Sonnets of the Spice Isle

RyAnne Hunter is determined to stop her father from leaving for the continent of Africa, where he plans to start a mission station. And she only has until morning. Tonight at the Harcourts' Annual Ball will be her last chance to change his mind. She must succeed! Papa's health, and her future, depend on her success. But, as if her task isn't difficult enough, now the insufferable Captain Dawson has agreed to guide Papa's expedition!

RyAnne Hunter is shocked, and rather put out, that Papa refuses to turn back to Zanzibar. All her carefully wrought plans have come to nothing! Now, with Papa's health much worse than she first feared, her only option is to accompany him into the heart of the Continent so he won't die alone. But Papa insists she abandon her skirts, and don men's trousers and boots! And to make matters worse, the irritating captain has decided she must learn to shoot a gun! In the face of all that, she's not giving up on her attempts to convince Papa to return to Zanzibar.

Resigned to the fact that Papa has made up his mind and will not return to Zanzibar, RyAnne determines to make the best of it. She won't leave her papa to die alone. But with the arduous journey they face, Papa might not even make it a few days down the trail, much less the weeks it will take to reach the village where he's determined to build his mission station. What will she do if he passes away before they arrive? Recently she's seen a softer side to Captain Dawson.

When the wife of a neighboring chief goes into labor, and the baby is breech, the village doctor orders the woman and child be left to die. To prevent a war, RyAnne must safely deliver the baby. Her success breaks some of the grip the medicine man holds over the people, and more and more attend Papa's chapel. But when RyAnne confides in a couple of the women that her grandmother was from their tribe, she has no way of knowing the far-reaching consequences of her revelation.

Captured and bound for Bagamoyo only moments after the captain was shot, RyAnne is tempted to despair. The journey along the trail of chains would be difficult enough, but severe heat, fire, and a rogue lion threaten at every curve in the path. Only her need to keep watch over little Moyo keeps her from giving up all together. That and her determination to carry on Captain Dawson's mission to find out who the slave trader, Khalifa, is working for.

RyAnne can hardly believe she's been rescued. And yet there is the Captain, kneeling before her and asking her to be his wife. But before returning to Zanzibar, they hope to find Khalifa's partners in illegal slave trading and bring them to justice. When RyAnne stumbles across a vital piece of evidence in Khalifa's missives from his wife, she breaks her promise - well, she didn't really promise - to stay in her room and rushes headlong into danger. Danger that this time might be too much to overcome.