Praise for the incomparable Rosemary Rogers
âA passion-filled, globe-spanning affairâ¦â
âPublishers Weekly on Scoundrelâs Honor
â[A] perfect beach book.â
âPublishers Weekly on Bound by Love
âSizzling sensuality, seduction and dangerâ¦
come together with a powerful, skillfully told love storyâ¦vintage Rosemary Rogers.â
âRT Book Reviews on Scandalous Deception
âFrom the high roads of England to the French
countryside, this is a classic sexy, adventure romance⦠Rogers continues to play on the timeless themes of the genre, providing a wonderful, albeit nostalgic, read. You can go home again.â
âRT Book Reviews on A Daring Passion
âThe queen of historical romance.â
âNew York Times Book Review
âRogersâ legion of readers will be delighted to find that
her latest historical romance features the same brand of arrogant, bold, and sexy hero; stubborn, beautiful, and unconventional heroine; and passionate plot that first made this genre wildly popular in the early 1980s.â
âBooklist on Sapphire
âHer novels are filled with adventure, excitement,
and always wildly tempestuous romance.â
âFort Worth Star-Telegram
SLOANE SQUARE WAS not the finest neighborhood in London, but it was respectable and comfortably situated next to the more fashionable areas. As a rule it was occupied by members of the ton who clung to the fringes of society, or those who preferred to avoid the bustle that spilled throughout Mayfair.
And then there was Mr. Silas Dobson.
Claiming the largest mansion on a corner lot, Mr. Dobson was what was delicately known as an âupstart.â Or for those less kindly disposed, as an ill-bred mushroom who reeked of the shop despite his fortune.
He might eventually have been forgiven for his unwelcome intrusion among his betters had Silas been willing to fade quietly into the background and accept that he would always be inferior to those born into the aristocracy.
Silas, however, was not the sort of man to fade into any background.
As large as an ox, with a barrel chest and meaty face that was ruddy from the sun, he was as loud and crass as any of the hundreds of men who worked in his numerous warehouses spread throughout the city. Even worse, he made no apology for the fact he had crawled out of the gutters to make his fortune in trade. The youngest of twelve children, he had started as a dockhand before beginning to invest in high-risk cargos and eventually purchasing a number of properties that were rented out at an exorbitant fee to various shipping companies.
He was a bully without manners who had managed to insult nearly every resident in Sloane Square at least a dozen times over the past ten years.
And while he wasnât stupid enough to believe he could ever pass as a gentleman, he was willing to use his obscene wealth to foist his only child onto society.
An impudence that did nothing to endear him to members of the ton.
Of course, their ruffled feathers were somewhat eased by the knowledge that, for all of Dobsonâs wealth and bluster, he couldnât make his tiny dab of a daughter a success.
Oh, she was pretty enough with large emerald eyes set in a perfect oval face with a delicate nose and full, rose-kissed lips. But there was something quiteâ¦earthy in her gypsy curves and unruly raven curls.
It was, however, her awkward lack of charm that ensured that she would remain a wallflower.
After all, there were always those gentlemen of breeding who were notoriously short of funds. Being a member of nobility was an expensive business, especially if one was a younger sibling without the benefit of large estates to offset the cost of being fashionable.
With a dowry well over a hundred thousand pounds, Talia should have been snatched off the marriage mart her first season, even with a boorish father who promised to be a yoke of embarrassment around the neck of his prospective son-in-law.
But, when a man added in the fact that the female was a dreaded bluestocking who could barely be induced to speak a word in public, let alone dazzle a gentleman with practiced flirtations, it all combined to leave her a source of amused pity, someone who was avoided like the plague.
Society members took pleasure in Taliaâs failure. They smugly assured themselves it would be a blow to the odious Mr. Dobson and an example to other encroachers who thought they could buy a place among the aristocracy.
They might not have been so smug had they known Silas Dobson as well as his daughter did.
The son of a mere butcher did not acquire a small financial empire unless he possessed the unbridled determination to overcome any obstacle. No matter what the sacrifice.