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Once Tempted

Overview

Innocence Lost A notorious rake, the Marquis of Bradstone stole young Olivia Sutton's heart...and then ruined her life. For seven years she has been forced to hide her past behind a false identity. And now the dashing scoundrel has returned a different man: more handsome, more serious, more desirable...and far more dangerous thanthe cad who brought scandal and shame into Olivia's world. Rapture Found Major Robert Danvers is living a lie -- but for a noble cause. Masquerading as his cousin, the late marquis, Robert's secret mission for the crown has led him straight to the beautiful, scheming seductress he believes was responsible for his brother's death. But there is a gentle innocence about this Olivia that belies her murderous reputation -- and a passionate sensuality that makes him yearn to hold her forever in his arms. His loyalty to his mission tells him that surrender would be the worst sort of betrayal -- yet once tempted, how can a man resist, when his heart tells him here is his one true love

Author Information

Elizabeth Boyle

Elizabeth Boyle has written stories since childhood--including tales about her imaginary friend, an oversize Holstein by the name of John Clapper--and from there graduated to notebooks full of the usual bad adolescent poetry full of angst and dreary tales of woe that only a teenager can conjure up. After college and a stint of traveling, Elizabeth returned to writing what she loved to read: romance novels.

However, she hit a small bump in the road when she discovered that aspiring writers still have to pay their rent and buy groceries, so she worked as a paralegal, compiling case profiles on insurance fraud (arsons, faked burglaries, faked accidents) and police misconduct (assaults by officers, shooting inquests). Eventually she worked for a software company investigating piracy in North America. During her time "pirate hunting," she participated in civil and criminal seizures with the FBI, U.S. Customs, and the Canadian RCMP. After years of these modern-day adventures, it is no wonder that counterfeiting, forgery, and espionage find their way into her Regency-set romances, which she now writes full-time.

Writing at night and on weekends, Elizabeth completed four manuscripts before Brazen Angel won the Dell Diamond Debut Award in 1996. The story of her first sale is considered romance legend, an event she says could not have happened without the love and determination of her husband. The entire story can be found here. Since then, she has written nineteen more historical romances, as well as two novellas, which have consistently hit the USA Today bestseller list, and earned spots on the New Times Extended list, received four RITA nominations (including This Rake of Mine and His Mistress by Morning) and one win, garnered countless Romantic Times awards, and won the praise of fans worldwide, who call her fast-paced, adventurous romances "page turners" and "keepers." Her most recent book, Along Came a Duke, is the first in her new series, Rhymes with Love.

Editorial Reviews

Set in Napoleon's Europe, this formulaic romance details the adventures of bluestocking Olivia Sutton, the willful daughter of a disgraced knight. When she was 17, Olivia gave her heart to the Marquis of Bradstone, a callous man who went to great lengths to obtain a coded missive revealing the location of a lost Spanish treasure. Bradstone planned to exploit Olivia for her formidable code-cracking skills and then kill her, but Orlando Danvers, a young Spanish spy, disrupted the marquis's scheme, and was shot in the process. Accused of the crime, Olivia fled into hiding. Seven years later, Maj. Robert Danvers an "alluringly haphazard" English spy who closely resembles his cousin, Bradstone returns to England posing as the missing marquis to find his brother's murderess and recover the Spanish treasure. Although Olivia is shocked by Bradstone's reappearance, she sets out to force him to clear her name. As Robert and Olivia travel to Spain in search of the treasure, they are thrown together for the usual sex, misgivings and misadventures. Boyle (No Marriage of Convenience) mixes low melodrama with high comic-book dialogue ("Tell me where the Tomb of the Virgin is or die.") in a disjointed, fantastical romance that will likely be left on the shelf by readers. (July 3) Forecast: Potential buyers will find this temptation easy to resist. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information. -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

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Product Details

  • Published by

    HarperCollins

  • Publish Date

    November 22, 2005 

  • Print ISBN

    006112799X

  • eBook ISBN

    9780061751172

  • Imprint

    HarperCollins

  • Filesize

    648.55 KB

  • Number of Print Pages*

    384

* Number of eBook pages may differ. Click here for more information.

Excerpt from Once Tempted by Elizabeth Boyle

Chapter 1
London, 1812

"How was your trip to the solicitor, my lady " Carlyle asked as he helped his mistress, the Marchioness of Bradstone, down from her carriage.

"Wretched!" she complained. "The incompetent man says there is nothing we can do. Nothing in the least. He is certain that next month the House of Lords will pronounce Robert dead and allow the title to revert to the Crown."

Carlyle shook his head. "I feared as much, madame."

Her ladyship fluttered her handkerchief. "A month, Carlyle! A month!" she wailed. "Where will I live Where will I go Everything that matters is entailed with the estate."

Where will we all go Carlyle would have liked to add to her lament. The Bradstone staff had just as much at stake as their mistress in the Parnell family keeping the title ' their livelihoods depended upon it as well.

Lady Bradstone drew her handkerchief to her nose and sniffed. "If only my dearest boy would come home and prevent all this. Surely he must know the fits and tremblings his continued absence causes me, let alone this newest injustice."

"If his lordship were aware, my lady, I am sure he would hasten home without further delay," Carlyle said very diplomatically. He had tried on any number of occasions to explain to her that it was highly unlikely her son would ever come home.

For seven long years she'd denied that her son had fled the scandalous scene and sought passage on the doomed Bon Venture. Seven years of refusing to believe her son had been on that ship when it was attacked and sunk by the French off the coast of Portugal. The papers had been filled with the sad tale of how all hands and passengers had been lost.

Including the Marquis of Bradstone.

In the ensuing years, the marquis's estate had been cast in turmoil ' first from a lack of heirs and now because of the Prince Regent's maneuvering to see the title revert back to the Crown.