has been stored were perfect. I liked Cathlin and her refusal to come to heel, I totally understand her and agree with her.
Dominic is keeping his own life a secret from her, he doesn’t tell her anything about himself. Not his past as a bodyguard, nor his present as a vineyard owner in France. Yes, Cathlin has a prejudice against his work as it has taken her father from her as well, playing spy games until the one job he did not return from. But still, just tell her before she finds out otherwise.
The danger was very real, the mystery very well written and it kept me reading. But I will take a break from these old books for a while, so I will be able to enjoy the next one more. I did pick it up for my own reading challenge, of reading a book longer than a year on my shelves.
If you like romantic suspense, with ghosts and past lives, you really should pick up this series, especially if you like your heroes to be pushy and alpha.
7 stars.
© 2013 Reviews by Aurian
March 4, 2017
When a skeleton and a will show up in a cellar at Draycott Abbey, Dominic and Cathlin are named as inheritors and according to the terms of the will must marry and spend 7 days at Draycott Abbey before they can inherit a case of priceless wine. Apparently they are both wine connoisseurs and are willing to go through with this...even though Cathlin's mother died at the abbey. There is mystery and intrigue surrounding all of this, and of course there's the ghost of Adrian Draycott. Then there are the past lives rushing to the fore and kind of forcing the feelings and actions of the couple. And Domonic was just a touch overbearing in his alphaness. I'd forgotten how domineering, bossy and just plain inconsiderate some of her early heroes are. But I didn't hate him - he wasn't a complete asshole. He just didn't give Cathlin a lot of opportunity to adjust...he was insistent. So overall a good and suspenseful story, but it was a little hard to understand why these guys would go through this just for a case of wine. Clearly I don't know enough about wine.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 27, 2019
In 1994, a wall in the Draycott Abbey wine cellar is punctured to reveal a hidden room, a skeleton and his will and a case of 1792 Chateau d'Yquem Sauternes wine. In his will, Gabriel Montserrat, 5th Earl of Ashton, leaves the wine to his eldest surviving kin and the eldest surviving kin of Geneva Russell. Dominic Montserrat is the 10th Earl, formerly a body guard to the Royal family and now a French winegrower. Caithlin O'Neill's father was also in security before his death. Her mother fell from the parapets of Draycott Abbey when Caithlin was 10. She remembers nothing of it and is now a renowed wine expert. The will brings them together unwillingly, but when strange things start happening, they come together. Both start having memories of Geneva and Gabriel and both look very like them. In the course of the story, they marry to meet the will's terms, solve the mystery of who and why Gabriel and Geneva were murdered and who and why Caithlin's mother was murdered.
Remarkable book. Convoluted, but makes sense in the end.
Remarkable book. Convoluted, but makes sense in the end.
January 14, 2009
This book was sort of a hand-me-down, not my usual genre, but I was pleasantly surprised. As the cover says,it's "a suspense-filled romance". While I enjoy a little romance in my books, I usually need more "story" than romances offer. This one offered a good story, and kept me entertained from beginning to end. There are really two stories here - one present day, and one from 200 years ago - two couples whose destinies are intertwined. This could have been confusing, but with liberal use of italics, the author made it easy to keep the two stories straight, and the ending wrapped everything up nicely. I'm glad this one fell in my lap.
July 25, 2013
Story of Englishman Dominic and American Cathlin,. The sections of flashbacks or retelling, are enjoyable. There was not much about the modern heroine Cathlin that was likeable in the beginning, although Dominic seemed like good hero material. The dialogue between these two was annoying, and I started to skim in parts. I am normally not a skimmer! I would not continue this series except that I really enjoyed Hour of the Rose, so I will try one more.
August 19, 2014
So far this one is my favorite. I have admit Cathlin came across as rather rude at first. I wanted to dislike her but then her story of her mother's death and what she endured emotionally changed my thoughts. Even though not much is said about Dominic because he retired from his dangerous work, I liked his quiet, protective, moody self. However, what sealed the deal for me was the story of Gabriel and Geneva. It was heart breaking to see their love cut way too short. Oh and the letters. . . :'(
February 12, 2024
I loved this book. One of my very favorite romance novels. It has a bit of everything- time travel, star crossed lovers, a lushly romantic setting in England, historical context, and even a dashing ghost. There are several books in this series, but this is by far my favorite. During this pandemic, if you need to take a virtual trip to a different time and place- this is a great book to read.
August 26, 2013
Love these Draycott stories!
February 2, 2017
Awesome like the entire series!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews