THE CURSE What was the secret shame that had driven India's proud father from England—and made him so fanatically determined to shield his daughter from all knowledge of the world? What inner torment had turned India's Aunt Maude from a legendary young beauty into a hideously obese aging woman living out her days in bitterness and self-hate? What demonic danger now threatened India herself, as she discovered that she was torn between two handsome, iron-willed suitors—each warning her of the other, and each demanding that she surrender herself body and soul to him alone? Somehow, the answer lay in the depths of the glowing black pearl necklace that held India in its hypnotic spell...