Her Own Rules

  I knew what he was going to say, the news he had to impart before he spoke again. “Is it Countess Zoë, Hubert?” I asked quietly.

  “Yes, Madame. She just died a few moments ago. She realized she was dying this afternoon. She asked me to let you know. ‘Telephone Madame Trent immediately, Hubert. She must be told at once.’ That is what she said to me. It was her last wish. She died gently, Madame. And she was at peace.”

  “Was her son Charles with her, Hubert?”

  “Yes. Monsieur le Comte was at her bedside with his wife and little son. And Mademoiselle Ariel. Monsieur finally overruled his mother last week and brought his sister back from Africa.”

  “I’m so glad they were all with her,” I said, my voice shaking. I brushed the tears off my cheeks. “Thank you, Hubert, for letting me know. Good night.”

  “Good night, Madame.”

  I replaced the receiver and went back to the terrace. I walked down the steps into the gardens Sebastian and I had planted so many years ago.

  How beautiful they looked tonight. Many of the flowers had bloomed early this year. The borders were riotous with color and the early evening air was fragrant with their mingled scents.

  I stood looking out toward my lavender fields and the meadows far beyond. Everything was a blur. I could not see anything through my tears.

  My thoughts were of Countess Zoë. She had shown me that the past was immutable. My past was Sebastian and part of me would always belong to him. But I had let him go . . . I had exorcised his ghost at last. And now I could get on with my life. Like Jack, I could start anew.

  Countess Zoë had set me free.

  About the Author

  Bestselling author BARBARA TAYLOR BRADFORD was born in Leeds and was a journalist in Yorkshire and Fleet Street before moving to New York, where she lives with her husband. She is published in ninety countries and forty languages, and ten of her books have become hugely successful television series.

  www.barbarataylorbradford.com

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  Praise

  “She’s the envy of all of us who put pen to paper. Don’t miss her.”

  —Greensboro News & Record

  “Her name on a novel . . . [promises] a good story, simply told, with a satisfying outcome . . . [her books] finding their way into people’s homes and hearts.”

  —Dayton Daily News

  “Emotional.”

  —Denver Rocky Mountain News

  “Compelling.”

  —Library Journal

  “A master . . . A good storyteller.”

  —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

  “You may fall in love . . . cry real tears . . . cheer.”

  —Chicago Tribune

  “Barbara Taylor Bradford can always be relied on to tell a good story.”

  —Chattanooga Times

  Books by Barbara Taylor Bradford

  Just Rewards

  Unexpected Blessings

  Emma’s Secret

  Three Weeks in Paris

  The Triumph of Katie Byrne

  Where You Belong

  A Sudden Change of Heart

  Power of a Woman*

  A Secret Affair*

  Her Own Rules*

  Love in Another Town*

  Dangerous to Know*

  Everything to Gain*

  Angel

  Remember

  The Women in His Life

  To Be the Best*

  Act of Will*

  Hold the Dream*

  Voice of the Heart*

  A Woman of Substance*

  *Published by HarperCollinsPublishers

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Her Own Rules was originally published in paperback by HarperPaperbacks in June 1997; in hardcover by HarperCollins in 1996.

  Dangerous to Know was published in paperback by HarperPaperbacks in June 1996; in hardcover by HarperCollins in 1995.

  HER OWN RULES. Copyright © 1996 by Barbara Taylor Bradford.

  DANGEROUS TO KNOW. Copyright © 1995 by Barbara Taylor Bradford.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  FIRST EDITION

  ISBN: 978-0-06-128486-1

  ISBN-10: 0-06-128486-6

  EPUB Edition AUGUST 2013 ISBN 9780062312570

  07 08 09 10 RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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