Troianne - Prologue - Chapter 1

Troianne Shelden finds herself pregnant and alone at the age of twenty-one. The father of her child seems to disappear without a trace. The only person she can rely on is her elderly, dying Grandmother who has nothing to give Troianne but sage motherly advice, love and an old flannel gown. One stormy night in her eighth month of pregnancy, Troianne goes into labor and calls a taxi to take her to the hospital. During the taxi ride she passes out from the pain of early labor. When she awakens from her brief unconsciousness she is no longer in a taxi. Lightening is flashing, thunder is crashing, a heavy cold rain is pummeling the roof outside of what seems to be a nineteenth century horse drawn carriage. "What is going on?" "Where is the taxi and why am I in this..... carriage?" As the vehicle draws to a stop outside an old English manor the driver yells out for help! He runs to the doors of the Mansion pounding loudly on the massive oak doors. Just as Troianne thinks "this can't be happening" and "I must be losing my mind" a very handsome gentleman with the strangest crystal blue eyes yanks the door to the carriage open. Inside he finds a beautiful pregnant young lady In the throes of a severe and most agonizing labor contraction. He takes matters into his own hands and reaches in to pick her up in his muscular arms. Duncan Michael Bells-Whitby, Second Earl of Cusworth cannot believe the strikingly gorgeous creature he manages to enfold in his arms, one he carries with him into the nineteenth century.