Sanctuary

INNOCENCE
DIVINE EVIL
HONEST ILLUSIONS
PRIVATE SCANDALS
HIDDEN RICHES
TRUE BETRAYALS
MONTANA SKY
SANCTUARY
HOMEPORT
THE REEF
RIVER’S END
CAROLINA MOON
THE VILLA
MIDNIGHT BAYOU
THREE FATES
BIRTHRIGHT
NORTHERN LIGHTS
BLUE SMOKE
ANGELS FALL
HIGH NOON
     
     
    Series
    Born In Trilogy
    BORN IN FIRE
BORN IN ICE
BORN IN SHAME
     
    Dream Trilogy
    DARING TO DREAM
HOLDING THE DREAM
FINDING THE DREAM
     
    Chesapeake Bay Saga
    SEA SWEPT
RISING TIDES
INNER HARBOR
CHESAPEAKE BLUE
     
    Gallaghers of Ardmore Trilogy
    JEWELS OF THE SUN
TEARS OF THE MOON
HEART OF THE SEA
     
    Three Sisters Island Trilogy
    DANCE UPON THE AIR
HEAVEN AND EARTH
FACE THE FIRE
    Key Trilogy
     
    KEY OF LIGHT
KEY OF KNOWLEDGE
KEY OF VALOR
     
    In the Garden Trilogy
     
    BLUE DAHLIA
BLACK ROSE
RED LILY
     
    Circle Trilogy
    MORRIGAN’S CROSS
DANCE OF THE GODS
VALLEY OF SILENCE
     
    Sign of Seven Trilogy
    BLOOD BROTHERS

Nora Roberts & J. D. Robb
     
    REMEMBER WHEN
     
    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
SEDUCTION IN DEATH
REUNION IN DEATH
PURITY IN DEATH
PORTRAIT IN DEATH
IMITATION IN DEATH
DIVIDED IN DEATH
VISIONS IN DEATH
SURVIVOR IN DEATH
ORIGIN IN DEATH
MEMORY IN DEATH
BORN IN DEATH
INNOCENT IN DEATH
CREATION IN DEATH

Anthologies
     
    FROM THE HEART
A LITTLE MAGIC
A LITTLE FATE
     
    MOON SHADOWS
    (with Jill Gregory, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Marianne Willman)
     
    The Once Upon Series
    (with Jill Gregory, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Marianne Willman)
     
    ONCE UPON A CASTLE
ONCE UPON A STAR
ONCE UPON A DREAM
ONCE UPON A ROSE
ONCE UPON A KISS
ONCE UPON A MIDNIGHT

     
    SILENT NIGHT
    (with Susan Plunkett, Dee Holmes, and Claire Cross)
     
    OUT OF THIS WORLD
    (with Laurell K. Hamilton, Susan Krinard, and Maggie Shayne)
     
    BUMP IN THE NIGHT
    (with Mary Blayney, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Mary Kay McComas)
     
    DEAD OF NIGHT
    (with Mary Blayney, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Mary Kay McComas)
     
     
    Also available ...
     
    THE OFFICIAL NORA ROBERTS COMPANION
    (edited by Denise Little and Laura Hayden)

PART ONE
    When weather-beaten I come back ...
My body a sack of bones; broken within . . .
    —John Donne

ONE
    S HE dreamed of Sanctuary. The great house gleamed bride-white in the moonlight, as majestic a force breasting the slope that reigned over eastern dunes and western marsh as a queen upon her throne. The house stood as it had for more than a century, a grand tribute to man’s vanity and brilliance, near the dark shadows of the forest of live oaks, where the river flowed in murky silence.
    Within the shelter of trees, fireflies blinked gold, and night creatures stirred, braced to hunt or be hunted. Wild things bred there in shadows, in secret.
    There were no lights to brighten the tall, narrow windows of Sanctuary. No lights to spread welcome over its graceful porches, its grand doors. Night was deep, and the breath of it moist from the sea. The only sound to disturb it was of wind rustling through the leaves of the great oaks and the dry clicking—like bony fingers—of the palm fronds. The white columns stood like soldiers guarding the wide veranda, but no one opened the enormous front door to greet her.
    As she walked closer, she could hear the crunch of sand and shells on the road under her feet. Wind chimes tinkled, little notes of song. The porch swing creaked on its chain, but no one lazed upon it to enjoy the moon and the night.
    The smell of jasmine and musk roses played on the air, underscored by the salty scent of the sea. She began to hear that too, the low and steady thunder of water spilling over sand and sucking back into its own heart.
    The beat of it, that steady and patient pulse, reminded all who inhabited the island of Lost Desire that the sea could reclaim the land and all on it at its whim.
    Still, her mood lifted at the sound of it, the music of home and childhood. Once she had run as free and wild through that forest as a deer, had scouted its marshes, raced along its sandy beaches with the careless privilege of youth.
    Now, no longer a child, she was home again.
    She walked quickly, hurrying up the steps, across the veranda, closing her hand over the big brass handle that glinted like a lost treasure.
    The door was locked.
    She twisted it right, then left, shoved against the thick mahogany panel. Let me in , she thought as her heart began to thud in her chest.