ONCE AND FOREVER Constance O'Day-Flannery Avon Romance November 1999 ISBN# 0-380-80170-1 {Click here to buy this book} You've just left a bad relationship, you're in hock up to your eyeballs with creditors breathing down your back and the world

Maggie Whitaker couldn't have gotten her aunt's invitation to visit at a better time but dressing up in a Medieval gown and spending the day with a bunch of Shakespearean wanna be's in the hot summer sun is just not her cup of tea. Maggie won't disappoint her aunt though and once she sees the gorgeous dress her aunt has picked out for the Renaissance Faire Maggie decides, "OK, just for an hour or two". Once at the faire a little girl gets Maggie's attention and seems to be urging Maggie to follow her. Maggie's led through a hedge maze until the warm day suddenly becomes too stifling and her panic to find the exit causes her to become disoriented. When she finally finds the exit she has her mind set on finding her aunt and going home until she is nearly trampled by hooves.

Crossing paths, well, more like nearly colliding on the path, with the strange woman as she flees the woods, Nicholas Layton finds himself flying through the air as his horse comes to a screeching halt. Once righted, however, Nick fights to keep a civil tongue in his head about her recklessness. But when he discovers her name and her mission he recognizes her as the Lady Margaret, niece to his beloved friend Countess Elthia of Grenville Manor, and vows to see her to her destination. He just can't understand why the woman keeps on about him playing dress up and speaking so strange though.

When Countess Elthia discovers that Maggie is not her niece, whom she hasn't seen in years but is do to arrive at Grenville Manor to marry her son, Lord Robert, it's too late. Her son has already been notified of his intended's arrival and is on his way home from a hunting trip to finally meet the woman he's been arranged to marry. Elthia concocts the plan that Maggie will disguise herself as the Lady Margaret until the real Lady Margaret arrives and it is Nick who will teach Maggie proper speech and etiquette, but Maggie is having none of it…until Elthia tells her that it could mean her life. But what does Maggie care? It's only part of the Renaissance Faire and they're all actors and as soon as she finds her aunt she's outta there. Right? And if this is all part of the faire then why is she finding herself being uncontrollably drawn to Nick? Why does she feel as if she's known him all of her life even though they've only just met? Things heat up during Nick's tutoring Nick until they find themselves running for their lives.