Murgatroyd (Troy) Sacheverell, fifth Earl of Ravenhurst, is
doing his best to put the nightmarish months of his capture
and subsequent torture behind him. He's spoken to no one of
his captivity and the fact that he was treated as a slave
by two women who beat him and even branded him. He escaped
and it's time to put that part of his life to rest.
And then he sees the younger of the two women who had
treated him as a dog posing in polite society. Lillian --
hence the lily brand -- is even making the moves to marry
his cousin, something that he cannot allow to happen.
Lillian finally has escaped from her stepmother and her
evil household, where men were kept chained as animals and
forced to be subservient. She's remaking her life as a
respectable woman with her aunt and uncle, who know nothing
of what was happening at her former home. Then the world
stops when one of the men who was abused at her
stepmother's household appears. Horror of horrors, he's the
cousin of the man who's been courting her.
Troy immediately tells his cousin that he cannot marry
that "hussy" -- but keeps the details of his knowledge of
Lillian to himself. That would require telling his cousin,
Alex, about his own humiliation, and he cannot bring
himself to even think of it, much less speak. When Alex
refuses to stop the courtship, Troy goes to Lillian. In the
face of her stoic countenance, he kisses her and rips her
bodice, attempting to make her feel some of the humiliation
that he felt.
In a terrible turnaround, Troy marries Lillian to protect
his cousin. Both are proud and refuse to reveal their
feelings -- Lillian will not attempt to make him see that
she was a victim of her stepmother, too.
Whew! This is certainly an interesting book. It begins with
scenes that you'd expect to find in pure erotica-type
books, with the stepmother eating food off of her slaves'
bodies, walking them on leashes, etc. Yet, after the
stepmother is removed from the scene, it becomes more of
a "normal" historical romance as Lillian and Troy try to
find the way to their private thoughts and hearts through a
huge misunderstanding. Of course, this is a much more
dramatic "misunderstanding" than in most of the romances
I've read. It takes a pretty good dose of love and lust to
get past what Troy went through at (supposedly) Lillian's
hands.
Ms. Schwab handles this challenge very well and in a
believable manner. Troy hangs on to his very justified
anger (fury would be a better description) for a very
appropriate length of time. I highly recommend this book
that pushes the edges of the historical romance genre.
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