The Captive Heart // The Royal Pledge — Barbara Cartland

Wildly excited Sabina Wantage, the eldest daughter of a country parson, is on her way to Monte Carlo. She had come with a sense of excitement and anticipation. How different it all was from the country parsonage she had left in England. Unexpectedly and unbelievably she has become engaged to the awe inspiring Lord Thetford, an equierry to the Prince of Wales.

But fate takes a hand. Her chaperone breaks her leg and as Sabina travels alone in the moonlight from Nice to Monte Carlo. It was exciting, though a little frightening to have to ask the help of a band of gypsies on the road. When Michel, the handsome young gypsy she had seen at the tribe's camp, came back into her life again and again, Sabina began to forget why she was in Monte Carlo -- to meet her future mother-in-law and to spend her time with her fiance, the rich aristocratic -- the dull -- Lord Thetford.

Sabina's choice is a hard one-a vagabond love, or safety and security, pomp and ceremony, for herself and her family. Unable to think of anyone but Michel, Sabina took the most reckless and dramatic step that a young lady of her station and prospects could possibly take. And then it seemed it was all for nothing -- he had disappeared!