Carolina Moon

unsurpassed.”
    — Rendezvous
    IMMORTAL IN DEATH
    “Wonderful.”
    — Affaire de Coeur
    RAPTURE IN DEATH
    “Sure to leave you hungering for more.”
    — Publishers Weekly
    CEREMONY IN DEATH
    “Explosive … [A] spectacular sizzler.”
    — Romantic Times
    VENGEANCE IN DEATH
    “The publishing world might be hard-pressed to find an author with a more diverse style or fertile imagination.”
    — Publishers Weekly
    HOLIDAY IN DEATH
    “One of the best futuristic mystery series on the market today.”
    — Without A Clue
    CONSPIRACY IN DEATH
    “Masterful.”
    — The Romance Reader
    LOYALTY IN DEATH
    “This series gets better with each book.”
    — Publishers Weekly
    WITNESS IN DEATH
    “Truly fine entertainment… sexy, gritty, richly imagined.”
    — Publishers Weekly
    JUDGMENT IN DEATH
    “Electrifying suspense and hot, hot passion.”
    — Romantic Times
    BETRAYAL IN DEATH
    “A welcome mix of edgy, sexy lovers … and noir.”
    — Publishers Weekly

Titles by Nora Roberts
    CAROLINA MOON
RIVER’S END
THE REEF
INNER HARBOR
RISING TIDES
SEA SWEPT
HOMEPORT
SANCTUARY
FINDING THE DREAM
HOLDING THE DREAM
DARING TO DREAM
MONTANA SKY
BORN IN SHAME
BORN IN ICE
BORN IN FIRE
TRUE BETRAYALS
HIDDEN RICHES
PRIVATE SCANDALS
HONEST ILLUSIONS
DIVINE EVIL
CARNAL INNOCENCE
GENUINE LIES
PUBLIC SECRETS
SWEET REVENGE
BRAZEN VIRTUE
SACRED SINS
HOT ICE
JEWELS OF THE SUN
TEARS OF THE MOON
HEART OF THE SEA
    THE VILLA
(available in hardcover from G. P. Putnam’s Sons)
    Titles written as J. D. Robb
    NAKED IN DEATH
GLORY IN DEATH
IMMORTAL IN DEATH
RAPTURE IN DEATH
CEREMONY IN DEATH
VENGEANCE IN DEATH
HOLIDAY IN DEATH
CONSPIRACY IN DEATH
LOYALTY IN DEATH
WITNESS IN DEATH
JUDGMENT IN DEATH
BETRAYAL IN DEATH

Nora
Roberts

If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
    CAROLINA MOON
    A Jove Book / published by arrangement with the author
    PRINTING HISTORY
G. P. Putnam’s Sons hardcover edition / March 2000
Jove edition / April 2001
    All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2000 by Nora Roberts.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission. For information address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
    The Penguin Putnam Inc. World Wide Web site address is
http://www.penguinputnam.com
    ISBN: 0-515-13038-9
    A JOVE BOOK ®
Jove Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
JOVE and the “J” design
are trademarks belonging to Penguin Putnam Inc.
    PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
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To the friends of my childhood,
blood sisters and confidantes who
helped turn backyards into magic forests

Tory

To me, fair friend, you never can be old,
For as you were when first your eye I eyed,
Such seems your beauty still.
— William Shakespeare

1
    S he woke in the body of a dead friend. She was eight, tall for her age, fragile of bone, delicate of feature. Her hair was the color of corn silk, and slid prettily down her narrow back. Her mother loved to brush it every night, one hundred strokes with the soft-bristled, silver-backed brush that sat on the graceful cherry-wood vanity.
    The child’s body remembered this, felt this, each long, sustained beat with the brush and how it made her imagine herself a cat being petted. How the light slanted over the pin boxes and the bottles of crystal and cobalt, and struck the silver back of the brush as it flashed over her hair.
    She remembered the scent of the room, smelled it even now. Gardenia. Always gardenia for Mama.
    And in the mirror, by lamplight, she could see the pale oval of her face, so young, so pretty, with those thoughtful blue eyes and smooth skin. So alive.
    Her name was Hope.
    The windows and French doors were closed because it was high summer. Heat pressed its damp fingers against the glass, but