CRUEL KISSES Theodora Peltier was on a voyage from exotic India to unknown California when she first felt Fergus MacLean’s lips crushing hers. But her flowering love was swiftly ripped to shreds when she learned that this handsome adventurer was to wed another woman. Then next time Fergus kissed Theodora was in a magnificent mansion where murder was master, Fergus’s wife was dead; suspicion shrouded him. Yet Theodora found herself surrendering to lips skilled in lying; and trembling at the touch of hands surely stained by blood. Desire was leading Theodora into the heart of danger—and not even the black pearls that were her legacy could protect her now….