From bestselling author Debra Dier comes a tale of a returning war hero and the lady intent on healing his wounded soul. Saint’s Temptation is set during the Regency period in England. This edition includes substantial revisions to the original paperback edition, including changes to plot and characters while maintaining the original intent of the story.
Saint’s Temptation is the sequel to Devil’s Honor. Book 4 in The Heiresses Series.Each book can be enjoyed as a stand alone novel.
Clayton Trevelyan, Earl Huntingdon, always did what was expected of him, until the day his beautiful, impetuous, eccentric fiancée Marisa Grantham ended their engagement. No one expected the quiet young scholar known as The Saint to purchase a commission and march off to fight in the Peninsula. Seven years later, Clay returned home a war hero and former spy determined to find an appropriate bride—his last promise to his father. Hardened by war, the once shy young man knew precisely what he needed in a bride. She must be quiet, dignified, intelligent, and above all have no illusions of marrying for affection. After losing Marisa, he swore never again to allow a woman close to his heart.
When Marisa overhears two men discussing plans to murder Clayton, she swears she will do anything to keep the stubborn Earl alive, even if that involves kidnapping him. No longer the naïve young woman who allowed her one and only love to walk away, Marisa is determined not to lose him a second time. Yet as she fights her way past his defenses and struggles to heal the wounds scrawled across Clay’s gentle soul, a murderer lurks in the shadows, threatening both their lives.
“Debra Dier always brings something new and special to the genre…”—RT Reviews
“With her bright talent, intelligent voice, and elegant prose, Debra Dier creates characters we can believe in, emotions we can feel, and stories we can experience.”—bestselling author, Connie Rinehold
Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. The first time I saw a reader mention my possible demise in an online review, chills rippled over my skin. It is odd to read someone say she loves you and she thinks you must have died because nothing new has been published in years. To that reader and to anyone else who may have mourned my passing I say: I have been buried in all the wonderful joys and duties and responsibilities of motherhood. Yes, other writers manage to keep pumping out books while dealing with children. I think I may have continued, except I had the loss of my mom hit right at the time I was finishing the last book on my contract. I just couldn't find the heart to pick up my quill. Instead, I plunged into volunteer work. Once I left that realm where the written word reigned, I never sought a way back into it. I was Alice who forgot about the looking glass. My best friend gave me a magnet a couple of years ago that had “Stop me before I volunteer again!” emblazoned across the shiny surface beneath the face of a young woman who resembled me. She told me she was tired of waiting for another book. I realized my short hiatus from writing had turned into a twelve year sabbatical. I stepped back into my office, looked at my computer and decided she was right. I sat down and began writing the first book in a series of fantasy novels for older teens and adults. While I was working on the new series, I obtained the rights to all of my previously published novels. The next day a New York publisher contacted me and asked to buy the rights to those novels. They wanted to publish them immediately. It was tempting, but instead of allowing those books to be published in their original form, I decided to take a peek at them and see if there was anything I might do differently today. I was always the type of writer who would have been revising in the bookstore if bookstores did not frown upon such tactics. The first book, Beyond Forever, took eight months to re-write. In reality, I kept the concept and a little of the original and wrote a new book. The result is A Twist of Fate which will be available late November 2013. In the past year I have reconnected with an old love—writing. As I work my way through the old novels, I find my concepts and choices concerning characters and plot have altered over the years. I am currently working on revising all the old books. And yes, eventually, soon I hope, I will return to the new series. Before I get another magnet from Kim. Debra Dier is the bestselling author of sixteen critically acclaimed romance novels and short stories. Her work has earned her a place in the Writer's Hall of Fame. Deb was born and raised in Niagara Falls, New York. Although she always knew she wanted to do something creative in life, well-meaning family members talked her into doing something in a much more practical light. She received a BS in Information Systems Management and headed down a career path that included writing computer code and designing computer systems. It wasn't exactly what she had in mind when she thought of a purely creative career. For some mystifying reason, she was put on a fast track in that career and became a manager of other programmers and analysts in a large corporation at a young age. It was then she decided to try her hand at writing something other than computer systems. After her first novel, Surrender the Dream was published, she took the plunge into writing full time. She has never regretted that decision. When her daughter was a toddler, Debra decided to take a short hiatus from writing to concentrate on all things motherhood. There wasn't a task she didn't take on, including making Halloween costumes, volunteering for room parent every year, and becoming a Girl Scout leader. By the way, her idea of camping is staying at a three star hotel. Not precisely the roughing it kind of girl. At the urging of her daughter, Deb has found herself sleeping on a mat in a ten
A wonderful read. Young Marisa Grantham is a bold, flirtatious and daring woman who lacks all propriety. Despite her wealth, beauty, and her plethora of suitors she has never been drawn to anyone of them. Until she meets Clayton Trevelyan, the shy, bookish Earl of Huntington. He and his twin brother have opposite personalities. While his brother Justin is the “devil”, Clayton is the “Saint”. Clayton has always done what’s asked of him, always been responsible and has had his nose in a book too often to notice the women fawning over him. His father brings Marisa to their estate to set her up with Justin, in hopes that she’ll match his bold personality and finally tame the devil of London. But when Justin doesn’t show up, Clayton is responsible for keeping Marisa entertained during her stay. The two fall in love and find their opposite personalities compliment each other. Before the summer ends they are engaged. But Marisa’s mother has doubts of their marriage, and feels Marisa is once again just rushing into something. So she makes them wait a year so Marisa can compete in this years season, to see if someone else sparks her interest. Marisa and Clayton both are infatuated with each other, but a miscommunication causes their engagement to end. Clayton decides to join the army to be rid of his sensitives, and Marisa takes no other man during their time apart. 7 years later they find themselves back together when Marisa overhears someone plotting to murder Clayton. Together they work to solve the murder mystery, while also trying to solve the mystery of why their engagement ended. I loved it. So good. Regency era books are some of the first stories that got me into romances so they’ll always have a special place in my heart. I thought this book was really fun, I liked how the miscommunication trope and the 7 year gap in their relationship didn’t effect the flow of the story. It was really cute, and I liked how Marisa was mainly the one pursuing Clayton, not the other way around. The love scenes were A+ and the tension created in this book was unreal. 10/10. Also my cover is so much better than the one they have displayed here on good reads lol. I promise I’m not walking around with that cover.
This is a revised version of a book that was published years ago. I have read both editions. I think I enjoyed this one the most. It can be read as a stand alone but it is nice to read the other ones so you can get more out of the story.
I always wondered why Marisa walked away... communication..self doubt all played a part... HEA sometimes the heart knows better than the head (intellect)
I loved and enjoyed reading the outstanding, suspenseful, heart-wrenching, engaging & amazing, historical, romance novel, Saint's Temptation, I received free and autographed by the talented, extraordinary author, Debra Dier. Since the Trevelyan's and Grantham families spent the summer together seven years ago,Clayton Trevelyan and Marissa Grantham ended up spending a lot of time together and got engaged. When the summer ended and found Clayton acting markedly different toward her, she ended the engagement and Clayton went off to war. Now, Clayton has returned and is looking for the exact opposite in a wife from the woman he had been in engaged to who had broken his heart. Marissa has men still wanting her attention and hand in marriage but her heart belongs to only one man. Marissa overhears two men talking about murdering Clayton, and Clayton tells her not to worry that he can take care of himself. Marissa does the only thing she can do for the man she loves, she kidnaps him. Read the highly recommended, beautifully written, exciting & heartbreaking, romantic love story.
I received the book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.
This book was AH-MAZE-ING! I had it in my shelf for while without reading it, and you do not know how much I regret it. The author's words had me turning each page without a break. A close to the shelf woman trying to save her ex-fiancee, what could go wrong? Each trying to protect the other, but more than not, they end up in trouble together. I love the mystery of who the murderer is and the anticipation of Mari and Clay's climatic relationship.
I saw that this was a republication; sometimes with the passage of time the book doesn't translate as well to the new audience, but I am happy to say that this isn't the case. It helps that the book is set in the Regency period and that helps but more importantly is its the writer's style of writing that makes her book as appealing today as it was when she originally published it.
Clayton Trevelyan, Earl Huntingdon, always did what was expected of him, until the day his beautiful, impetuous, eccentric fiancée Marisa Grantham ended their engagement. No one expected the quiet young scholar known as The Saint to purchase a commission and march off to fight in the Peninsula. Seven years later, Clay returned home a war hero and former spy determined to find an appropriate bride—his last promise to his father. Hardened by war, the once shy young man knew precisely what he needed in a bride. She must be quiet, dignified, intelligent, and above all have no illusions of marrying for affection. After losing Marisa, he swore never again to allow a woman close to his heart.
When Marisa overhears two men discussing plans to murder Clayton, she swears she will do anything to keep the stubborn Earl alive, even if that involves kidnapping him. No longer the naïve young woman who allowed her one and only love to walk away, Marisa is determined not to lose him a second time. Yet as she fights her way past his defenses and struggles to heal the wounds scrawled across Clay’s gentle soul, a murderer lurks in the shadows, threatening both their lives.