Star Crossed Seduction (27 page)

Authors: Jenny Brown

Tags: #Lords of the Seventh House, #Historical Romance, #mobi, #epub, #Fiction

W
hile I made up the Jewel of Vadha, many of the elements in this story are based on historical fact. Sir Charles Metcalfe did serve as the head of the Political and Secret Department in India and was instrumental in crafting a policy by which the British were able to annex many small Indian principalities and win the allegiance of many more by using subtle diplomacy rather than making war. The massacre of the sepoys’ women in a battle in the Third Maratha War is also, sadly, a matter of historical record, though Trev’s regiment did not play the part in that slaughter that I assigned them in this story.

The portraits of Henry VIII by Holbein show him to have worn many jewels that do, indeed, appear to be dark oriental topazes, a different jewel than the Brazilian topaz most of us are more familiar with. And the oriental topaz would, indeed, have been the jewel contemporary astrologers would have advised Henry to wear because of his Virgo Ascendant.

Though I did not know this when I first plotted this story, George IV broke with tradition at his coronation in July of 1820 and replaced the traditional ruby coronation ring used by his predecessors with a new ring of his own design. That ring featured a sapphire, which is, indeed, the jewel an astrologer would have prescribed for him based on his Aquarius Ascendant.

Whether that sapphire helped him achieve his ends, the reader must decide. The facts are these: Not only did George IV succeed in keeping his hated queen, Caroline, from being crowned with him in July of 1820, but immediately after she was barred from attending the coronation, Caroline keeled over with intense stomach pains. She died shortly afterward. Many people at the time believed she had been poisoned. It is also a matter of historical fact that the erstwhile Prince Regent maintained a collection of the hair of hundreds of beautiful women.

For readers who wish to cast their own charts for my characters, Temperance was born on October 26, 1802, at 2:00
P.M.
local mean time in Bath, England, where her mother had gone to take the waters. Trev was born at sea while his mother journeyed back to England, where she hoped to give birth to him. Though Lady Hartwood couldn’t have known the exact coordinates of his birth, we can. Trev was born on November 2, 1795, at 5:10
P.M.
GMT. The location of his birth was 19˚N33’ 28˚W56’, which gives him an Ascendant of 00 Aries—the so-called Aries point often found on the charts of people who have an impact on world history.

As you will see if you cast these charts, both Trev and Temperance not only were born with their Suns in Scorpio but with those Suns and other planets in the Eighth House, a position that would increase their tendency to keep secrets and manipulate others, though it would also make their sexual natures highly compatible, as of course they were.

The chart Lady Hartwood used to solve the mystery surrounding the jewel is a real one, too. It was cast for December 4, 1820, at 10:37
A.M.
The delineation Lady Hartwood gave comes straight out of Chapter 50 of William Lilly’s classic,
Christian Astrology,
first published in 1647 and still in print today.

Contemporary astrologers now believe the sign Scorpio to be ruled by the new planet, Pluto, rather than by “night Mars” which was the traditional ruler assigned by ancient astrologers. Since Lady Hartwood would have had no knowledge of Pluto, I have naturally had her use Mars as the ruler of Scorpio. This wouldn’t make her readings any the less accurate. Many modern astrologers have returned to the use of the traditional rulerships for Scorpio, Aquarius, and Pisces because they continue to produce valid results. Others use them along with the modern rulerships.

For those who want to improve their understanding of the sign Scorpio and the challenges it poses to those born with planets placed in it, I recommend Donna Cunningham’s excellent book,
Healing Pluto Problems.
Despite its title, this book is as much about the sign Scorpio as it is about the influence of the astrological planet Pluto.

About the Author

J
ENNY BROWN
earned a graduate degree in 19th-century history. Her very first professional sale as a writer was a biographical piece about Louisa May Alcott’s childhood. Years later, her favorite hobby continues to be reading biographies of people who lived in the 18th and 19th centuries. She has earned her living in many different ways: performing as a singer-songwriter in Western Massachusetts and Nashville, writing nonfiction, and, for the past fifteen years, running a successful small press.

Jenny has been a student of astrology since her teens. This ancient art helps her make sense of her life and accept that the way she is, with all her oddities, is the way she’s supposed to be. Though she has always loved reading love stories set in the past, what got her writing them was finding, at last, the Hero of Her Own Romance.

To learn more, visit Jenny’s web site and blog at www.jennybrown.net.

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By Jenny Brown

Star Crossed Seduction

Lord Lightning

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

K.I.S.S. and Teal is a trademark of the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance.

STAR CROSSED SEDUCTION
. Copyright © 2011 by Janet Ruhl. 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.

EPub Edition SEPTEMBER 2011 ISBN: 9780062092625

FIRST EDITION

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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