What do you think?
Rate this book
Pembroke Palace #2
The Mistress Diaries
A proper lady would never let herself become his mistress . . .
He told me he would treat my heart with great care. He was lying, of course, for it was all a wry clever, skillful seduction... The night I met Lord Vincent Sinclair, son of the Duke of Pembroke, was the night I lost control. I never imagined that I, Cassandra Montrose, could engage in such wicked, wanton behavior with a man I hardly knew. But in that fateful moment, alone in his coach, the passion I felt for him was undeniable, even though I knew that after my surrender, I was unlikely to ever see my lover again. Until a fateful secret brought me to his door...
I always believed my pride would prevent me from becoming any man's mistress -- especially a rogue like Vincent, who cares for nothing but his inheritance. Yet I have a very good reason to remain in Vincent's life. If only he did not tempt me so...
He told me he would treat my heart with great care. He was lying, of course, for it was all a wry clever, skillful seduction... The night I met Lord Vincent Sinclair, son of the Duke of Pembroke, was the night I lost control. I never imagined that I, Cassandra Montrose, could engage in such wicked, wanton behavior with a man I hardly knew. But in that fateful moment, alone in his coach, the passion I felt for him was undeniable, even though I knew that after my surrender, I was unlikely to ever see my lover again. Until a fateful secret brought me to his door...
I always believed my pride would prevent me from becoming any man's mistress -- especially a rogue like Vincent, who cares for nothing but his inheritance. Yet I have a very good reason to remain in Vincent's life. If only he did not tempt me so...
370 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 29, 2008
450 people are currently reading
840 people want to read
About the author
Julianne MacLean
80 books4,319 followersJulianne MacLean is a USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty novels, including the contemporary women’s fiction Color of Heaven Series. Readers have described her books as “breathtaking,” “soulful” and “uplifting.” MacLean is a four-time RITA finalist and has won numerous awards, including the Booksellers’ Best Award and a Reviewers’ Choice Award from Romantic Times. Her novels have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been published in over a dozen languages.
MacLean has a degree in English literature from the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a degree in business administration from Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. She loves to travel and has lived in New Zealand, Canada, and England. MacLean currently resides on the east coast of Canada in a lakeside home with her husband and daughter.
For more information about Julianne and her writing life, please visit her website at www.juliannemaclean.com. Be sure to follow her on Bookbub to be notified whenever her ebooks are offered for FREE or 99 cents. (www.bookbub.com/authors/julianne-maclean) and chat with her on Facebook (www.facebook.com/JulianneMacLeanRoman...), Twitter (@JulianneMacLean), and Instagram (@JulianneMaclean).
MacLean has a degree in English literature from the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a degree in business administration from Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. She loves to travel and has lived in New Zealand, Canada, and England. MacLean currently resides on the east coast of Canada in a lakeside home with her husband and daughter.
For more information about Julianne and her writing life, please visit her website at www.juliannemaclean.com. Be sure to follow her on Bookbub to be notified whenever her ebooks are offered for FREE or 99 cents. (www.bookbub.com/authors/julianne-maclean) and chat with her on Facebook (www.facebook.com/JulianneMacLeanRoman...), Twitter (@JulianneMacLean), and Instagram (@JulianneMaclean).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews
March 23, 2022
Damn, I read 369 pages in less than 4 hours. Now I actually have to do my homework, although I really don't want to.
Favorite quote: “If we became lovers,” she said, trying to focus on the more practical and dangerous implications of such an arrangement, “I would be carrying another child of yours within the space of a week.”
The prologue opens with a big bang. After a ball, Cassandra, Lady Colchester, succumbs to the charms of rake Lord Vincent Sinclair, a duke's son. They have sex, which results in an unplanned pregnancy. However, Vincent doesn't find out till a year later, when Cassandra comes to his family's palace as she thinks she's on her deathbed.
The beginning isn't romantic at all because Vincent spouts all this nonsense how he doesn't believe in love, when in reality, he had gotten his heart broken when he was much younger & as a result, became quite jaded.
I wanted to give a little plot synopsis because the blurb gave me no clue what the story was about. All I knew was there was an accidental pregnancy and it was a historical romance. (I found this under accidental pregnancy books, which I've had a craving for lately to read.)
The sex scenes are really...basic, as in a lot of details are skimmed over. I was disappointed when I read the first one in the prologue. Then there was a wedding which I guess happened off page? That confused me. Vincent proposed to her, she said yes, and then in the next chapter, they tell his parents that they're married already. I didn't appreciate that.
Then, there was this whole weird coincidence of two of the portraits in the gallery looking like Vincent's fiancée and one of the servants that was never fully explained. I thought Iris was going to be a sinister character based on a paragraph in the book.
Though this book had the accidental baby trope, it didn't really satisfy me because there were no scenes of Cassandra realizing she was pregnant; it just skipped to the present. I really like when the reader knows the character is pregnant, but they don't know yet. I like the experience, damn it.
Favorite quote: “If we became lovers,” she said, trying to focus on the more practical and dangerous implications of such an arrangement, “I would be carrying another child of yours within the space of a week.”
The prologue opens with a big bang. After a ball, Cassandra, Lady Colchester, succumbs to the charms of rake Lord Vincent Sinclair, a duke's son. They have sex, which results in an unplanned pregnancy. However, Vincent doesn't find out till a year later, when Cassandra comes to his family's palace as she thinks she's on her deathbed.
The beginning isn't romantic at all because Vincent spouts all this nonsense how he doesn't believe in love, when in reality, he had gotten his heart broken when he was much younger & as a result, became quite jaded.
I wanted to give a little plot synopsis because the blurb gave me no clue what the story was about. All I knew was there was an accidental pregnancy and it was a historical romance. (I found this under accidental pregnancy books, which I've had a craving for lately to read.)
The sex scenes are really...basic, as in a lot of details are skimmed over. I was disappointed when I read the first one in the prologue. Then there was a wedding which I guess happened off page? That confused me. Vincent proposed to her, she said yes, and then in the next chapter, they tell his parents that they're married already. I didn't appreciate that.
Then, there was this whole weird coincidence of two of the portraits in the gallery looking like Vincent's fiancée and one of the servants that was never fully explained. I thought Iris was going to be a sinister character based on a paragraph in the book.
Though this book had the accidental baby trope, it didn't really satisfy me because there were no scenes of Cassandra realizing she was pregnant; it just skipped to the present. I really like when the reader knows the character is pregnant, but they don't know yet. I like the experience, damn it.
November 26, 2025
3.8 stars
The blurb did not say much and reading the first few pages, I feared this was going to be a painful read seeing as the tone was very frivolous. Thankfully, the tone picked up and became more sensible soon after. I have always loved the trope of 'He cannot marry her because she is not suitable, but he asks her to be his mistress' - though this trope tends to be woefully neglected outside Harlequin books.
I was thus agreeably surprised when the plot of this book turned toward that trope, even if it was somewhat subverted as (a) Vincent, the H, was not willing to marry Cassandra, the h, and fought against it for a long time, (b) Cassandra did not want marriage with someone unable to love, and (c) for a long time, Cassandra persisted she wouldn't become his mistress.
I liked that instead of this being a tale of irrepressible lust, little moments were explored between them to show how they fell in love with each other. The last part (where Vincent has to choose his path) was done a bit too lightly and with middling depth. Ideally, this could have been a very angsty story if the author had digged deep into the drama offered by such a trope. Still, this book remained a charming read with decent characterisation. An author with promising plot premises, to be checked out more thoroughly.
P.S. Unanswered question: who is Iris really? A ghost?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 20, 2008
Reviewed for queuemyreview.com; book release Aug08
Women’s rights! Whether you are a homemaker or a ‘career’ woman (and what the heck do people think…being a homemaker is the hardest-working, least-paying ‘career’ there is!), I think I can safely say that we all agree on the premise of women having power in their lives. What we don’t often take the time to consider is the medical invention that’s done more to give power to women than just about anything else…safe, reliable, and affordable contraceptive devices. As little as 50 years ago, EVERY time a woman had sex she was risking pregnancy. And there’s nothing that will change a young woman’s (or ANY woman’s) life like an unplanned pregnancy. I don’t want to get into a discussion on abortion/adoption/religion or any of the other ‘hot’ issues. But I do think it would be an eye-opener for every woman to take a minute and think about how different her life would be/could have been if there was NO safe, reliable, and affordable contraceptives. Kinda scary, no? But to truly understand “The Mistress Diaries” by Julianne MacLean, I think one needs to consider what life was like before contraceptives were so easily and cheaply available. Especially considering the moral, societal, and religious mores of the Victorian Era. Ms MacLean has done a bang-up job of showing just what that ‘one moment’ could cost a woman. Of course, as it’s a romance, our heroine turns out fine, but what a spine of steel she would need to face the consequences! How lucky we are.
Cassandra is a respectable widow, just out of mourning and already being offered up on the re-marriage mart by her brother. Her marriage was not happy. He kept a mistress he loved and she had no alternative but to share him as her love for him died and her inability to bear a child was just the icing on the cake. All she ever really wanted was to have a family and be loved. On her first night out of mourning, she meets the scandalous Lord Vincent at a ball and is swept away by him. She decides to have ‘one night’ to be happy before her brother forces her into another loveless marriage. It’s a glorious night…and in the morning he’s gone. Shortly afterward she discovers she’s pregnant. She’s disowned, disgraced, and supporting herself and her child on the pittance she earns as a seamstress’ helper and now she’s diagnosed as dying. With nowhere to turn, she travels to the family home of Lord Vincent to beg him to support their daughter.
Lord Vincent…ah what a scoundrel! He loved a girl once until she broke his heart and his trust in his brother. Now he’s determined to never give his heart again. There’s been so many women he can’t remember their faces…except for Cassandra. That night scared Vincent into running. Now, with his father demanding he marry to save his inheritance, Vincent has agreed to wed the woman his father has chosen. She’s pretty, vain, and grasping. Oh well, he’ll just keep mistresses like the rest of the ton. Then, after arriving at the ancestral home with his fiancé, he’s informed that HIS baby has been delivered to their back door by a very sick woman. His wicked ways have apparently caught up to him and he knows before he steps into the room where Cassandra waits exactly who he will see.
I really liked this book! The title for “The Mistress Diaries” comes from the diary entries used as headings for each chapter in this story. The fictional entries are from a diary supposedly kept by the heroine of the story and gives additional insight to her feelings as her story progresses. Several authors have done this, but Julianne MacLean’s effort is the best I’ve seen. I could ‘feel’ Cassandra’s determination to care for her child and resist Vincent. I could also ‘feel’ Vincent’s confusion and growing desire to be the man Cassandra could admire. It was a long and rocky road for these two, but their efforts to cement a friendship for their daughter helped them create a rock-solid base for a love that built from lust. Each of them had to learn about themselves and what ‘honor’ meant to them and how to live with their decisions and where they led. A very moving story of loss and redemption. A ‘bad boy’ to reform and woman to show him the way. The very essence of romance, no?
If you haven’t read Julianne MacLean, you’re missing out on a very talented historical romance author. Even though this book is part of a series, it stands by itself. Of course, once you read “The Mistress Diaries”, you’ll likely end up back at the bookstore to pick up the first in the series. Then you can join me as we wait another six months for book three in this series “When a Stranger Loves Me” to be released in February 2009.
Til next time
JJ
Women’s rights! Whether you are a homemaker or a ‘career’ woman (and what the heck do people think…being a homemaker is the hardest-working, least-paying ‘career’ there is!), I think I can safely say that we all agree on the premise of women having power in their lives. What we don’t often take the time to consider is the medical invention that’s done more to give power to women than just about anything else…safe, reliable, and affordable contraceptive devices. As little as 50 years ago, EVERY time a woman had sex she was risking pregnancy. And there’s nothing that will change a young woman’s (or ANY woman’s) life like an unplanned pregnancy. I don’t want to get into a discussion on abortion/adoption/religion or any of the other ‘hot’ issues. But I do think it would be an eye-opener for every woman to take a minute and think about how different her life would be/could have been if there was NO safe, reliable, and affordable contraceptives. Kinda scary, no? But to truly understand “The Mistress Diaries” by Julianne MacLean, I think one needs to consider what life was like before contraceptives were so easily and cheaply available. Especially considering the moral, societal, and religious mores of the Victorian Era. Ms MacLean has done a bang-up job of showing just what that ‘one moment’ could cost a woman. Of course, as it’s a romance, our heroine turns out fine, but what a spine of steel she would need to face the consequences! How lucky we are.
Cassandra is a respectable widow, just out of mourning and already being offered up on the re-marriage mart by her brother. Her marriage was not happy. He kept a mistress he loved and she had no alternative but to share him as her love for him died and her inability to bear a child was just the icing on the cake. All she ever really wanted was to have a family and be loved. On her first night out of mourning, she meets the scandalous Lord Vincent at a ball and is swept away by him. She decides to have ‘one night’ to be happy before her brother forces her into another loveless marriage. It’s a glorious night…and in the morning he’s gone. Shortly afterward she discovers she’s pregnant. She’s disowned, disgraced, and supporting herself and her child on the pittance she earns as a seamstress’ helper and now she’s diagnosed as dying. With nowhere to turn, she travels to the family home of Lord Vincent to beg him to support their daughter.
Lord Vincent…ah what a scoundrel! He loved a girl once until she broke his heart and his trust in his brother. Now he’s determined to never give his heart again. There’s been so many women he can’t remember their faces…except for Cassandra. That night scared Vincent into running. Now, with his father demanding he marry to save his inheritance, Vincent has agreed to wed the woman his father has chosen. She’s pretty, vain, and grasping. Oh well, he’ll just keep mistresses like the rest of the ton. Then, after arriving at the ancestral home with his fiancé, he’s informed that HIS baby has been delivered to their back door by a very sick woman. His wicked ways have apparently caught up to him and he knows before he steps into the room where Cassandra waits exactly who he will see.
I really liked this book! The title for “The Mistress Diaries” comes from the diary entries used as headings for each chapter in this story. The fictional entries are from a diary supposedly kept by the heroine of the story and gives additional insight to her feelings as her story progresses. Several authors have done this, but Julianne MacLean’s effort is the best I’ve seen. I could ‘feel’ Cassandra’s determination to care for her child and resist Vincent. I could also ‘feel’ Vincent’s confusion and growing desire to be the man Cassandra could admire. It was a long and rocky road for these two, but their efforts to cement a friendship for their daughter helped them create a rock-solid base for a love that built from lust. Each of them had to learn about themselves and what ‘honor’ meant to them and how to live with their decisions and where they led. A very moving story of loss and redemption. A ‘bad boy’ to reform and woman to show him the way. The very essence of romance, no?
If you haven’t read Julianne MacLean, you’re missing out on a very talented historical romance author. Even though this book is part of a series, it stands by itself. Of course, once you read “The Mistress Diaries”, you’ll likely end up back at the bookstore to pick up the first in the series. Then you can join me as we wait another six months for book three in this series “When a Stranger Loves Me” to be released in February 2009.
Til next time
JJ
May 25, 2010
My Thoughts:{Contains one spoiler that you'll find out about in the first few chapters. Read at your own discretion}
This was a quick & enjoyable read. Cassandra & Vincent were two completely different people who wanted the same thing deep down inside: to love & be loved. While Cassandra was sugar & spice & everything nice, Vincent was a womanizing asshat content with one night stands. This is one of those "The love of a good woman can reform a bad boy" historical romances but is somewhat unique in it's different subplots. I was initially skeptical about the secret baby plotline but it worked. The author could've used our heroine already having a child by the hero as an excuse to rush into physical intimacy. Instead, the fact that they had created life together deepened their emotional intimacy to where the romance that developed between them in such a short time became more believable. It was heartwarming to see Cassandra & Vincent flourish as first-time parents & eventually as two people reluctantly falling in love. This was my first novel by MacLean & I have a feeling I'm going to be a quick fan of hers if the rest of her novels are as good as this one.
This was a quick & enjoyable read. Cassandra & Vincent were two completely different people who wanted the same thing deep down inside: to love & be loved. While Cassandra was sugar & spice & everything nice, Vincent was a womanizing asshat content with one night stands. This is one of those "The love of a good woman can reform a bad boy" historical romances but is somewhat unique in it's different subplots. I was initially skeptical about the secret baby plotline but it worked. The author could've used our heroine already having a child by the hero as an excuse to rush into physical intimacy. Instead, the fact that they had created life together deepened their emotional intimacy to where the romance that developed between them in such a short time became more believable. It was heartwarming to see Cassandra & Vincent flourish as first-time parents & eventually as two people reluctantly falling in love. This was my first novel by MacLean & I have a feeling I'm going to be a quick fan of hers if the rest of her novels are as good as this one.
March 14, 2021
Ik heb de Nederlands talige uitgave gelezen : Roekeloze nacht - Candlelight Historische roman 798
Verhaallijn overgenomen van de achterkant boek :
Cassandra Montrose en Lord Vincent Sinclair laten zich meeslepen door hun begeerte en beleven samen een passionele nacht .Hun weerzien , een jaar later , is minder opwekkend .Cassandra is namelijk stervende en brengt haar dochtertje , vrucht van hun samenzijn , naar Vincents huis .Ze wil graag dat het haar kind aan niets ontbreekt als zij er niet meer zal zijn .Vincent reageert bewonderingswaardig op al dit nieuws en neemt meteen zijn verantwoordelijkheid .
Als Cassandra onverwacht herstelt , biedt Vincent ook haar onderdak .Al snel merkt hij dat zij hem nog steeds in vuur en vlam zet , maar er zijn twee obstakels ; Vincent is namelijk al verloofd en bovendien stemt Cassandra niet zomaar in met nog een roekeloze nacht ...
Verhaallijn overgenomen van de achterkant boek :
Cassandra Montrose en Lord Vincent Sinclair laten zich meeslepen door hun begeerte en beleven samen een passionele nacht .Hun weerzien , een jaar later , is minder opwekkend .Cassandra is namelijk stervende en brengt haar dochtertje , vrucht van hun samenzijn , naar Vincents huis .Ze wil graag dat het haar kind aan niets ontbreekt als zij er niet meer zal zijn .Vincent reageert bewonderingswaardig op al dit nieuws en neemt meteen zijn verantwoordelijkheid .
Als Cassandra onverwacht herstelt , biedt Vincent ook haar onderdak .Al snel merkt hij dat zij hem nog steeds in vuur en vlam zet , maar er zijn twee obstakels ; Vincent is namelijk al verloofd en bovendien stemt Cassandra niet zomaar in met nog een roekeloze nacht ...
April 25, 2022
Me gusto mas que el 3ero libro, los personajes me encantaron y a pesar de no tener una trama en especial, al final si te termina atrapando.
Aunque ya se lo que pasa con Devon y Rebecca me pondre a leer el primer libro de la serie 😂.
Aunque ya se lo que pasa con Devon y Rebecca me pondre a leer el primer libro de la serie 😂.
February 2, 2012
3½ stars.
The story ain't bad, it's just not my cup of tea, is all. I like my historical romance sweet and romantic and sexy. This one however is more on the serious, somber side. But I do enjoy some part of the story though, and it does gets interesting as the story moves along.
The story ain't bad, it's just not my cup of tea, is all. I like my historical romance sweet and romantic and sexy. This one however is more on the serious, somber side. But I do enjoy some part of the story though, and it does gets interesting as the story moves along.
December 1, 2008
Hero was totally heartless...made me want to cry. WHO finds that attractive??!!
March 18, 2012
I loved the hero and thought the author took a lot of nice twists and turns with the plot. Definitely not as predictable as I feared.
October 8, 2020
3.5 stars
January 8, 2022
Ik heb de Nederlandse versie gelezen roekeloze nacht een Candlelight historische roman nummer 798. En ik lees ze niet heel vaak maar af en toe is het heerlijk. Lezen over een andere tijd waarin ook alles anders ging dan nu.
Je kunt wegdromen met knappe foute mannen en vrouwen die voor die tijd buiten hun boekje gaan. Dat kun je je in deze tijd niet voorstellen want nu is alles anders.
Het duurt een tijdje maar alles komt goed dat is vaak zo in boeken en ik hou van dat heerlijke einde.
Je kunt wegdromen met knappe foute mannen en vrouwen die voor die tijd buiten hun boekje gaan. Dat kun je je in deze tijd niet voorstellen want nu is alles anders.
Het duurt een tijdje maar alles komt goed dat is vaak zo in boeken en ik hou van dat heerlijke einde.
February 8, 2016
Me ha encantado. Es breve pero conciso. No se alarga en partes innecesarias, con dosis justa de drama y sin muchas vueltas entre los protagonistas. Es genial.
Me gusta mucho el carácter de Cassandra, que tuvo la valentía de afrentar sola la adversidad y salir adelante y saber cuando no se podía más. Me gusta que cumpliera con la confianza que Vincent depositaba en ella. Vincent carga con una máscara de mujeriego sin redención luego de un desengaño amoroso, así que oculta "su verdadera personalidad" (si lo habré oído en otro lado... ) en realidad es un ser amable, sensible y afectuoso. Y ¿saben qué? Tienen razón. Cuando deja de sentirse incómodo por la situación es un buen amigo.
No había leído nunca el inicio de relación que tienen estos dos (al menos no lo recuerdo ahora) es peculiar y refrescante (?), se agradece, ahora no me pregunten si tal relación hubiera salido bien en el siglo XIX en plena sociedad londinense porque-no-lo-sé.
En conclusión, lo disfruté, no contaba las páginas para que terminara, Vincent me sorprende con su "vuelta a sus raíces" y Cassandra es un buen personaje para él.
Me gusta mucho el carácter de Cassandra, que tuvo la valentía de afrentar sola la adversidad y salir adelante y saber cuando no se podía más. Me gusta que cumpliera con la confianza que Vincent depositaba en ella. Vincent carga con una máscara de mujeriego sin redención luego de un desengaño amoroso, así que oculta "su verdadera personalidad" (si lo habré oído en otro lado... ) en realidad es un ser amable, sensible y afectuoso. Y ¿saben qué? Tienen razón. Cuando deja de sentirse incómodo por la situación es un buen amigo.
No había leído nunca el inicio de relación que tienen estos dos (al menos no lo recuerdo ahora) es peculiar y refrescante (?), se agradece, ahora no me pregunten si tal relación hubiera salido bien en el siglo XIX en plena sociedad londinense porque-no-lo-sé.
En conclusión, lo disfruté, no contaba las páginas para que terminara, Vincent me sorprende con su "vuelta a sus raíces" y Cassandra es un buen personaje para él.
October 20, 2008
This book starts of with a bang (quite literally). Vincent and Cassandra are instantly besotted with each other. For Vincent this is just one night, but something happens that connects him with Cassandra forever. A year later, Cassandra brings their daughter to his home for him to care for as she thinks that she is going to die. Vincent reluctantly agrees to care for their child, but then when she discovers that she is not as ill as she though, she tries to leave with their daughter. Vincent has other things in mind. Eventually, they become friends and then lovers once more. The book is average. The story was somewhat bland and the characters were even worse. Often I was left wondering why Vincent and Cassandra were even drawn together. The side characters were worse. There were too many gaps in the story. I realize belatedly that this is part of a series, but even so there is too much missing. It wasn't a bad book, but one that I would definitely say to check out at your local library.
December 24, 2016
Have it in Audio
Regency Romance . Book 2 in the Series . Hero is Vincent . Heroine is Cassandra.
Vincent is a Rake through and through . One night he meets Lady Cassandra . Cassandra is a recent widow . They have a wild night together . Cassandra thinks she can't conceive . A yr later Vincent is going back to Pembroke Palace with Lady Latisha. Vincent father the Duke has in his will that his sons have to marry or else they lose everything , their inheritance . That same day Lady Cassandra shows up at Pembroke Palace with a daughter claiming Vincent is the father . Cassandra shows up because she thinks she's at deaths door .
Regency Romance . Book 2 in the Series . Hero is Vincent . Heroine is Cassandra.
Vincent is a Rake through and through . One night he meets Lady Cassandra . Cassandra is a recent widow . They have a wild night together . Cassandra thinks she can't conceive . A yr later Vincent is going back to Pembroke Palace with Lady Latisha. Vincent father the Duke has in his will that his sons have to marry or else they lose everything , their inheritance . That same day Lady Cassandra shows up at Pembroke Palace with a daughter claiming Vincent is the father . Cassandra shows up because she thinks she's at deaths door .
November 27, 2013
Probably would have enjoyed this one if not for the fact that I hated the hero and heroine. Cassandra is all right in most respects, but I really got tired of listening to her wax poetic about the dramatically tragic mistake she made sleeping with a guy when they weren't married. Just... Ugh. And Vincent is an ass. He may be cute, he may be charming, but he's an ass. I didn't like him in the first book, and he wasn't much better here.
Julianne Maclean's writing really leaves me sort of "meh"ed out.
Julianne Maclean's writing really leaves me sort of "meh"ed out.
October 15, 2009
I picked this up because a review site I like gave it an A. What where they smoking?? I give it a C at best. The writing was nothing special, the characters rather two-dimensional. The plot was okay. Yawn. There was nothing horribly wrong with it, it just wasn't my cuppa tea.
I have been trying to expand my list of Romance authors. Sorry Julianne, you didn't make the cut.
I have been trying to expand my list of Romance authors. Sorry Julianne, you didn't make the cut.
September 12, 2016
Nice reentry back into historical romance
Decent book with fast paced plot and well thought out characters. I wish there was more background into the father and his issues but I got enough from the story to read the rest of the series. This was a nice quick read.
Decent book with fast paced plot and well thought out characters. I wish there was more background into the father and his issues but I got enough from the story to read the rest of the series. This was a nice quick read.
July 7, 2018
Continuación directa del anterior. La historia es entretenida, aunque también es el más flojo.
January 25, 2013
“I will take good care of her,” she assured him. “No one will do that better than I can.”
He gestured toward her with a hand. “But you don’t have the resources.”
All at once her cheeks colored with anger and her eyes burned with resolve. “You don’t know the first thing about ‘resources’ when it comes to dedicating your life to someone. What June will have from me is love. Beautiful, selfless, priceless love. Nothing is more important than that.”
Keeping her eyes on the sky, she slowly exhaled. “Only seconds ago you said you were going to behave yourself.”
“I will if you want me to.”
She looked at him. “Sometimes I don’t know what I want.” She turned her eyes to the stars again (…)
“I worry that I am eventually going to spoil what has become very comfortable between us.”
“Comfortable in some ways, excruciating in others.”
He leaned closer. “How is it excruciating for you? Tell me. I need to hear you say it. Perhaps it will be enough to satisfy me.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to say it. I want to deny it, hide it away and bury it.”
“Burying it will not make it go away.”
“Perhaps it will in time,” she argued.
He sat back farther and sighed. “I don’t want it to.”
All of sudden her eyes were filling with tears, and she could not believe she was in danger of losing this battle she had been fighting for so long. “I don’t want it to end either.”
Closing her eyes, she rubbed her nose against his cheeks and lips, even while a part of her was still fighting to resist. She should not let him kiss her. She should put a stop to this now by returning to the house. But she knew she was not going to do that. She had traveled too far down this tempting path.
“Perhaps just one kiss,” she replied, touching her lips tentatively to his.
His hands cupped her face and he tilted his head to the side. Suddenly there was nothing tentative about it. He was devouring her with his open mouth, caressing her with his soft, skillful tongue. Her body melted against his as passion pounded from her heart to the very edges of her existence.
“I’m sorry, Cassandra,” he said, dropping hot kisses across her cheeks, her eyelids, her forehead. “I tried, but I cannot keep my hands off you. This madness I feel for you knows no bounds.”
“I feel it, too.” She could barely breathe enough to speak. “It doesn’t matter how much I try to resist, or how much I once hated you, I am powerless.”
“You don’t hate me now, do you?”
“No. I suppose I haven’t hated you for quite some time. All I want now is to feel your hands on me.”
He kissed her again and pressed his body tight against hers until they were both writhing with need on the riverbank.
“I must have you,” he said.
“Then what are you proposing, exactly? What do you expect from me in return?”
“As I said, I am offering you a house and an income, with nothing asked of you except . . . ” He paused, as if having a hard time getting the words out. “Except that you allow me to see June.”
She could have fallen off the seat. “Are you quite serious? The rake without a heart wants to see his daughter? You actually care to know how she is faring?”
“I am rather astounded by it myself,” he said in a contemptuous, detached voice as he looked toward the window. “But don’t get excited. It doesn’t mean I’m developing a conscience, nor does it mean I’m ever going to marry you, because I am not.”
“So you’ve said before. I don’t know why you feel the need to repeat it. I am quite aware that you are going to marry Lady Letitia, because evidently all that matters to you is your inheritance.”
“Indeed, my father adores her, and according to the terms of his will, he has the power to approve or reject my bride. So there it is in a nutshell. He would certainly never accept you.”
She felt the insult like a kick in the stomach.
“Besides,” he continued, “what an incompatible pair we would make. You believe blindly in the divine power of love, while my jaded eyes are wide open in that area.”
“I do not believe in it blindly. My eyes are quite wide open as far as you are concerned.”
He looked away and brought the subject back to where it began. “I am only putting forth this offer because I want to prevent my daughter from turning out like you. Forced to work in a hat shop, that is.”
She ignored his spiteful attempt to belittle her, and considered what he was proposing. “I suppose it would not be such a bad thing, to have an income. I would not have to be away from June.” Her voice became resigned. “I have struggled with that more than you can ever imagine.”
“Cassandra!”
She jumped when she heard him call her name.
“I apologize for what just happened,” he said, knocking her completely off balance yet again with words she had not expected. “I did make a promise to you. I gave you my word that I would not ask you for anything more than a chance to spend time with June. I should not have said those things in the library. I shouldn’t have kissed you. I am a devil and a rake. I know I am, but the strange thing is—it has never bothered me before now. I am beginning to wonder if you were placed into my life for some clear purpose, to give me a chance to behave honorably for once—as honorably as a man can behave with a former lover who has born him an illegitimate child.”
She had no idea what to say. All she could do was stand there in the hot, bright sunshine, looking down at the ground, realizing that his thoughts about being tested mirrored her own.
“I know I do not deserve it,” he said, “but can you forgive me?”
She looked up hesitantly. “I don’t know, Vincent. You say and do the most wicked things sometimes.”
his voice was resigned. “I shall offer no excuses, because even when I recognize how you value your honor, I still let you bring out the devil in me. I am learning that lust is a very powerful thing.”
“But you are no stranger to it.”
“You are wrong there, Cassandra. I am a stranger to what exists between us. It is the reason I did not read your letter a year ago, and why I avoided you—so that I would not run the risk of falling in love with you.”
She was speechless.
He wiped the back of his hand across the sparkling perspiration on his forehead and squinted down at the lake. “All I know is that there was an extraordinary spark between us from the beginning. Don’t you remember how it was that night?”
“Of course I do,” she confessed. “It made me insane—not just that night, but in the weeks following, when you would not see me.”
He sighed. “I must ask you again, Cassandra, can you forgive me? You are the mother of my child. I cannot bear for you to think me hopeless. I do not want to be hopeless.”
“A lot has happened since that night,” she said. “Our lives have changed and fate has placed us in a difficult predicament. You are engaged to another woman, you do not wish to let your brothers down, and I quite frankly do not wish to allow myself to believe that I could ever trust you. I would prefer to remain on guard.”
“Cassandra . . . ”
“We have each made our mistakes and now must live with the consequences. As for myself, I would like to do so without any further transgressions.”
“I should resent you,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because you make me want to be a better man, when it is so much easier not to care one way or another.”
“I see.” His mother moved around the room, her eyes trained on him. “Vincent, I will not waste your time or mine by asking if you love Lady Letitia. It is more than obvious to me that you do not, and thank God for that.”
He appreciated his mother’s candidness. There was no point in everyone going around pretending not to see what was as obvious as the floor under their feet.
“I also know,” she continued, “that you have never proposed to Lady Colchester.”
“That is correct.”
She strode toward him. “But is it possible you might be happier with her?”
Happier. It had been ages since he’d entertained the notion that happiness was attainable through romantic love. In fact, he had come to believe the opposite. Yet here he was, rolling around like a confused fool in his own emotions, examining his inner self, and resisting—denying—the love he felt for Cassandra.
Yes, it was love. As much as he did not welcome it, he was not completely ignorant of his heart.
“If you thought you could be happier with her,” his mother cautiously continued, “perhaps it is worth exploring the possibility that Lady Letitia might release you.”
Vincent turned away from his mother and sat down in a chair. He closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose. “Bloody hell.”
“What is it, Vincent?”
He looked up and felt his eyes burning. “I do love her. Enough to die for her.”
His mother’s lips curled into a warm and joyful smile. “I am so pleased to hear it. So very pleased.”
But he bowed his head forward and shook it. “But I am not pleased to admit it. I did not want this. I still do not.”
“What do you want?”
“To fulfill my duty to my brothers and secure my inheritance,” he replied. “I did not want my life to change, and I knew it would remain exactly the same if I married Letitia. She is a female version of me. She is bitter and cynical. Hardhearted. In that way, we are perfect for each other.”
“But that is not the real you,” his mother told him.
“It has become the real me.”
She was quiet for a moment. “No, I refuse to believe that. If you were truly as hard-hearted as you think, you would have allowed Cassandra to leave that day with June, when she learned she would recover from her illness. You would not have gone after her at the train station. You would have let me be the one to provide her with a means of support. You would have washed your hands of her and of your daughter, and never seen either of them again.”
He frowned at what was unthinkable to him. “I could never have done that.”
She did not need to say anything more. She was right, and he knew it. There was something left of his heart.
“But would you have mistresses if she were your wife?”
As he stared at his mother, he felt himself plummeting like a bird from high in the sky.
“No. There would never be anyone but her.”
“I must confess to you,” he softly said, “that I would dearly love for June to know me as her father.”
Cassandra looked up at him. “Perhaps we can tell her the truth one day when she is old enough to understand and keep it secret.”
He took in a deep breath. “Or perhaps there will be another way.”
“What do you mean?”
He shook his head, for he was not yet free to propose, and he would not do it improperly. Not like this. He would first do what he must to make everything right. For her.
“I don’t know. Perhaps I am dreaming.” He turned his head on the pillow and touched her cheek with the tip of his finger. “What I do know, my darling, is that my heart is yours. Completely. Do you know that? Do you understand I do not ever want to be with anyone but you? That you satisfy me in every way a man can be satisfied?”
Her eyes filled with tears. “You satisfy me, too, Vincent. I have never felt so happy, even though I am also afraid.”
(...) God! He could not believe he was even thinking these things! In the past month he had been turned upside down on his ear. He wanted his daughter to know who he was, and he wanted Cassandra’s heart, promised to him forever—happily, willingly, respectably, without guilt, for the rest of their days. He wanted no other woman but her. He supposed it was all he had ever wanted as a younger man—to be a devoted husband and to marry for love.
“I know a scandal will be unavoidable. It is too late to keep it secret. Not only does her family and brother-in-law know of it, for they were the ones to toss her out into the street, but Letitia knows, too.”
“Only this: we will do what any sensible army would do in the face of such a foe. We will retreat from the battlefield, or in our case, go abroad or hide away in the country for a while. A long while. I have already purchased the perfect house, and to be honest, Devon, the scandal doesn’t frighten me. Society can go to the devil for all I care.”
“But what about Cassandra?” Devon said. “Perhaps it will matter to her. She might think herself unworthy and may not wish to sully our family name. She might be unhappy.”
“I will make her happy.”
“I have no doubt you will do your best, and perhaps love will be enough for the two of you. But what of June? Surely you would not wish to see her ostracized all her life. You have her future to think about as well.”
Vincent sank into a chair and exhaled a deep breath. “Perhaps in time it will blow over. It’s not as if no man has ever married his mistress before. It’s been done.
“She is hurt.” Concerned only with getting Cassandra to a warm, safe place, he pushed past his fiancée and continued down the corridor.
Letitia followed. “You shouldn’t have brought her here. Why didn’t you take her to the village?”
His arms were straining by the time he reached the door. “I told you she is hurt. Now open the door if you please.”
“I will not.”
He glared at her. “We will speak about this in the morning, Letitia, but right now you will do as I say and open this door.” His arms were beginning to shake.
“Is she dead?” Letitia asked. “I hope she is, and I hope she goes straight to Hell.”
He looked at her over his shoulder. “I think it would be best for everyone if you left the room.”
“No. I will not have you making love to your mistress right under my nose. I told you, this is my domain, not hers. She has no right to be here. Get her out.”
He straightened and faced her. “Lady Colchester is hurt and requires medical attention. She will
remain where she is.”
“She needs to die, that’s what she needs to do.”
Vincent regarded the shallow depths of his fiancée’s eyes with nauseating clarity.
Cassandra moaned. Turning quickly, he went to the bedside and brushed her hair off her face. He noted with horror that the pillow was already stained with blood. “Cassandra, darling,” he said, laboring to remain calm, “wake up, you were hit on the head.”
She did not respond. He gently patted her cheek, willing her eyes to open as the terrifying possibility of her death right there in front of him struck a deep chord in his gut. Wake up. Please wake up.
The server approached the table. Cassandra leaned back and asked for wine. When they were alone again, he wet his lips. “What did the letter say?”
She sat in silence, just looking at him, then at last began to explain. “I wrote to tell you that I now believe you were right that day in the library at Langley Hall, when you suggested there could be true fidelity of the heart without a written contract or a certificate of marriage. I have decided that I will not spend another minute resisting what is in my heart. I want to be with you, and I shall be brave. My worst fear was that you would break my heart one day, that I would have to share you with other women, but now I am willing to face that possibility. I do not need the contract between us to bind you to me forever. All I need is to love you, to give you my love. The passion we have between us, as we are, is enough, for however long it lasts.”
He stared at her closely across the table. “However long it lasts?” A deep pang of hurt and disappointment pulsed inside his chest. “I believe, Cassandra, that this is the first time since you came back into my life that you have ever truly sounded like a mistress.”
Cassandra’s wine arrived and was set down in front of her, but she could not move her hands to touch it.
“Perhaps I sound like a mistress,” she told him with a cool air, “because that is what I am. Though I must say, you have never made me feel ashamed of it. Not until now.”
He inhaled deeply. “That is because in my eyes you were always above that. And you have become much more than that.”
She paused. “Well, that, sir, is news to me.”
“I want you to be more,” he said.
She shifted uneasily. “What are you saying? How can I possibly be more, unless you want to make me your wife. But that cannot be.”
“Why not?”
“Because you have told me a dozen times—Le-titia is your perfect match. She will allow you to keep your freedom. And also, your father would never accept me. You would lose your inheritance. You would be letting down your brothers.”
“First of all, let us be clear. Letitia is not my perfect match. She was once, I suppose, when I was a different man, but she is no longer.”
His eyes were dark and determined as he leaned forward again. “What if I told you I don’t care what my father says or what my brothers think? Or society for that matter.”
“Then I would tell you that you are not thinking rationally because you are blinded by lust.”
“Lust?” he angrily retorted. “Do you still think that’s what this is about?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do I feel this more deeply than you?” he asked. “Tell me if that is the case, because if you are not willing to fight for what has become more than just lust between us, I will be grossly disappointed. Especially because all you’ve ever done before now is fight against it.”
She looked down at her glass of wine and finally picked it up to take a sip. Her hands were shaking. “I have been fighting against it because I was afraid I would end up with a broken heart. I still fear that, because there are so many forces against us.”
“I have fears, too,” he said. “I always will, but it doesn’t mean I will not fight against those forces that stand between us. I already have, Cassandra. I have told Letitia I will not marry her, that she can drag me through the papers and the courts and all the mud in England if she is so inclined.
It will not make a bloody difference to me. I will never be her husband.” (…)
“He knows you are my mistress, and that I love you.”
She couldn’t seem to move. All she could do was fumble frantically in her mind with those words he’d just said to her. I love you.
“Will you be my wife, Cassandra?” he asked. “Please say yes, because I want you forever as my mate, my friend, and my lover.”
“Cassandra Montrose, you are the great love of my life,” he said. “You have made me feel whole when I never knew it was possible to feel that way. All the missing pieces of my heart and my life came together inside of me when I met you. I do not ever wish to be without you. Will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?”
He gestured toward her with a hand. “But you don’t have the resources.”
All at once her cheeks colored with anger and her eyes burned with resolve. “You don’t know the first thing about ‘resources’ when it comes to dedicating your life to someone. What June will have from me is love. Beautiful, selfless, priceless love. Nothing is more important than that.”
Keeping her eyes on the sky, she slowly exhaled. “Only seconds ago you said you were going to behave yourself.”
“I will if you want me to.”
She looked at him. “Sometimes I don’t know what I want.” She turned her eyes to the stars again (…)
“I worry that I am eventually going to spoil what has become very comfortable between us.”
“Comfortable in some ways, excruciating in others.”
He leaned closer. “How is it excruciating for you? Tell me. I need to hear you say it. Perhaps it will be enough to satisfy me.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to say it. I want to deny it, hide it away and bury it.”
“Burying it will not make it go away.”
“Perhaps it will in time,” she argued.
He sat back farther and sighed. “I don’t want it to.”
All of sudden her eyes were filling with tears, and she could not believe she was in danger of losing this battle she had been fighting for so long. “I don’t want it to end either.”
Closing her eyes, she rubbed her nose against his cheeks and lips, even while a part of her was still fighting to resist. She should not let him kiss her. She should put a stop to this now by returning to the house. But she knew she was not going to do that. She had traveled too far down this tempting path.
“Perhaps just one kiss,” she replied, touching her lips tentatively to his.
His hands cupped her face and he tilted his head to the side. Suddenly there was nothing tentative about it. He was devouring her with his open mouth, caressing her with his soft, skillful tongue. Her body melted against his as passion pounded from her heart to the very edges of her existence.
“I’m sorry, Cassandra,” he said, dropping hot kisses across her cheeks, her eyelids, her forehead. “I tried, but I cannot keep my hands off you. This madness I feel for you knows no bounds.”
“I feel it, too.” She could barely breathe enough to speak. “It doesn’t matter how much I try to resist, or how much I once hated you, I am powerless.”
“You don’t hate me now, do you?”
“No. I suppose I haven’t hated you for quite some time. All I want now is to feel your hands on me.”
He kissed her again and pressed his body tight against hers until they were both writhing with need on the riverbank.
“I must have you,” he said.
“Then what are you proposing, exactly? What do you expect from me in return?”
“As I said, I am offering you a house and an income, with nothing asked of you except . . . ” He paused, as if having a hard time getting the words out. “Except that you allow me to see June.”
She could have fallen off the seat. “Are you quite serious? The rake without a heart wants to see his daughter? You actually care to know how she is faring?”
“I am rather astounded by it myself,” he said in a contemptuous, detached voice as he looked toward the window. “But don’t get excited. It doesn’t mean I’m developing a conscience, nor does it mean I’m ever going to marry you, because I am not.”
“So you’ve said before. I don’t know why you feel the need to repeat it. I am quite aware that you are going to marry Lady Letitia, because evidently all that matters to you is your inheritance.”
“Indeed, my father adores her, and according to the terms of his will, he has the power to approve or reject my bride. So there it is in a nutshell. He would certainly never accept you.”
She felt the insult like a kick in the stomach.
“Besides,” he continued, “what an incompatible pair we would make. You believe blindly in the divine power of love, while my jaded eyes are wide open in that area.”
“I do not believe in it blindly. My eyes are quite wide open as far as you are concerned.”
He looked away and brought the subject back to where it began. “I am only putting forth this offer because I want to prevent my daughter from turning out like you. Forced to work in a hat shop, that is.”
She ignored his spiteful attempt to belittle her, and considered what he was proposing. “I suppose it would not be such a bad thing, to have an income. I would not have to be away from June.” Her voice became resigned. “I have struggled with that more than you can ever imagine.”
“Cassandra!”
She jumped when she heard him call her name.
“I apologize for what just happened,” he said, knocking her completely off balance yet again with words she had not expected. “I did make a promise to you. I gave you my word that I would not ask you for anything more than a chance to spend time with June. I should not have said those things in the library. I shouldn’t have kissed you. I am a devil and a rake. I know I am, but the strange thing is—it has never bothered me before now. I am beginning to wonder if you were placed into my life for some clear purpose, to give me a chance to behave honorably for once—as honorably as a man can behave with a former lover who has born him an illegitimate child.”
She had no idea what to say. All she could do was stand there in the hot, bright sunshine, looking down at the ground, realizing that his thoughts about being tested mirrored her own.
“I know I do not deserve it,” he said, “but can you forgive me?”
She looked up hesitantly. “I don’t know, Vincent. You say and do the most wicked things sometimes.”
his voice was resigned. “I shall offer no excuses, because even when I recognize how you value your honor, I still let you bring out the devil in me. I am learning that lust is a very powerful thing.”
“But you are no stranger to it.”
“You are wrong there, Cassandra. I am a stranger to what exists between us. It is the reason I did not read your letter a year ago, and why I avoided you—so that I would not run the risk of falling in love with you.”
She was speechless.
He wiped the back of his hand across the sparkling perspiration on his forehead and squinted down at the lake. “All I know is that there was an extraordinary spark between us from the beginning. Don’t you remember how it was that night?”
“Of course I do,” she confessed. “It made me insane—not just that night, but in the weeks following, when you would not see me.”
He sighed. “I must ask you again, Cassandra, can you forgive me? You are the mother of my child. I cannot bear for you to think me hopeless. I do not want to be hopeless.”
“A lot has happened since that night,” she said. “Our lives have changed and fate has placed us in a difficult predicament. You are engaged to another woman, you do not wish to let your brothers down, and I quite frankly do not wish to allow myself to believe that I could ever trust you. I would prefer to remain on guard.”
“Cassandra . . . ”
“We have each made our mistakes and now must live with the consequences. As for myself, I would like to do so without any further transgressions.”
“I should resent you,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because you make me want to be a better man, when it is so much easier not to care one way or another.”
“I see.” His mother moved around the room, her eyes trained on him. “Vincent, I will not waste your time or mine by asking if you love Lady Letitia. It is more than obvious to me that you do not, and thank God for that.”
He appreciated his mother’s candidness. There was no point in everyone going around pretending not to see what was as obvious as the floor under their feet.
“I also know,” she continued, “that you have never proposed to Lady Colchester.”
“That is correct.”
She strode toward him. “But is it possible you might be happier with her?”
Happier. It had been ages since he’d entertained the notion that happiness was attainable through romantic love. In fact, he had come to believe the opposite. Yet here he was, rolling around like a confused fool in his own emotions, examining his inner self, and resisting—denying—the love he felt for Cassandra.
Yes, it was love. As much as he did not welcome it, he was not completely ignorant of his heart.
“If you thought you could be happier with her,” his mother cautiously continued, “perhaps it is worth exploring the possibility that Lady Letitia might release you.”
Vincent turned away from his mother and sat down in a chair. He closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose. “Bloody hell.”
“What is it, Vincent?”
He looked up and felt his eyes burning. “I do love her. Enough to die for her.”
His mother’s lips curled into a warm and joyful smile. “I am so pleased to hear it. So very pleased.”
But he bowed his head forward and shook it. “But I am not pleased to admit it. I did not want this. I still do not.”
“What do you want?”
“To fulfill my duty to my brothers and secure my inheritance,” he replied. “I did not want my life to change, and I knew it would remain exactly the same if I married Letitia. She is a female version of me. She is bitter and cynical. Hardhearted. In that way, we are perfect for each other.”
“But that is not the real you,” his mother told him.
“It has become the real me.”
She was quiet for a moment. “No, I refuse to believe that. If you were truly as hard-hearted as you think, you would have allowed Cassandra to leave that day with June, when she learned she would recover from her illness. You would not have gone after her at the train station. You would have let me be the one to provide her with a means of support. You would have washed your hands of her and of your daughter, and never seen either of them again.”
He frowned at what was unthinkable to him. “I could never have done that.”
She did not need to say anything more. She was right, and he knew it. There was something left of his heart.
“But would you have mistresses if she were your wife?”
As he stared at his mother, he felt himself plummeting like a bird from high in the sky.
“No. There would never be anyone but her.”
“I must confess to you,” he softly said, “that I would dearly love for June to know me as her father.”
Cassandra looked up at him. “Perhaps we can tell her the truth one day when she is old enough to understand and keep it secret.”
He took in a deep breath. “Or perhaps there will be another way.”
“What do you mean?”
He shook his head, for he was not yet free to propose, and he would not do it improperly. Not like this. He would first do what he must to make everything right. For her.
“I don’t know. Perhaps I am dreaming.” He turned his head on the pillow and touched her cheek with the tip of his finger. “What I do know, my darling, is that my heart is yours. Completely. Do you know that? Do you understand I do not ever want to be with anyone but you? That you satisfy me in every way a man can be satisfied?”
Her eyes filled with tears. “You satisfy me, too, Vincent. I have never felt so happy, even though I am also afraid.”
(...) God! He could not believe he was even thinking these things! In the past month he had been turned upside down on his ear. He wanted his daughter to know who he was, and he wanted Cassandra’s heart, promised to him forever—happily, willingly, respectably, without guilt, for the rest of their days. He wanted no other woman but her. He supposed it was all he had ever wanted as a younger man—to be a devoted husband and to marry for love.
“I know a scandal will be unavoidable. It is too late to keep it secret. Not only does her family and brother-in-law know of it, for they were the ones to toss her out into the street, but Letitia knows, too.”
“Only this: we will do what any sensible army would do in the face of such a foe. We will retreat from the battlefield, or in our case, go abroad or hide away in the country for a while. A long while. I have already purchased the perfect house, and to be honest, Devon, the scandal doesn’t frighten me. Society can go to the devil for all I care.”
“But what about Cassandra?” Devon said. “Perhaps it will matter to her. She might think herself unworthy and may not wish to sully our family name. She might be unhappy.”
“I will make her happy.”
“I have no doubt you will do your best, and perhaps love will be enough for the two of you. But what of June? Surely you would not wish to see her ostracized all her life. You have her future to think about as well.”
Vincent sank into a chair and exhaled a deep breath. “Perhaps in time it will blow over. It’s not as if no man has ever married his mistress before. It’s been done.
“She is hurt.” Concerned only with getting Cassandra to a warm, safe place, he pushed past his fiancée and continued down the corridor.
Letitia followed. “You shouldn’t have brought her here. Why didn’t you take her to the village?”
His arms were straining by the time he reached the door. “I told you she is hurt. Now open the door if you please.”
“I will not.”
He glared at her. “We will speak about this in the morning, Letitia, but right now you will do as I say and open this door.” His arms were beginning to shake.
“Is she dead?” Letitia asked. “I hope she is, and I hope she goes straight to Hell.”
He looked at her over his shoulder. “I think it would be best for everyone if you left the room.”
“No. I will not have you making love to your mistress right under my nose. I told you, this is my domain, not hers. She has no right to be here. Get her out.”
He straightened and faced her. “Lady Colchester is hurt and requires medical attention. She will
remain where she is.”
“She needs to die, that’s what she needs to do.”
Vincent regarded the shallow depths of his fiancée’s eyes with nauseating clarity.
Cassandra moaned. Turning quickly, he went to the bedside and brushed her hair off her face. He noted with horror that the pillow was already stained with blood. “Cassandra, darling,” he said, laboring to remain calm, “wake up, you were hit on the head.”
She did not respond. He gently patted her cheek, willing her eyes to open as the terrifying possibility of her death right there in front of him struck a deep chord in his gut. Wake up. Please wake up.
The server approached the table. Cassandra leaned back and asked for wine. When they were alone again, he wet his lips. “What did the letter say?”
She sat in silence, just looking at him, then at last began to explain. “I wrote to tell you that I now believe you were right that day in the library at Langley Hall, when you suggested there could be true fidelity of the heart without a written contract or a certificate of marriage. I have decided that I will not spend another minute resisting what is in my heart. I want to be with you, and I shall be brave. My worst fear was that you would break my heart one day, that I would have to share you with other women, but now I am willing to face that possibility. I do not need the contract between us to bind you to me forever. All I need is to love you, to give you my love. The passion we have between us, as we are, is enough, for however long it lasts.”
He stared at her closely across the table. “However long it lasts?” A deep pang of hurt and disappointment pulsed inside his chest. “I believe, Cassandra, that this is the first time since you came back into my life that you have ever truly sounded like a mistress.”
Cassandra’s wine arrived and was set down in front of her, but she could not move her hands to touch it.
“Perhaps I sound like a mistress,” she told him with a cool air, “because that is what I am. Though I must say, you have never made me feel ashamed of it. Not until now.”
He inhaled deeply. “That is because in my eyes you were always above that. And you have become much more than that.”
She paused. “Well, that, sir, is news to me.”
“I want you to be more,” he said.
She shifted uneasily. “What are you saying? How can I possibly be more, unless you want to make me your wife. But that cannot be.”
“Why not?”
“Because you have told me a dozen times—Le-titia is your perfect match. She will allow you to keep your freedom. And also, your father would never accept me. You would lose your inheritance. You would be letting down your brothers.”
“First of all, let us be clear. Letitia is not my perfect match. She was once, I suppose, when I was a different man, but she is no longer.”
His eyes were dark and determined as he leaned forward again. “What if I told you I don’t care what my father says or what my brothers think? Or society for that matter.”
“Then I would tell you that you are not thinking rationally because you are blinded by lust.”
“Lust?” he angrily retorted. “Do you still think that’s what this is about?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do I feel this more deeply than you?” he asked. “Tell me if that is the case, because if you are not willing to fight for what has become more than just lust between us, I will be grossly disappointed. Especially because all you’ve ever done before now is fight against it.”
She looked down at her glass of wine and finally picked it up to take a sip. Her hands were shaking. “I have been fighting against it because I was afraid I would end up with a broken heart. I still fear that, because there are so many forces against us.”
“I have fears, too,” he said. “I always will, but it doesn’t mean I will not fight against those forces that stand between us. I already have, Cassandra. I have told Letitia I will not marry her, that she can drag me through the papers and the courts and all the mud in England if she is so inclined.
It will not make a bloody difference to me. I will never be her husband.” (…)
“He knows you are my mistress, and that I love you.”
She couldn’t seem to move. All she could do was fumble frantically in her mind with those words he’d just said to her. I love you.
“Will you be my wife, Cassandra?” he asked. “Please say yes, because I want you forever as my mate, my friend, and my lover.”
“Cassandra Montrose, you are the great love of my life,” he said. “You have made me feel whole when I never knew it was possible to feel that way. All the missing pieces of my heart and my life came together inside of me when I met you. I do not ever wish to be without you. Will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 17, 2014
Rounding up to 3.5 stars. Review published at AudioGals.
August 19, 2020
Meh... this was ok , but not more than that ... but really the writing doesn't impress me! The author is all over the place and she doesn't write a convincing story... Some parts just sound awkward and don't make a lot of sense. For example - the hero and heroine had a one night stand at the beginning of the book . The heroine knew this, she was a widow and she was ok with this. She willingly went home with the hero. (She willingly did not protect herself against pregnancy, nor did she ask him to protect her). Afterwards, it kept being brought up how he took advantage of her and left her after their one night, how she was enchanted by him but he didn't feel the same and left, how he used her and discarded her, etc... Excuse me?! This is a widow who went to a duke's house and was told beforehand that he will not marry her, that it's for one night only. How does this get turned around to "he used then discarded her" ?!
Anyway - she got pregnant... He decided he wanted to be a father to the baby... But their whole arrangement of her becoming his mistress and him marrying someone else made no sense! He was only marrying because he needed to find a wife in order to get his inheritance! So wouldn't it have made more sense - right off the bat - to marry the mother of his child , rather than a spoiled stranger he disliked. I mean, considering he didn't love either of them , why wouldn't he choose the lesser of the two evils and pick the mother of his child, whom he actually likes?! Well sure - he does this at the end of the book, but throughout the book we have to read about them sneaking around and her living under his roof as his mistress, while he is engaged to another woman. It was degrading and embarrassing ...
Anyway - she got pregnant... He decided he wanted to be a father to the baby... But their whole arrangement of her becoming his mistress and him marrying someone else made no sense! He was only marrying because he needed to find a wife in order to get his inheritance! So wouldn't it have made more sense - right off the bat - to marry the mother of his child , rather than a spoiled stranger he disliked. I mean, considering he didn't love either of them , why wouldn't he choose the lesser of the two evils and pick the mother of his child, whom he actually likes?! Well sure - he does this at the end of the book, but throughout the book we have to read about them sneaking around and her living under his roof as his mistress, while he is engaged to another woman. It was degrading and embarrassing ...
September 28, 2020
Afraid of love
Vincent is a rake of the first order! He has been betrayed and has embraced empty feelings and debauchery like a champ! Cassandra is newly widowed and had an openly unfaithful husband who kept a mistress! One wild night with forever consequences! The consequence changes Vincent and gives him hope but o my after he become engaged to a woman who is colder and more vicious than any shrew! When Cassandra is injured again as he reconnected with her as she was gravely ill Vincent opens his heart and realizes that he has a choice to make! But how can he get out of this engagement when his fiance looks like the first Duchess? His superstitious father also approves of her!! What a mess! Get ready for nonstop action!!
Vincent is a rake of the first order! He has been betrayed and has embraced empty feelings and debauchery like a champ! Cassandra is newly widowed and had an openly unfaithful husband who kept a mistress! One wild night with forever consequences! The consequence changes Vincent and gives him hope but o my after he become engaged to a woman who is colder and more vicious than any shrew! When Cassandra is injured again as he reconnected with her as she was gravely ill Vincent opens his heart and realizes that he has a choice to make! But how can he get out of this engagement when his fiance looks like the first Duchess? His superstitious father also approves of her!! What a mess! Get ready for nonstop action!!
June 22, 2019
Once again Rosalyn Landor does justice to Julianne MacLean's writing. This second in the Pembroke Palace series focuses on second son of the duke, Vincent, and his one-night lover Cassandra. A year later - surprise - a big surprise. As with the first novel, this is a challenging HEA full of the "mad" duke's obsession on a curse, an engagement full of animosity and a family determined to keep their inheritance. The characters are so well drawn and the setting so impeccable that the plot of a family curse continues seamlessly into this second book. I am definitely enjoying the foibles and victories of this family.
December 9, 2020
The Mistress Diaries (Love at Pembroke Palace Book 2)
The love story of Cassandra and Vincent. Cassandra and Vincent ran out a ball and make love. Now a year later she came to Pembroke Palace to give the Duchess the child she had because she believes she is dying.
Vincent is planning to marry his brother, Devon, ex finances. He does not love she does not love him. He is marry her because his father want it. When he learn Cassandra is back and say June is his daughter, he thinks is is after his money. Will love win out? Great story.
The love story of Cassandra and Vincent. Cassandra and Vincent ran out a ball and make love. Now a year later she came to Pembroke Palace to give the Duchess the child she had because she believes she is dying.
Vincent is planning to marry his brother, Devon, ex finances. He does not love she does not love him. He is marry her because his father want it. When he learn Cassandra is back and say June is his daughter, he thinks is is after his money. Will love win out? Great story.
January 31, 2021
Cassandra Montrose is a widow just out of mourning attends a ball and meets this man who she spends the night with and they have a memorable time. A year later she shows up a Pembroke Palace ill with a baby girl, June who is the daughter of Lord Vincent. The baby looks like him and he is immediately taken with her. He has just become engaged. Cassandra makes a contract with Vincent to see the baby but not to make her his mistress. The only thing is they cannot stay away from each other. How do they work this out? Great read.
January 26, 2022
A most enjoyable story.
A satisfying storyline, with well formed characters that were relatable and kept me engaged. It’s a fabulous follow up, to ‘Book 1’ and won’t disappoint. No typos to distract you. I’ve read so many books and this plot is well paced and believable so it’s worthy of five stars.
A satisfying storyline, with well formed characters that were relatable and kept me engaged. It’s a fabulous follow up, to ‘Book 1’ and won’t disappoint. No typos to distract you. I’ve read so many books and this plot is well paced and believable so it’s worthy of five stars.
September 14, 2024
scattered
The story is the story but I had a hard time staying in the intended time/setting.
Was I in Middle Ages Europe? Was I in Regency London? or was I in 20th century America? The writing didn’t keep me strongly in one time period by description or character speech and behavior.
The story is the story but I had a hard time staying in the intended time/setting.
Was I in Middle Ages Europe? Was I in Regency London? or was I in 20th century America? The writing didn’t keep me strongly in one time period by description or character speech and behavior.
October 7, 2025
Started DNF-ing ever since he left her after sleeping together and went on to sleep with others for the duration of 1 year of them going separate ways. And yet he claimed that she was the only one stuck in his mind. PPFFTTT! By the way she came back to him after a year because they supposedly had borne a child together after that fateful night.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 22, 2017
Pues empezó muy bien, pero al final me ha desilusionado un poco. Es un romance un tanto sombrio, las obligaciones, los prejuicios. Lo que no me gusto es el rapido desenlace, la prometida desaparece sin mas ¿? ¿que pasa con el antojo?, final precipitado.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews