by Tessa Radley

One of the motifs I wanted to explore in my Silhouette Desire miniseries, Billionaire Heirs, was the idea that men and women can sometimes be trapped in situations which they never saw coming…and once they become lost in the labyrinth the actions they take to free themselves often only result in greater mayhem. The more the hero and heroine try to find the light, the destination they think they are seeking, the harder it becomes to find the way out.

In The Kyriakos Virgin Bride, my September 2007 release, the alpha hero, Zac, is a very rich guy who can trace his ancestry all the way back to the time of the Crusaders. He has everything he needs in life…except a wife. And family legend stipulates he must marry a virgin. So what happens when Zac discovers after his wedding night that Pandora, his new wife, is not a virgin? Walk away? Except there has never been a divorce in his family. As successful as he is, Zac cannot bear the thought of being a failure. When Pandora threatens to leave, Zac sees only one course of action: abduct his wife and trap her on his private island, until he can decide what on earth he is going to do. His body wants to stay married…his mind knows it’s not possible. While a furious Pandora is physically trapped on the remote, beautiful island…it’s Zac who caught in the trap of his upbringing, the expectations his family and society. And of course, the only way that either of them will free themselves is to sacrifice themselves to love.

Zac’s cousin, Angelo, the hero of The Apollonides Mistress Scandal (October 2007) owns several islands where he has established very sophisticated resorts. Gemma, the heroine, searches him out. But she’s trapped in a world of guilt after the suicide of her identical twin sister, Mandy. And she blames Angelo for her twin’s death. She wants to know what happened, and initially she intends to make him pay. But it’s not so easy. The more badly she thinks of Angelo, the more bitter vengeance makes her, the more miserable she becomes as the attraction between them grows. An attraction Gemma knows is doomed, because she has deceived Angelo—he thinks she is Mandy. Gemma can see no way out of the maze she has created. While Angelo is caught in the snare of his own preconceptions. Mandy betrayed him once, how can he trust her not do so again?

In the final book of the trilogy, The Desert Bride of Al Zayed, Jayne escaped the trap that her marriage to Sheik Tariq Al Zayed had become amid palace intrigue and the machinations of her powerful father-in-law. More than five years have passed and she’s now legally entitled to her divorce. She intends to come back to the sheikdom, secure her divorce, then she’ll be free. Forever. Except Tariq is trapped by circumstance. His father is dying—and wants to see Tariq happily married before he passes away. And then there’s the blazing passion that burns between Tariq and Jayne…will either of them ever be free of that?

It was a challenge to explore the emotions of the six main characters in the three books. I enjoyed using the geographical landscape as part of the motif…the islands in the first two books, the wide bleak desert in the final book—all places that exacerbated the confinement and confusion that the characters were experiencing. In the end, only when each pair of lovers succumb to love can they find the freedom and peace that they seek.

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