>
Praise for New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Brandewyne
“Like fine wines, some writers seem to get better and better, and Rebecca Brandewyne belongs to this vintage group.”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews
“Among the Updikes and Bellows of the [romance] genre are…Rebecca Brandewyne.”
—Newsweek
“Rebecca Brandewyne is…a…powerhouse of the romantic novel industry.”
—Houston Chronicle
“Brandewyne’s latest is another winning romp.”
—Publishers Weekly on The Crystal Rose
“Enduring Brandewyne gives her readers what they crave—a well-researched, detail-rich, and gentle historical romance about deserving characters and evildoers who get their comeuppance.”
—Booklist on The Crystal Rose
“A lush novel brimming with rich historical details and written in the grand tradition of the Victorian gothic.”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews on The Ninefold Key
REBECCA BRANDEWYNE
is a bestselling author of historical novels. Her stories consistently place on the bestseller lists, including those of the New York Times and Publishers Weekly. She was inducted into the Romantic Times BOOKreviews Hall of Fame in 1988, and is a recipient of the magazine’s Career Achievement Award (1991). She has also received Affaire de Coeur’s Golden Quill Pen Award for Best Historical Romance, along with a Silver Pen Award.
Rebecca Brandewyne
From the Mists of Wolf Creek
Dear Reader,
“Where do you get your ideas?” That’s invariably the question most asked of writers.
So, what does inspire a tale? In the case of From the Mists of Wolf Creek, the answer might surprise you—because it was actually my two dogs who gave me the idea for this particular novel. One of my dogs is a beautiful black long-haired German shepherd. He looks and acts very much like the wolf in my story. My other dog is a sassy Australian cattle dog (red heeler) mix. He reminds me of my book’s hero, Trace—someone who drifted around quite a lot before finally finding a good home. My dogs are the best of pals, to the point that each somehow always knows what the other is thinking. They’re both extremely loving and protective, also, offering exactly the kind of care I thought my heroine, Hallie, needed in this novel. So she got a wolf and a man, courtesy of my two dogs—and of her own grandmother, a woman wise in the ways of Magick who casts a powerful spell that enchants more than one heart at Meadowsweet Farm, on the banks of Wolf Creek.
Happy reading!
Rebecca Brandewyne
www.brandewyne.com
For Wulfie and Buddy,
who inspired this tale. With all my love.
From the Mists of Wolf Creek
The wolf padded silently
From the mists of Wolf Creek
Into the magic circle
Where a wise witch did speak.
With her jeweled pewter wand,
She touched him on his head,
Cast a spell of enchantment
That bound him and so led
To his role as protector
At old Meadowsweet Farm.
There, he would forever stay,
Keeping all free from harm.
The man padded silently
From the mists of Wolf Creek
Into the magic circle
Where a wise witch did speak.
With her jeweled pewter wand,
She touched him on his chest,
Cast a spell of enchantment
That drew forth all his best,
Eased the pain of the past,
And bound him to the farm.
There, he would forever stay,
A stout heart, a strong arm.
When the spell was finally done,
Not the wolf nor the man
Knew where one of them ended
And the other began.
Sharing a deep and special bond,
They were as one, soul and mind,
Their dreams and their thoughts
Now and always entwined.
Laid upon them was this charge:
Guard the farm; keep it well;
And when love comes softly
To cast its magic spell…
Like the mists from Wolf Creek,
Greet it with willing arms
And with a faithful heart.
Revel in all its charms.
Both wolf and man listened hard
To the wise witch’s song.
For too many full moons,
They’d wandered far and long.
But the mists from Wolf Creek,
Now sweetly both bespelled,
And love came as promised,
At Meadowsweet e’er dwelled.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Epilogue
Prologue
A Spell Is Cast
Meadowsweet Farm, Wolf Creek, The Present
Death drew ever closer.
With her heightened senses, always so keenly attuned to her surroundings and her own being, Henrietta Taylor had discerned its inexorably nearing presence for some time now.
At first it had only lurked in the shadows and hovered at the edges