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Deal With The Devil
She was given no choice! Elena's father rushed her to the San Felipe airport to put her on a plane to Miami. Their homeland in Central Americ ahad just erupted in revolution, and no one was safe. But Elena held a San Felipan passport, and officials were not letting any residents leave. Then she spotted American Blake Rogan, a ruthless adventurer she had every reason to despise, and her stomach twisted. Suddenly she knew what was about to happen. "Querida," her father said to her, "when you leave San Felipe, it will be as Mrs. Blake Rogan...
187 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
3 people are currently reading
71 people want to read
About the author
Sandra Marton
579 books542 followersI've been a writer, one way or another, all my life. Before I could read, I made up poems and my mom wrote them down for me. In elementary school, my teachers almost always let me write poems or stories instead of requiring me to do art projects. Always, I dreamed of becoming a published writer...and that dream came true! I write novels about sexy, powerful men and independent-minded women, and what happens when they find each other and fall in love. My books are sexy and romantic, and they've very often full of romantic suspense. I write the kinds of books I love to read, and I hope that makes my readers happy.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 23, 2018
Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!
Hero has to say this about eleven billion times to the heroine and he was justified - every time. She had to argue about *everything*. From whether it was thunder or gunfire they had just heard to why she had to wear long sleeves in the jungle when it was so hot.
She was beyond annoying. It took me two days to slog through this grim jungle adventure where the hero had to marry the heroine to get out of a country in the middle of a revolution.
I won't say anymore because Boogenhagen has all the details in her excellent review and I don't want to think about this heroine ever again.
Hero has to say this about eleven billion times to the heroine and he was justified - every time. She had to argue about *everything*. From whether it was thunder or gunfire they had just heard to why she had to wear long sleeves in the jungle when it was so hot.
She was beyond annoying. It took me two days to slog through this grim jungle adventure where the hero had to marry the heroine to get out of a country in the middle of a revolution.
I won't say anymore because Boogenhagen has all the details in her excellent review and I don't want to think about this heroine ever again.
February 7, 2017
Re Deal With the Devil - SM brings us a jungle road trip romance, as our h and H have to make their way out of a Central American country in the throes of insurgency.
This one starts with the 21 year old h returning to her fictional native S. American country after several years of living in Miami. It seems her father was a famous C. American archaeologist now turned Statesman and her deceased mother was a famous American wildlife painter. They left the h with a series of housekeepers, the h only saw them twice a year in her younger years, so the h has a bit of a thing about abandonment. Plus all of the housekeepers were old skool Spanish women, who were more repressed than nuns and tried to make the h that way too.
When the h's mother died in an accident, it was the first time the h's parents had been with her for any length of time for years, and right after her death, her father packed her off to boarding school in the US. So the h is really happy to be home, but sadly things are not the same in her beloved country. When the h goes to the local market for various things, she is accosted by two drunken teen age boys and has to be rescued by the H.
She had met the H a bit earlier and thought he was a bandit trying to pick her up, so when he starts kissing her after his dashing rescue, she has very mixed emotions to say the least. The kiss is perfect, but the man doing the kissing appears to be an adventurer and the h just isn't into that. The h makes her way home and tells her father about the rescue, but not about the kiss. The h's father is having a big party to celebrate the h's 21st birthday, but then he is insistent that the h leave the country, which the h is vehemently refusing to do.
After the big party, which has overtures of the last blast before the apocalypse, the h finds out that her father invited the H and there is some sort of plan for the H to escort her back to Miami. The insurgent situation is getting much worse and everyone is very worried that fighting will break out any minute. Which it does a few hours later in the middle of the night.
The H's father drags her to the American embassy and marries her off to the H. The father is afraid that anyone without a foreign passport will not be allowed to leave the country. He is also afraid that if the rebels get possession of the h, they could use her against him as he is a highly placed government official.
The h tries to argue, but eventually the marriage is performed and the h is very bitter about the H agreeing to help for the large amount of money she assumes is what her father gave him. They try to get to the airport, but someone set the place on fire and it is very clear that they are going to have to go north to the border with Mexico another way.
(So if this were not HPlandia, the H and h would be trekking thru Belize or Guatemala, given the terrain and the mythical unrest that has a real world reflection- a neighboring country's military coup spreads, I am betting SM was thinking of Belize when she wrote this - it was a British controlled country for years before independence in 1981 and to this day has to fight off claims that it belongs to Guatemala.)
So the H and h start north, with the H demanding that the h do exactly as he says without arguing. There is a big tense scene with the H, where it looks like he is aiming for a forced seduction, but the h has no intentions of offering her body as a bonus to the money her father already paid. The h lies and claims that her boss in Miami is actually her fiance. The H claims he is only interested in the wifely stricture to Obey that is in the marriage ceremony and has no interest in the conjugal rights part. (He is so totally lying here.)
As they are traveling north in the H's car, they notice that there is a road block up ahead. Wanting to avoid any hint of soldiers, they take a turn off on a dirt road that soon dwindles down to a very bad track. The car was refilled with bad petrol, so the H and h have to abandon it and continue through the jungle on foot.
There is a fight over the shirt the H wants the h to wear and she thinks he has just left her cause he walks off when she argues, so she starts walking on her own. The H eventually shows back up, but he used the scene as another way to enforce that the h needs to do what he says when he says it. The h admits he had the valid point, cause if she weren't wearing the long sleeved shirt he told her to wear the bugs would eat her alive, but she isn't thrilled with all this Obey stuff.
They make it to a small native village and they are able to beg for food and a shelter for the night. Since the H told the villagers they were married, they wind up sharing a sleeping hut and a mat, but tho the h is very tempted by the virile manliness of the H, she keeps her hands to herself and nothing happens.
They walk on to the next big town and it turns out there is a big Fiesta going on. Everybody gets new clothes and a real hotel room and the H almost manages to seduce the h during a dance. The h decides that seduction is not on the menu for Fiesta time and runs back to her hotel room and won't let the H in when he knocks.
The next day the H and h manage to get a truck and are driving along when there is an ambush set up further along the road. The H tells the h to hide and he goes to check it out. He gets captured by some bandits and the h sneaks into the jungle. She waits around while the bandits tie the H to a tree and proceed to get drunk on the tequila they found in the truck. When all the bandits are passed out, the h sneaks in and unties the H and they take off for a hidden cave the guy who lent them the truck told the H about. The H is angry the h did not run back to the town they came from and did not obey him and the h gives him some angry words back. This leads to a big seduction moment and the h is convinced she has found her true love.
The next morning they are only an hour away from the border and the H is acting like the night before was big mistake. The h is hurt and agrees with the H that it really was a mistake and they move into Mexico and part ways at the airport.
The h returns to Miami and we have a jump in time where the h is moping around and waiting on an annulment as soon as her father's lawyers can track down the H. The h's boss is still proposing, (apparently he has been for a while now,) but the h isn't interested and really just wants to be with the H. It is mentioned that the insurgency in her home country has been resolved and her father is fine.
Finally the lawyer calls and the H has sent back the signed annulment papers. The lawyer has them couriered over to the h. She gets the papers and is really sad, but then there is a knocking on the door and it is the H. He has missed the h horribly and loves her madly and another big seduction occurs with the h equally seducing the H. He burns the annulment papers and they both have the big love confession.
We find out that the H is actually the heir to a huge international investing conglomerate and all his roaming about was for checking on things for his dad's company. He is really from Philadelphia and his dad sent him around the world as a company deal maker in remote locations because the H had the wanderlust.
He also tells the h that her father told him he either married the h and helped her escape the country or the father would use his political position and have the H thrown in jail. The h is very horrified that her honourable father would do such a thing and is terribly contrite. The H is very sweet when he says he soon came to feel the same way about protecting the h as her father does and he totally understands why he did it, so there are no hard feelings at all.
Now that that the H is committed to the h, he is taking over the European branch of the firm and he has decided that he and the h will have another marriage ceremony in Philadelphia, cause he just can't get that word Obey in often enough. The h is lurved up enough to agree to anything, so we leave them happily planning the better safe than sorry nuptials, (in case the annulment really worked,) for the big HEA.
This one was very well done, SM is great at covering all the potential plot holes usually and the H was just the right amount of bossy person who was trying to hide his growing attraction for the h. The h had some initial TSTL moments, but when there was a crisis, she leapt into sensible action.
I was thinking there would be more about the h's abandonment issues, she does have some, but SM did a decent job of showing the H wouldn't leave her rather than the usual internal monologue dissecting the subject. The jungle road trip was interesting and the suspense was pretty good, plus the HEA was believable as well. Give this one a shot if you like the dangerous road trip, it isn't as good as a few other HP versions of the trope, but it certainly isn't bad either and well worth the time spent on it.
This one starts with the 21 year old h returning to her fictional native S. American country after several years of living in Miami. It seems her father was a famous C. American archaeologist now turned Statesman and her deceased mother was a famous American wildlife painter. They left the h with a series of housekeepers, the h only saw them twice a year in her younger years, so the h has a bit of a thing about abandonment. Plus all of the housekeepers were old skool Spanish women, who were more repressed than nuns and tried to make the h that way too.
When the h's mother died in an accident, it was the first time the h's parents had been with her for any length of time for years, and right after her death, her father packed her off to boarding school in the US. So the h is really happy to be home, but sadly things are not the same in her beloved country. When the h goes to the local market for various things, she is accosted by two drunken teen age boys and has to be rescued by the H.
She had met the H a bit earlier and thought he was a bandit trying to pick her up, so when he starts kissing her after his dashing rescue, she has very mixed emotions to say the least. The kiss is perfect, but the man doing the kissing appears to be an adventurer and the h just isn't into that. The h makes her way home and tells her father about the rescue, but not about the kiss. The h's father is having a big party to celebrate the h's 21st birthday, but then he is insistent that the h leave the country, which the h is vehemently refusing to do.
After the big party, which has overtures of the last blast before the apocalypse, the h finds out that her father invited the H and there is some sort of plan for the H to escort her back to Miami. The insurgent situation is getting much worse and everyone is very worried that fighting will break out any minute. Which it does a few hours later in the middle of the night.
The H's father drags her to the American embassy and marries her off to the H. The father is afraid that anyone without a foreign passport will not be allowed to leave the country. He is also afraid that if the rebels get possession of the h, they could use her against him as he is a highly placed government official.
The h tries to argue, but eventually the marriage is performed and the h is very bitter about the H agreeing to help for the large amount of money she assumes is what her father gave him. They try to get to the airport, but someone set the place on fire and it is very clear that they are going to have to go north to the border with Mexico another way.
(So if this were not HPlandia, the H and h would be trekking thru Belize or Guatemala, given the terrain and the mythical unrest that has a real world reflection- a neighboring country's military coup spreads, I am betting SM was thinking of Belize when she wrote this - it was a British controlled country for years before independence in 1981 and to this day has to fight off claims that it belongs to Guatemala.)
So the H and h start north, with the H demanding that the h do exactly as he says without arguing. There is a big tense scene with the H, where it looks like he is aiming for a forced seduction, but the h has no intentions of offering her body as a bonus to the money her father already paid. The h lies and claims that her boss in Miami is actually her fiance. The H claims he is only interested in the wifely stricture to Obey that is in the marriage ceremony and has no interest in the conjugal rights part. (He is so totally lying here.)
As they are traveling north in the H's car, they notice that there is a road block up ahead. Wanting to avoid any hint of soldiers, they take a turn off on a dirt road that soon dwindles down to a very bad track. The car was refilled with bad petrol, so the H and h have to abandon it and continue through the jungle on foot.
There is a fight over the shirt the H wants the h to wear and she thinks he has just left her cause he walks off when she argues, so she starts walking on her own. The H eventually shows back up, but he used the scene as another way to enforce that the h needs to do what he says when he says it. The h admits he had the valid point, cause if she weren't wearing the long sleeved shirt he told her to wear the bugs would eat her alive, but she isn't thrilled with all this Obey stuff.
They make it to a small native village and they are able to beg for food and a shelter for the night. Since the H told the villagers they were married, they wind up sharing a sleeping hut and a mat, but tho the h is very tempted by the virile manliness of the H, she keeps her hands to herself and nothing happens.
They walk on to the next big town and it turns out there is a big Fiesta going on. Everybody gets new clothes and a real hotel room and the H almost manages to seduce the h during a dance. The h decides that seduction is not on the menu for Fiesta time and runs back to her hotel room and won't let the H in when he knocks.
The next day the H and h manage to get a truck and are driving along when there is an ambush set up further along the road. The H tells the h to hide and he goes to check it out. He gets captured by some bandits and the h sneaks into the jungle. She waits around while the bandits tie the H to a tree and proceed to get drunk on the tequila they found in the truck. When all the bandits are passed out, the h sneaks in and unties the H and they take off for a hidden cave the guy who lent them the truck told the H about. The H is angry the h did not run back to the town they came from and did not obey him and the h gives him some angry words back. This leads to a big seduction moment and the h is convinced she has found her true love.
The next morning they are only an hour away from the border and the H is acting like the night before was big mistake. The h is hurt and agrees with the H that it really was a mistake and they move into Mexico and part ways at the airport.
The h returns to Miami and we have a jump in time where the h is moping around and waiting on an annulment as soon as her father's lawyers can track down the H. The h's boss is still proposing, (apparently he has been for a while now,) but the h isn't interested and really just wants to be with the H. It is mentioned that the insurgency in her home country has been resolved and her father is fine.
Finally the lawyer calls and the H has sent back the signed annulment papers. The lawyer has them couriered over to the h. She gets the papers and is really sad, but then there is a knocking on the door and it is the H. He has missed the h horribly and loves her madly and another big seduction occurs with the h equally seducing the H. He burns the annulment papers and they both have the big love confession.
We find out that the H is actually the heir to a huge international investing conglomerate and all his roaming about was for checking on things for his dad's company. He is really from Philadelphia and his dad sent him around the world as a company deal maker in remote locations because the H had the wanderlust.
He also tells the h that her father told him he either married the h and helped her escape the country or the father would use his political position and have the H thrown in jail. The h is very horrified that her honourable father would do such a thing and is terribly contrite. The H is very sweet when he says he soon came to feel the same way about protecting the h as her father does and he totally understands why he did it, so there are no hard feelings at all.
Now that that the H is committed to the h, he is taking over the European branch of the firm and he has decided that he and the h will have another marriage ceremony in Philadelphia, cause he just can't get that word Obey in often enough. The h is lurved up enough to agree to anything, so we leave them happily planning the better safe than sorry nuptials, (in case the annulment really worked,) for the big HEA.
This one was very well done, SM is great at covering all the potential plot holes usually and the H was just the right amount of bossy person who was trying to hide his growing attraction for the h. The h had some initial TSTL moments, but when there was a crisis, she leapt into sensible action.
I was thinking there would be more about the h's abandonment issues, she does have some, but SM did a decent job of showing the H wouldn't leave her rather than the usual internal monologue dissecting the subject. The jungle road trip was interesting and the suspense was pretty good, plus the HEA was believable as well. Give this one a shot if you like the dangerous road trip, it isn't as good as a few other HP versions of the trope, but it certainly isn't bad either and well worth the time spent on it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 22, 2020
Ok, so, I enjoyed this book for the most part. It's definitely dated, written prior to consent being a big deal (in romance books, I mean), back when (again, in romance books) no meant yes-but-I-don't-want-to-admit-it-to-you-or-myself-so-you'll-have-to-force-me-a-little-until-I-give-in. That scene occurs maybe three thirds in (if I remember correctly - I don't have the book in front of me), but I don't usually have trouble accepting a story for the time it was written in so that was basically just a little hiccup to get past. Actually, prior to that, there was a bit of sub/dom vibe, with the hero demanding that the heroine obey him without question or argument. But then, he WAS trying to save her life and get her safely through a jungle and out of a country being torn apart by insurrection. So I did often agree that she needed to just shut up and stop arguing and do what he said. However, if she had just meekly gone along with him, there wouldn't have been any conflict between them, and we all know a little conflict helps get the sparks flying.
My biggest issue was her father, who arranged for the hero to marry her and get her out of the country (they had to be married because she had a San Felipe passport so would not have been allowed out on her own but he was an American so his wife would allowed to leave with him), but waited until the last possible moment to tell her, and then that scene was dragged out ridiculously long as he hemmed and hawed while the hero keeps demanding "tell her now or I will!" God, I wanted to kick him. Her father, I mean.
So for me this ended up being a four star read, because I was pretty captivated and read the book in two days. But, if you have issues with non-consent, it may not work for you.
My biggest issue was her father, who arranged for the hero to marry her and get her out of the country (they had to be married because she had a San Felipe passport so would not have been allowed out on her own but he was an American so his wife would allowed to leave with him), but waited until the last possible moment to tell her, and then that scene was dragged out ridiculously long as he hemmed and hawed while the hero keeps demanding "tell her now or I will!" God, I wanted to kick him. Her father, I mean.
So for me this ended up being a four star read, because I was pretty captivated and read the book in two days. But, if you have issues with non-consent, it may not work for you.
December 9, 2014
3.5 stars. I usually like Sandra Marton stories more, but for some reason this one didn't grab me. I think it's partly that I don't like jungle romances, and partly that I don't love American cowboy bad boy heroes sweating and smoking and calling their fathers "my old man" -- they seem too low class, even if it does turn out that their fathers run big family corporations. This was a decent story, I just wasn't that drawn in by the romance.
July 23, 2012
This 'harlequin' was more of an action adventure and for some of it, I was at the edge of my seat. It was beautifully written and the angst was to die for. I love the characters and how they argued and bantered back and forth. It was pretty close to perfection!
January 20, 2025
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June 4, 2021
She was given no choice! Elena's father rushed her to the San Felipe airport to put her on a plane to Miami. Their homeland in Central America had just erupted in revolution, and no one was safe. But Elena held a San Felipan passport, and officials were not letting any residents leave. Then she spotted American Blake Rogan, a ruthless adventurer she had every reason to despise, and her stomach twisted. Suddenly she knew what was about to happen. "Querida," her father said to her, "when you leave San Felipe, it will be as Mrs. Blake Rogan... (less)
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