April's Affections and Intrigues: Love and Mystery Bloom

Notorious, July 2011 Scandalous Women of the Ton #4 by Nicola Cornick HQN Books Featuring: Susanna Burney; James Devlin 384 pages ISBN: 0373775830 EAN: 9780373775835 Paperback Add to Wish List Purchase Amazon Barnes & Noble Powell's Books Books-A-Million Indie BookShop

"James and Susanna both have much to lose if their past is exposed"

Notorious
Nicola Cornick

Reviewed by Leanne Davis
Posted June 24, 2011

Romance Historical

Susanna Burney hires herself out as a matchbreaker. Wealthy parents hire her to prevent marriages. In this case, she has been hired by the Duke and Duchess of Alton to break up their son and a woman they consider unsuitable, Francesca Devlin. What neither of them knows is that Susanna is married to Francesca's brother, James.

James Devlin has found everything he's ever wanted in his betrothal to Emma, a wealthy society miss. His life as an explorer has given him a knighthood but he needs money to pay off his debts. Emma's dowry will enable him to do that and live the life he has always wanted.

When he first meets Susanna in her guise as Lady Caroline Carew, he watches her fascinate men just as she bewitched him in their younger days. Now, he must battle his attraction to her and keep her from breaking his sister's heart.

Ms. Cornick has take the concept of breaking up unsuitable relationships to a new height by introducing a character that does it for a living. Thrown out of the house by her parents when they discovered that she had married James Devlin, she lived a horrible life until she inadvertently broke up a relationship and accepted money for it. Even so, she lives on the edge of penury and is always aware of what lies ahead if she is not successful in her endeavors.

James never wants to return to the poverty he faced as a child. His betrothal will offer them all a life with all the necessities and giving up the dream is hard. The more time he spends with Susanna, the more he realizes the trap he will be in if he marries Emma.

Susanna and James have a love-hate relationship that made it a little hard for me to completely engulf myself in the story. However, the characters were so real that I was moved by the harsh realities each had faced and the strength it took for them to overcome their situations. A fascinating, emotional read.

Learn more about Notorious

SUMMARY

When the town's most notorious heartbreaker…

Dangerously seductive and sinfully beautiful, Susanna Burney is society's most sought after matchbreaker. Paid by wealthy parents to part unsuitable couples, she's never yet failed to accomplish her mission of diverting a groom-to-be. Until her final assignment brings her face-to-face with the man who'd once taught her an intimate lesson in heartache….

Meets London's most disreputable rake…

James Devlin has everything he's always wanted: a title, a rich fiancée and a place in society. But the woman who's just met his eyes across a crowded ballroom threatens it all. Not because she'd once claimed his heart, or that every sinuous swirl of her ball gown takes his breath away. But because the secrets she carries could cost him everything. To put the past to rest once and for all, Dev just might have to play Susanna at her own wicked game….

Excerpt

I am afraid that you will have to share a carriage with me, Lady Carew," Dev said, very politely, as Fitz helped Chessie up into the first vehicle. "Unless you would prefer to ride with Mr Walters, of course?"

"Hobson’s choice," Susanna said. The quick tap of the guidebook on the palm of her gloved hand betrayed her annoyance.

"Think of me as the lesser of two evils," Dev said, smiling at her. "Unless," he added, "you would prefer to walk to Berkeley Square in the rain? I regret I do not have an umbrella to offer you for protection."

Susanna shot him an exasperated look.

"Try not to keep the horses standing," Dev added, as she hesitated.

Susanna gave an irritable sigh. "Oh, very well!" She accepted the hand Dev proffered to help her climb in, touching him with as much reluctance as though he had some contagious disease. Once inside the dark, poky interior, she released him abruptly and moved to the corner, as far away from him as possible. Dev sat opposite, stretching out his legs and crossing them at the ankle. His boots brushed the hem of her gown; Susanna moved her skirts aside with great deliberation as though he might contaminate her.

Dev smiled lazily at her through the darkness. "Fitz is easily distracted," he said. "You are going to have to exert a greater hold on him if you wish to have his sole attention."

Susanna turned her gaze on him. "Fitz is like a small child in a confectionery shop," she said. She made no effort to hide her exasperation and Dev found he almost liked her for it. There was no artifice in her – no pretence that she had any regard for Fitz other than for his title, and Dev had a reluctant admiration for that honesty. If she had pretended to any affection for the Marquis he would have despised her hypocrisy.

"An apt metaphor," he said. "Sweet and pretty confections do catch Fitz’s eye." He allowed his gaze to travel over her appraisingly. "No doubt he sees you as a particularly nicely wrapped treat."

"Well, he won’t be helping himself to this treat any time soon," Susanna snapped.

"I imagine not," Dev said. "If you withhold your favours for a while you are likely to gain far more from him."

That won him another flash of those vivid green eyes. "Thank you for the advice," Susanna said. "I assure you I prize myself far too highly to become Fitz’s mistress too easily." She turned her face away from him, gazing instead out of the grimy window at the rain-streaked streets. Her profile was exquisite beneath her saucy little feathered hat, eyelashes thick and black, the line of her cheek pure and sweet, her lips tilted always as though on the edge of a smile. A cluster of ebony curls nestled against her throat, so silky and black that Dev felt a physical urge to run his fingers through them to see if they were really as soft as they looked. It was extraordinary he thought cynically, how someone as venal as Susanna Burney could look so alluring, extraordinary that her ruthlessness did not spill out in some way, spoiling the pretty picture of the captivating widow. Yet that, he supposed, was part of her skill. She did not attempt to compete with the innocence of debutantes. Her appeal lay in her sophistication and charm. In truth she was little different from a courtesan, a very high class, very talented, very beautiful courtesan but available to the highest bidder all the same, as long as it was marriage he was offering.

"Do you intend to seduce Fitz into marriage?" He asked.

Her gaze came back to his face, mocking him. "What a very vulgar question, Sir James. I have no intention of answering."

"As you have said yourself, a widow may use certain experience to her advantage."

A smile touched Susanna’s lips beneath the shadow of the bonnet. "Very true," she said. "Just as a rake may use his knowledge and skill to trap a debutante heiress."

There was silence between them, thick and taut, in the dark, enclosed world of the hackney coach. The rain drummed hard on the roof. The wheels splashed through the puddles on the road outside.

"You’re staring," Susanna said coolly. "Try the window instead."

"I see London every day," Dev said. "I was admiring you."

Susanna laughed. "I doubt that very much."

"I meant in the aesthetic sense," Dev said. "You are very beautiful. I’m not telling you anything you don’t know," he added.

"You can spare me the compliments," Susanna said dismissively. She smoothed her skirt with a gloved hand. "I am quite comfortable with silence."

"I was trying to play nicely," Dev said.

She cast him another glance, disdainful. "I doubt you do anything nicely, Devlin."

"I make love very nicely indeed," Dev said. "Do you not remember?"

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