Cordinas Crown Jewel

Hot Ice

Sacred Sins

Brazen Virtue

Sweet Revenge

Public Secrets

Genuine Lies

Carnal Innocence

Divine Evil

Honest Illusions

Private Scandals

Hidden Riches

True Betrayals

Montana Sky

Sanctuary

Homeport

The Reef

River’s End

Carolina Moon

The Villa

Midnight Bayou

Three Fates

Birthright

Northern Lights

Blue Smoke

Angels Fall

High Noon

Tribute

Black Hills

The Search

Chasing Fire

Series

Irish Born Trilogy

Born in Fire

Born in Ice

Born in Shame

Dream Trilogy

Daring to Dream

Holding the Dream

Finding the Dream

Chesapeake Bay Saga

Sea Swept

Rising Tides

Inner Harbor

Chesapeake Blue

Gallaghers of Ardmore Trilogy

Jewels of the Sun

Tears of the Moon

Heart of the Sea

Three Sisters Island Trilogy

Dance Upon the Air

Heaven and Earth

Face the Fire

Key Trilogy

Key of Light

Key of Knowledge

Key of Valor

In the Garden Trilogy

Blue Dahlia

Black Rose

Red Lily

Circle Trilogy

Morrigan’s Cross

Dance of the Gods

Valley of Silence

Sign of Seven Trilogy

Blood Brothers

The Hollow

The Pagan Stone

Bride Quartet

Vision in White

Bed of Roses

Savor the Moment

Happy Ever After

The Inn BoonsBoro Trilogy

The Next Always

eBooks

The O’Hurleys
Skin Deep
Without a Trace
Dance to the Piper

The Donovan Legacy
Captivated
Entranced
Charmed
Enchanted

Cordina’s Royal Family
Affaire Royale
Command Performance
The Playboy Prince
Cordina’s Crown Jewel

Nora Roberts & J. D. Robb

Remember When

J. D. Robb

Naked in Death

Glory in Death

Immortal in Death

Rapture in Death

Ceremony in Death

Vengeance in Death

Holiday in Death

Conspiracy in Death

Loyalty in Death

Witness in Death

Judgment in Death

Betrayal in Death

Seduction in Death

Reunion in Death

Purity in Death

Portrait in Death

Imitation in Death

Divided in Death

Visions in Death

Survivor in Death

Origin in Death

Memory in Death

Born in Death

Innocent in Death

Creation in Death

Strangers in Death

Salvation in Death

Promises in Death

Kindred in Death

Fantasy in Death

Indulgence in Death

Treachery in Death

New York to Dallas

Anthologies

From the Heart
A Little Magic
A Little Fate

Moon Shadows
(with Jill Gregory, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Marianne Willman)

The Once Upon Series
(with Jill Gregory, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Marianne Willman)

Once Upon a Castle               Once Upon a Rose

Once Upon a Star               Once Upon a Kiss

Once Upon a Dream      Once Upon a Midnight

Silent Night
(with Susan Plunkett, Dee Holmes, and Claire Cross)

Out of This World
(with Laurell K. Hamilton, Susan Krinard, and Maggie Shayne)

Bump in the Night
(with Mary Blayney, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Mary Kay McComas)

Dead of Night
(with Mary Blayney, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Mary Kay McComas)

Three in Death
Suite 606
(with Mary Blayney, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Mary Kay McComas)

In Death
The Lost
(with Patricia Gaffney, Mary Blayney, and Ruth Ryan Langan)

The Other Side
(with Mary Blayney, Patricia Gaffney, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Mary Kay McComas)

The Unquiet
(with Mary Blayney, Patricia Gaffney, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Mary Kay McComas)

Also available…

The Official Nora Roberts Companion

(edited by Denise Little and Laura Hayden)

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CORDINA’S CROWN JEWEL

An InterMix Book / published by arrangement with the author

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Harlequin Books edition / 1992

InterMix eBook edition / January 2012

Copyright © 1992 by Nora Roberts.

Excerpt from
The Witness
copyright © by Nora Roberts.

All rights reserved.

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To all the new princes and princesses in my family.

May you all grow up strong and live happily ever after.

Prologue

She was a princess. Born, bred and meticulously trained. Her deportment was flawless, her speech impeccable and her manners unimpeachable. The image she presented was one of youth, confidence and grace all wrapped up in a lovely and carefully polished package.

Such things, she knew, were expected of a member of Cordina’s royal family—at least in the public arena. The charity gala in Washington, D.C. was a very public arena. So she did her duty, greeting guests who had paid handsomely for the opportunity to rub elbows with royalty.

She watched her mother, Her Serene Highness Gabriella de Cordina, glide effortlessly through the process. At least her mother made it seem effortless, though she had worked as brutally hard as her daughter on this event.

She saw her father—so wonderfully handsome and steady—and her eldest brother who was serving as her escort for the evening, mingle smoothly with the crowd. A crowd that included politicians, celebrities and the very wealthy.

When it was time, Her Royal Highness Camilla de Cordina took her seat for the first portion of the evening’s entertainment. Her hair was dressed in a complicated twist that left her slender neck bare, but for the glitter of emeralds. Her dress was an elegant black that was designed to accent her willowy frame. A frame both she and her dressmaker knew was in danger of slipping to downright thin.

Her appetite was not what it had been.

Her face was composed, her posture perfect. A headache raged like a firestorm behind her eyes.

She was a princess, but she was also a woman on the edge.

She applauded. She smiled. She laughed.

It was nearly midnight—eighteen hours into her official day—when her mother managed a private word by sliding an arm around Camilla’s waist and dipping her head close.

“Darling, you don’t look well.” It took a mother’s sharp eyes to see the exhaustion, and Gabriella’s eyes were sharp indeed.

“I’m a bit tired, that’s all.”

“Go. Go back to the hotel. Don’t argue,” she murmured. “You’ve been working too hard, much too hard, I should have insisted you take a few weeks at the farm.”

“There’s been so much to do.”

“And you’ve done enough. I’ve already told Marian to alert security and see to your car. Your father and I will be leaving within the hour ourselves.” Gabriella glanced over, noted her son was entertaining—and being entertained by—a popular American singer. “Do you want Kristian with you?”

“No.” It was a sign of her fatigue that she didn’t argue. “No, he’s enjoying himself. Wiser to slip out separately anyway.” And quietly, she hoped.

“The Americans love you, perhaps a little too much.” With a smile, Gabriella kissed her daughter’s cheek. “Go, get some rest. We’ll talk in the morning.”

*  *  *

But it was not to be a quiet escape. Despite the decoy car, the security precautions, the tedium of winding through the building to a side entrance, the press had scented her.

She had no more than stepped out into the night when she was blinded by the flash of cameras. The shouts rained over her, pounded in her head. She sensed the surge of movement, felt the tug of hands and was appalled to feel her legs tremble as her bodyguards rushed her to the waiting limo.

Unable to see, to think, she fought to maintain her composure as she was swept through the stampede, bodyguards pressed on either side of her rushing her forward.

It was so horribly hot, so horribly close. Surely that was why she felt ill. Ill and weak and stupidly frightened. She wasn’t sure if she fell, was pushed or simply dived into the car.

As the door slammed behind her, and the shouts were like the roar of the sea outside the steel and glass, she shivered, her teeth almost chattering in the sudden wash of cool air-conditioned air. Closed her eyes.

“Your Highness, are you all right?”

She heard, dimly, the concerned voice of one of her guards. “Yes. Thank you, yes. I’m fine.”

But she knew she wasn’t.

Whatever might, and undoubtedly would be said, it hadn’t been an impulsive decision. Her Royal Highness Camilla de Cordina was not an impulsive woman.

She was, however, a desperate one.

Desperation, she was forced to admit, had been building in her for months. On this hot, sticky, endless June night it had reached, despite her efforts to deny it, a fever pitch.