An ancient curse that only love can conquer... Catherine MacClelland, as strong-minded as she is beautiful, is hiding a terrible secret. Predestined to carry on an ancient curse, Catherine knows she must live isolated from the world and resigns herself to a life devoted to her clan. But powerful forces are gathering around her, and she alone will have the chance to break the curse that has plagued the MacClelland clan for centuries. Nicholas Efington, the Dark Duke, has abandoned his wicked life in an attempt to heal the physical and emotional wounds he'd suffered in the past. Now he has only one task on his mind: find a wife and beget an heir. But when Catherine MacClelland's father blackmails him into marrying her, he's drawn into a dark mystery where ancient myths come alive, while finding a lass who brands his very soul with passion. As Nicolas and Catherine come closer to understanding the secret that could destroy them forever, betrayals and ominous forces threaten their only chance at happiness. Will they overcome the curse of the grimalkin or surrender to it as so many before them?
About the Author: When we first learn to read, it's a chore. It's a matter of deciphering words and trying to understand their meaning given the context of the sentence. Reading is something you have to do, not want to do. Until, of course, you read that special book, the first one to really grab hold of you and make you fall in love. It happened to me in the fourth grade. Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators series forever changed me. I solved mysteries along with Jupiter, Bob, and Pete, three boys who ran their detective agency out of a junkyard and spoke regularly to Alfred Hitchcock. Green ghosts, whispering mummies, moaning caves, screaming clocks-they haunted my nights as I hid under the covers with a flashlight and read well past the time I was supposed to be sleeping. From there I graduated to just about every kind of book you could think of. I read Stephen King, Judy Blume, Richard Matheson, Arthur Clarke...the list was endless. At some point I decided to try a Barbara Cartland, and once again, my life changed. As I put that finished book down, I knew romance was the genre for me. Laurie McBain's Moonstruck Madness was the first long historical romance I ever read and I'll never forget it. It spurred me on to other authors such as Kathleen Woodiwiss and Clare Darcy. Romance became the staple of my reading diet and still is, to this day. I've dabbled in writing from the earliest days of my childhood, always keeping a journal and making up stories to entertain my brothers and sisters. You'd think I would have made a career of journalism, but I didn't. I decided to try my hand at computer science until family obligations required me to quit my nine-to-five job. Although I left my career and steady income with a few tears, they were crocodile tears, because inside I was already gleefully planning that first novel. Several attempts later, I wrote Touch Not the Cat, a story that's been in my head for a long, long time. Please visit my website, www.tracyfobes.com, to read excerpts from and find more info about all of my books. Tracy Fobes writes rich historical romances with a paranormal twist for Pocket and Leisure Books. Before turning to a career in writing, she graduated from the University of Scranton with a B.S. in Computer Science and a minor in mathematics and for several years worked as a technical writer and analyst in various industries. Born and raised in New Jersey, she has made Pennsylvania her home for the last twenty years.