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Delaneys: The Untamed Years II #1
Velvet Lightning
VICTORIA AND FALCON SAIL IN HOT PURSUIT OF MARCUS TYRONE, THE ONLY MAN ALIVE WHO CAN REVEAL THE GREATEST SECRET OF THE CIVIL WAR. BUT WILL THEY REACH HIM IN TIME?
A handsome rogue whose recklessness and courage had made him a fortune as a blockade runner, Marcus Tyrone had no scruples when it came to getting what he wanted, especially when it was a woman. Exquisite and deliciously tempting, the woman he could not resist was an ice goddess. She smiled for no man, but in Tyrone's arms she melted trembled, sizzled with yearning that only a daring captain could satisfy. He'd touched her deeply, exposed a passion she'd never suspected, only dreamed of... and unmasked a woman whose secrets rivaled his own. The web of intrigue that had brought Tyrone to the island of Port Elizabeth finally held him fast, as did the woman he loved without illusions. He longed to confide in her, possess her, bind her to him in any way he could--but he was haunted by the agony in her eyes. The end of one trail meant another's beginning, but would the sins of the past deny them their precious dream?
A handsome rogue whose recklessness and courage had made him a fortune as a blockade runner, Marcus Tyrone had no scruples when it came to getting what he wanted, especially when it was a woman. Exquisite and deliciously tempting, the woman he could not resist was an ice goddess. She smiled for no man, but in Tyrone's arms she melted trembled, sizzled with yearning that only a daring captain could satisfy. He'd touched her deeply, exposed a passion she'd never suspected, only dreamed of... and unmasked a woman whose secrets rivaled his own. The web of intrigue that had brought Tyrone to the island of Port Elizabeth finally held him fast, as did the woman he loved without illusions. He longed to confide in her, possess her, bind her to him in any way he could--but he was haunted by the agony in her eyes. The end of one trail meant another's beginning, but would the sins of the past deny them their precious dream?
244 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1988
20 people are currently reading
169 people want to read
About the author
Kay Hooper
97 books2,448 followersKay Hooper (aka Kay Robbins) was born in California, in an air force base hospital since her father was stationed there at the time. The family moved back to North Carolina shortly afterward, so she was raised and went to school there.
The oldest of three children, Kay has a brother two years younger and a sister seven years younger. Her father and brother are builders who own a highly respected construction company, and her mother worked for many years in personnel management before becoming Kay's personal assistant, a position she held until her untimely death in March 2002. Kay's sister Linda works as her Business Manager, Events Coordinator, and is playing a major role in the creation and operation of The Kay Hooper Foundation.
Kay graduated from East Rutherford High School and attended Isothermal Community College — where she quickly discovered that business classes did not in any way enthrall her. Switching to more involving courses such as history and literature, she also began to concentrate on writing, which had been a longtime interest. Very quickly hooked, she asked for a Christmas typewriter and began seriously working on her first novel. That book, a Regency romance titled Lady Thief, sold to Dell Publishing in 1980. She has since published more than 60 novels and four novellas.
Kay is single and lives in a very small town in North Carolina, not far from her father and siblings. Deigning to live with her are a flock of cats — Bonnie, Ginger, Oscar, Tuffy, Felix, Renny, and Isabel — of various personalities who all like sleeping on manuscripts and whatever research happens to be spread across Kay's desk. And living amongst the many felines are two cheerfully tolerant dogs, a shelter rescue, Bandit, who looks rather like a small sheepdog, and a Sheltie named Lizzie.
The oldest of three children, Kay has a brother two years younger and a sister seven years younger. Her father and brother are builders who own a highly respected construction company, and her mother worked for many years in personnel management before becoming Kay's personal assistant, a position she held until her untimely death in March 2002. Kay's sister Linda works as her Business Manager, Events Coordinator, and is playing a major role in the creation and operation of The Kay Hooper Foundation.
Kay graduated from East Rutherford High School and attended Isothermal Community College — where she quickly discovered that business classes did not in any way enthrall her. Switching to more involving courses such as history and literature, she also began to concentrate on writing, which had been a longtime interest. Very quickly hooked, she asked for a Christmas typewriter and began seriously working on her first novel. That book, a Regency romance titled Lady Thief, sold to Dell Publishing in 1980. She has since published more than 60 novels and four novellas.
Kay is single and lives in a very small town in North Carolina, not far from her father and siblings. Deigning to live with her are a flock of cats — Bonnie, Ginger, Oscar, Tuffy, Felix, Renny, and Isabel — of various personalities who all like sleeping on manuscripts and whatever research happens to be spread across Kay's desk. And living amongst the many felines are two cheerfully tolerant dogs, a shelter rescue, Bandit, who looks rather like a small sheepdog, and a Sheltie named Lizzie.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 7, 2018
"Velvet Lightening" is the story of Marc/Tyrone and Catherine, and conclusion to the tale of Falcon and Victoria's search for the missing union gold.
There are two separate plot-lines, one is Falcon and Jesse journeying on "The Robyn" along with Victoria to find Tyrone and get the details of Marcus and his plans of missing gold.
The main plot, however is the tale of Tyrone and his visits to the town of Port Elizabeth. He meets Catherine there, the ostracized lady suffering from the hated sneers of the folk, but in secret, she is his long term lover.
The book kept me at the edge of the seat, especially in regards with Catherine's secret and refusals (which were predictable after the second half with the many hints given). The passion between the two is strong, and so is the love. Medium angst in this one, with well written characters.
I liked the ending to all the pain, and that the people actually realized what they did wrong.
Satisfying conclusion to the saga of these four. Also enjoyed the epilogue detailing the HEA of couples from the first books.
Safe
4/5
There are two separate plot-lines, one is Falcon and Jesse journeying on "The Robyn" along with Victoria to find Tyrone and get the details of Marcus and his plans of missing gold.
The main plot, however is the tale of Tyrone and his visits to the town of Port Elizabeth. He meets Catherine there, the ostracized lady suffering from the hated sneers of the folk, but in secret, she is his long term lover.
The book kept me at the edge of the seat, especially in regards with Catherine's secret and refusals (which were predictable after the second half with the many hints given). The passion between the two is strong, and so is the love. Medium angst in this one, with well written characters.
I liked the ending to all the pain, and that the people actually realized what they did wrong.
Satisfying conclusion to the saga of these four. Also enjoyed the epilogue detailing the HEA of couples from the first books.
Safe
4/5
March 21, 2017
I have pretty much stopped writing reviews of the romances I read, but this one is outstanding and I can't help myself.
Yes, Hopper takes a great deal of creative license with the historical events used in this title, but she does it so well that the reader is left thinking...hmmm, I wonder if? This story builds on known historical people, places, and events with enough fiction thrown in to excite the imagination.
I completely enjoyed this book and had a very hard time putting it down.
Fans of historical romances will love this book!!
Yes, Hopper takes a great deal of creative license with the historical events used in this title, but she does it so well that the reader is left thinking...hmmm, I wonder if? This story builds on known historical people, places, and events with enough fiction thrown in to excite the imagination.
I completely enjoyed this book and had a very hard time putting it down.
Fans of historical romances will love this book!!
March 16, 2019
Victoria and Falcon discover the missing gold and set off in search of Marcus Tyrone, the ship captain who delivered the gold to Fontaine that day. Marcus, meanwhile, is dealing with his own issues. He set off a shitstorm in Washington by revealing the code name for a semi-related operation to the missing gold, with the intention of bringing a betrayer out of the woodwork. In the meantime, he's hanging out on the island of Port Elizabeth where he owns a house and meets with his lover of 2 years, Catherine. In public, she is an ice woman, cool and repressed and refusing to show emotion or engage the townspeople. In private, with Marcus, she's all fire and heat. He seduced her out of her innocence 2 years earlier and she agreed to be his secret mistress. Now though, Marcus wants more. He's in love with Catherine, but she refuses to marry him and refuses to acknowledge him in public, fearful of being discovered. Marcus won't be deterred. They're both keeping secrets from each other and he'll get to the bottom of hers if it kills him, which it might.
This felt like a change of pace from what we usually see in historicals. Usually it's attraction, seduction and consummation. These two MCs have a history already, their attraction, seduction and consummation are already established...this time it's the hero fighting for the heroine to give him a long-term relationship (another change of pace there). The reason for her hesitancy remains pretty much a mystery, even from the reader, for quite some time, which I liked. And Marcus's struggle to force some sort of feeling out of her was pretty angsty. So as a journey through this story, I liked it a lot.
But in retrospect, after reflecting a bit, I realized that I had trouble with a few points - and SPOILERS will abound in this paragraph. First, was the believability of the "mission" in which these politicians found an Abe Lincoln look-alike who could pass muster and fool his family. I mean have you seen that guy? Totally asymetrical and craggy face, super tall...just not likely to have actually happened. But whatever. Disbelief suspended for this story. So, then thinking back I realized that the heroine's reasons for not telling the hero weren't strong enough for me. I mean, she keeps telling him she can't be with him and he doesn't know that she's thinking of his safety and what her father might end up doing to him. But by this time in their relationship, she loves him and they seem to know each other well enough that a simple explanation of her struggles and fears might have accomplished her ends. With a little truthfulness about her love for Marcus and her father, Marcus might have conceded that they could maintain their discrete relationship a bit longer or he might even have helped her with what to do with her father. Marcus didn't strike me as unreasonable, just that her constant rejection was hurting him unbearably. Finally there's Catherine and her father. She says she had it all under control and didn't want to put him in an institution. But her father was criminally insane. He was killing animals around town and attempted the murder of a small child and Catherine believed that he had already killed her former fiancee. That's not something you can control, unless you are keeping him drugged constantly (which she wasn't...she failed to drug his wine one night and he got out and killed Marcus's horse). That sort of negligence is a major problem for me. It's basically the heroine saying that her father and her need to care for him are more important than the lives of the entire town population. I kinda feel like she had a responsibility to see that he couldn't hurt anyone and if that meant putting him in an institution (and doing all the research necessary to find a good one) then so be it. If it had been MY dog her father had drowned or if he'd succeeded in murdering MY child, I wouldn't be so quick to let the heroine off the hook for that. So I struggled with that too, even as I did enjoy the story. So I guess, try not to think too much after reading this one. LOL
This felt like a change of pace from what we usually see in historicals. Usually it's attraction, seduction and consummation. These two MCs have a history already, their attraction, seduction and consummation are already established...this time it's the hero fighting for the heroine to give him a long-term relationship (another change of pace there). The reason for her hesitancy remains pretty much a mystery, even from the reader, for quite some time, which I liked. And Marcus's struggle to force some sort of feeling out of her was pretty angsty. So as a journey through this story, I liked it a lot.
But in retrospect, after reflecting a bit, I realized that I had trouble with a few points - and SPOILERS will abound in this paragraph. First, was the believability of the "mission" in which these politicians found an Abe Lincoln look-alike who could pass muster and fool his family. I mean have you seen that guy? Totally asymetrical and craggy face, super tall...just not likely to have actually happened. But whatever. Disbelief suspended for this story. So, then thinking back I realized that the heroine's reasons for not telling the hero weren't strong enough for me. I mean, she keeps telling him she can't be with him and he doesn't know that she's thinking of his safety and what her father might end up doing to him. But by this time in their relationship, she loves him and they seem to know each other well enough that a simple explanation of her struggles and fears might have accomplished her ends. With a little truthfulness about her love for Marcus and her father, Marcus might have conceded that they could maintain their discrete relationship a bit longer or he might even have helped her with what to do with her father. Marcus didn't strike me as unreasonable, just that her constant rejection was hurting him unbearably. Finally there's Catherine and her father. She says she had it all under control and didn't want to put him in an institution. But her father was criminally insane. He was killing animals around town and attempted the murder of a small child and Catherine believed that he had already killed her former fiancee. That's not something you can control, unless you are keeping him drugged constantly (which she wasn't...she failed to drug his wine one night and he got out and killed Marcus's horse). That sort of negligence is a major problem for me. It's basically the heroine saying that her father and her need to care for him are more important than the lives of the entire town population. I kinda feel like she had a responsibility to see that he couldn't hurt anyone and if that meant putting him in an institution (and doing all the research necessary to find a good one) then so be it. If it had been MY dog her father had drowned or if he'd succeeded in murdering MY child, I wouldn't be so quick to let the heroine off the hook for that. So I struggled with that too, even as I did enjoy the story. So I guess, try not to think too much after reading this one. LOL
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 31, 2013
This is an oldie but a goodie. I'm seriously addicted to all her books; the writing is amazing considering she has been writing books for many years. Keep up the good work and keep writing!!
April 7, 2016
Although I didn't like it quite as much as the previous book (Golden Flames) I loved that at the very end we get a small snippet of the "modern" day Delaney's and what's new with them.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews