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  Critical acclaim for the marvelous romances of

  Jude Deveraux

  THE SUMMERHOUSE

  “Deveraux is at the top of her game here as she uses the time-travel motif that was so popular in A Knight in Shining Armor, successfully updating it with a female buddy twist that will make fans smile.”

  —Booklist

  “Entertaining summer reading.”

  —The Port St. Lucie News (FL)

  “Leslie, Madison, and Ellie wiggle quickly into readers’ hearts as their tales are unfolded…. [A] wonderful, heartwarming tale of friendship and love.”

  —America Online Romance Fiction Forum

  TEMPTATION

  “Deveraux[’s] lively pace and happy endings…will keep readers turning pages.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  HIGH TIDE

  A Romantic Times Top Pick

  “High Tide is packed full of warmth, humor, sensual tension, and exciting adventure. What more could you ask of a book?”

  —Romantic Times

  Books by Jude Deveraux

  The Velvet Promise

  Highland Velvet

  Velvet Song

  Velvet Angel

  Sweetbriar

  Counterfeit Lady

  Lost Lady

  River Lady

  Twin of Fire

  Twin of Ice

  The Temptress

  The Raider

  The Princess

  The Awakening

  The Maiden

  The Taming

  The Conquest

  A Knight in Shining Armor

  Wishes

  Mountain Laurel

  The Duchess

  Eternity

  Sweet Liar

  The Invitation

  Remembrance

  The Heiress

  Legend

  An Angel for Emily

  The Blessing

  High Tide

  Temptation

  The Summerhouse

  The Mulberry Tree

  Forever…A Novel of Good and Evil, Love and Hope

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  Copyright © 1990 by Deveraux Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  ISBN-13: 978-0-7434-5920-4

  ISBN-10: 0-7434-5920-2

  POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Visit us on the World Wide Web:

  http://www.SimonSays.com

  Acknowledgments

  First and foremost I would like to thank Antonia Lavanne, who so very kindly allowed me to spend the afternoon in her studio and listen to her give singing lessons. It was a wonderful experience.

  I would like to thank the students and teachers and Mannes College of Music, where I spent an evening listening to such wonders as a live performance of the quartet from Cinderella.

  I would like to apologize to my readers and to Bizet for lying about the date of Carmen and having my heroine sing the opera a few years before it was written.

  I would also like to thank the late Thomas Armor for his name. I made you a hero, Tom.

  And, as always, I’d like to thank Linda Marrow for listening…and listening and listening and listening and…

  Rocky Mountains

  Summer 1859

  Chapter 1

  Colonel Harrison read the letter a second time, then leaned back in his chair and smiled. The answer to a prayer, he thought. That was the only way to describe the letter: the answer to a prayer.

  Just to make sure it did indeed say what he thought it did, he looked at the letter again. General Yovington had issued orders from Washington, D.C., that Lieutenant L. K. Surrey was to leave the post of Company J, Second Dragoons, for a special assignment. But since Lieutenant Surrey had died just last week, Colonel Harrison would have to choose someone to take the assignment in his place.

  Colonel Harrison’s smile grew broader. He was choosing Captain C. H. Montgomery to take Lieutenant Surrey’s place. The lieutenant, now replaced by Captain Montgomery, was “requested” to escort a foreign opera singer into the gold fields of the Colorado Territory. He was to remain with her and her small band of musicians and servants as long as the lady needed him. He was to protect her from any dangers she would possibly encounter on her journey and to do what he could to make her travels more comfortable.

  Colonel Harrison put the letter down, handling it as though it were a precious relic, and smiled so broadly his face nearly cracked. Lady’s maid, he thought. The high and mighty Captain Montgomery was being ordered to be nothing more than a lady’s maid. But, more important, Captain Montgomery was being ordered away from Fort Breck.

  Colonel Harrison took a few deep, cleansing breaths and thought about having his own fort to command, and about not having to deal with the perfection, the cool knowledge of Captain Montgomery. No longer would the men look to their captain for confirmation of every order, for permission to do what their colonel asked of them.

  Colonel Harrison thought back to when he first came to Fort Breck a year ago. His predecessor, Colonel Collins, had been a drunken, lazy old fool. Collins’s only concern had been surviving until he could retire, get out of Indian country and go back to Virginia, where people lived in a civilized manner. He was content to turn over all responsibility to his second-in-command, Captain Montgomery. And why not? Montgomery’s record had to be seen to be believed. He’d been in the army since he was eighteen, and in the ensuing eight years he’d worked himself up through the ranks. He’d started as a private, and, after extraordinary heroism on the field of battle, he’d been made an officer. He’d gone from second lieutenant to captain in a mere three years, and at the rate he was going he’d outrank Colonel Harrison in another few years.

  Not that the man didn’t deserve everything he’d ever earned in the army. No, as far as Colonel Harrison could tell, Captain Montgomery was perfect. He was cool under fire, never losing his head. He was generous, fair, and understanding with the enlisted men, and as a result they pretty much thought he ran the fort. The officers went to him with their problems; the officers’ ladies fawned over him and asked his advice about social events. Captain Montgomery didn’t drink, didn’t patronize the whores outside the fort; he’d never lost his temper as far as anyone knew, and he could do anything. He could ride like a demon and, while at a full gallop, shoot the eye out of a turkey from a hundred yards away. He knew Indian sign language and a smattering of several Indian languages. Hell, even the Indians liked him, said he was a man they could respect and trust. No doubt Captain Montgomery would die before he broke his word.

  Everyone in the world seemed to like, honor, respect, even revere Captain Montgomery. Everyone, that is, except Colonel Harrison. Colonel Harrison loathed the man. Not just disliked him, not just hated him, but loathed him. Everything the captain could do that the colonel couldn’t made the colonel despise him more. The enlisted men saw within a week after the colonel’s arrival that Harrison didn’t know anything about the West, and the truth was, this was the first time in his life the colonel had been west of the Mississippi. Captain Montgomery hadn’t volunteered to help the colonel learn the ropes; no, he was much too polite for that, but, in the end the colonel had had to ask him some questions. The captain had always known the answer, always known the best w