Young Serena Foster daydreamed of love and wondered when it would happen to her. Suddenly tragedy struck and her parents were killed leaving her totally alone...with young Rory Clendenning. He too was alone and searching for something. Their one night together was a passionate affair, a mutual grasping for dreams and ideals. It was a first affair In the cold light of morning it seemed this brief blaze of passion was not meant to last forever. And when Serena then met the ruggedly handsome and sophisticated Darrel Quick all of her concepts of love and romance became a mélange of emotions that tormented her mind and teased her body. Into her confused life now came the shattering experience of being sadistically humiliated, beaten and raped by brutal men who held her captive...with no hope of survival. Despite her misery and pain Serena was able to gain control of herself and see the qualities of the kind of love that she had experienced with Rory and Darrel. In the midst of such anguish and violence she had found a new vision of her destiny as a woman. But could she escape her hideous and deadly captors? And would it be Rory, or Darrel, or still another man who'd finally join her in her quest for a love that would be forever...and more?
Author
Patricia Anne Klein Ernst Brisco Matthews aka Patricia Ernst, P.A. Brisco, Patty Brisco, Pat A. Brisco, Pat Brisco, Patricia Matthews, Laura Wylie, Denise Matthews Patricia Anne Klein Ernst was born on 1 July 1927 in San Fernando, California, USA, the daughter of Gladys Gable and Roy Oliver Ernst. Her mother enrolled her in the famous Meglin Kiddies school, but she recorded only two of her songs professionally for one demo tape. She studied at California State University, Los Angeles, were she worked as secretary to the General Manager of Associated Students by the California State College. In 21 December 1946, she married Marvin Owen Brisco and moved to Arizona, they had two sons: Michael Arvie and David Roy. By 1961, the marriage had ended in divorce. Focused on her writing career, she returned to California, where she met the writer Clayton Matthews in a local writers' group. After Matthews divorced his first wife, he and Patricia married in 3 November 1972 and lived near San Diego. She started to write poetry, juvenile books, a play, fantasy and mystery short stories, which she signed under different names: Patricia Ernst, P.A. Brisco and Pat A. Brisco. Using the names Patty Brisco and Pat Brisco, she wrote gothic novels. When the market for gothic novels softened, at the suggestion of the Clayton's agent, Jay Garon, she began to write romance novels under her second married name, Patricia Matthews in 1976. She become a popular writer, called "American's First Lady of Historical Romance". She and her husband also collaborated on several romance and suspense novels using the pseudonyms Laura Wylie and Laurie Wylie. She and her husband wrote five Casey Farrell mystery novels together, and she wrote three on her own, the Thumbprint Mysteries, set in the American South, westat the fourth- sixth- and eighth-grade reading levels, yet offer characters, situations, and concerns appropriate for adult readers. With Denise Hrivnak, she also wrote under the pseudonym Denise Matthews. Her husband Clayton died in 25 March 2004. Patricia Anne Brisco Matthews died at 5:30 a.m. 7 December 2006 in the familiar house of Brisco in Arizona.
