"Longer Than Forever"

by Judith Fast

Copyright ©2002
ISBN: 0-87714-674-8 eBook edition
ISBN: 0-87714-773-6 PB edition

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

DEDICATION

To my husband, with love

THE AUTHOR

Judith was always considered the story teller in her family. Growing up in Minnesota with one sister, she enjoyed nothing more than taking a simple daily experience and weaving it into some sort of a story. Her father called it being creative, her mother called it stretching the truth.

A mother of two, Judith wrote her first novel, Time To Smell The Roses, when her children were old enough to allow her the luxury of the time needed to write.

She is currently living in Dallas Texas with her husband, where she is currently working on her next novel.

Judith believes that the achievement of a good writer is that your creation can be enjoyed by others and that it enables the reader to escape the reality of life for a period of time. She perceives that Longer Than Forever accomplishes just this.

Longer Than Forever is a novel that contains romance, mystery and a abundance of humor that will captivate the readers interests and imagination from the first page until the last.

THE BOOK

After receiving word from a private investigator hired to locate the man responsible for murdering a young girl, Jessica Myers comes to London seeking justice.

Staying at her country estate of Stonemeadow while awaiting further information from the investigator, Jessica receives an unexpected visit from Anthony Cunningham, the Duke of Drakeford and his son, Derek Cunningham, the Marquess of Mayfield. Due to a terrible storm and an unforeseen accident involving the duke, Derek and Jessica are thrown together.

What starts out as an explosive, stormy relationship quickly turns into one of mutual awareness and sparks fly when they try to come to terms with feelings neither of them want nor are willing to admit they have.

Derek makes the decision to marry Jessica when her stepfather suddenly arrives declaring that he intends to seek custody of Jessica in order to claim her inheritance.

Shortly after the wedding takes place, Jessica is abducted and forced onto a ship that goes down at sea during a storm and is presumed dead.

Grief stricken and needing to release the emotional turmoil raging within him, Derek joins the war effort against Napoleon's forces.

During the battle of Waterloo, Derek is severally wounded, but his life is spared when one of his officers comes to his aid forfeiting his own life.

After recovering from his wounds, Derek returns to London, not only as a war hero, but also with the widow of the officer who saved his life at his side, intending to marry her as soon as her mourning period is over.

Almost a year to the day of her disappearance, Jessica along with two companions from the sunken ship, return to England after being rescued from a desolate island.

Upon her arrival, Jessica learns of her husband's involvement with another woman and is determined to set Derek free in order for him to begin a new life without her.

Derek is just as determined to see that they take advantage of the second chance they have miraculously been given at love and happiness.

Derek finally manages to persuade Jessica of his true feelings and convinces her that their love is meant to be, only to learn that the man responsible for her abduction is still a very real threat to their future.

Resolved to find the man responsible for their havoc, Derek is off following a lead that may enable him to discover the culprit's true identity, when Jessica is confronted by the villain himself, who is bent on murdering her to conceal his identity before he flees England's shores.

Derek arrives just in the nick of time and the mystery is solved along with revealing the true identity of the man responsible for their pandemonium.

SAMPLE OF WORK

Four days later, Derek stood staring out the window inside the bedchamber his father had been carried to after his accident, watching and listening as the lightning flashed and the thunder rumbled, while the rain continued pelting the ground in a constant rhythm. Finally, he turned and strolled back to his father's bedside.

Jessica was sitting beside the bed as she had been for the last few days and nights. She was bathing the duke's fevered brow with a dampened cloth while holding his hand as she kept vigil over him.

Raising a dark brow questionably, Derek's eyes met her briefly. A look of tired sadness passed over Jessica's features before she shook her had regretfully.

Derek sighed in despair, he was a man both feared and admired on three continents by enemy and friend alike for his ability to take charge and make precise and quick decisions. Yet, when it came to helping the one man he most cared about, he was reduced to a feeling of total helplessness by the elements of the storm raging outside.

Both Derek and Jessica turned in the direction of the door as Fenmore strolled into the room and set another service of hot tea down on the table, before saying, "I'm sorry, my lord, your men have just returned unsuccessful in their endeavors to cross the swollen river in their attempt to fetch the duke's physician back from London."

When Fenmore spoke the usual arrogance in his voice had been lacking. Instead, there had been a faint tremor as though some emotion had touched him deeply.

Derek nodded in understanding, then sighed heavily. Speaking with an anguish-filled voice he replied, "Tell them to dry off and get some rest before trying again."

"A warm change of clothing has already been issued to each man along with a hot meat. Is there anything else that is needed, my lord?"

Derek glanced at Jessica who offered him a tentative smile before shaking her head.

Turning his attention back to Fenmore he flashed the butler a weary smile before saying, "That will be all for now, Fenmore, thank you."

Fenmore bowed, then backed from the room closing the door silently behind him.

Derek's eyes returned to the still form of his father once more, before he casually drawled, "Fenmore's a good man, has he been with you long?"

Jessica felt a warm glow flow through her as she thought of the arrogant man who acted as her butler, but who she had thought of as a father figure for years. "As long as I can remember," she answered as her eyes met and held Derek's for a moment before she could no longer bare to see the worry over his father's condition so clearly etched in his features and was forced to look away.

"You should get some sleep, I know you must be exhausted." Derek advised taking notice of the dark blue splotches under Jessica's eyes caused from her refusal to leave his father's side from the moment he'd developed a high fever.

Jessica smiled slightly but said nothing. After placing an affectionate kiss on the duke's fevered brow she rose to her feet and walked toward the door. "I'll be back," she whispered over her shoulder. Then stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind her.

From the moment Fenmore had entered the room and stated that the attempts of the men had not yet been successful, Jessica knew what she had to do. The answer to the Duke of Drakeford being attended to by his physician lay in the stamina and spirit of a huge black stallion named Diablo. Before she began descending the stairs, Jessica cast her eyes toward heaven and said a quick prayer, silently asking for the courage and strength needed for the formidable task before her. She had no doubts about the stallion's ability to make the journey successfully, it was her own capabilities that she had misgivings about. She was terrified of water.

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