Olivia "Livvie" Grace leads a quiet life on the fringes of society after a scandal five years ago destroyed her marriage and led to great personal tragedy. Although she fears that someone will recognize her and possibly destroy the life she has so painfully rebuilt, the real burden is the knowledge that when it counted, the love of her life -- her husband, Jack Wyndham, the Earl of Gracechurch -- believed lies and gossip rather than his own wife.
But Olivia's troubles pale in comparison to the horrors she sees as she helps care for British soldiers wounded while fighting Napoleon. Then, on a battlefield near Brussels, Olivia encounters Jack again. He is unconscious, near death and -- shockingly -- wearing a French uniform, which brands him as a traitor. Yet Livvie cannot leave him to die. She risks her life to save him.
When Jack finally wakes, he has no memory of the past five years. In his mind, he and Olivia are still married, and he has left her only briefly to "cool off" from their fight. Warned by doctors that trying to force him to remember could be potentially harmful, Olivia must go along with the façade of being a married couple, even as she still wonders about where Jack's loyalties lie. She is further dismayed to find her treacherous body still longs for Jack's touch. And, as it turns out, she is not the only one concerned with what Jack might remember. But others may not be patient enough to wait for his full recovery.
I'm not a big fan of amnesia plots, but this story grabbed me from the start with hints at Olivia's mysterious past, and I will admit to being a sucker for a wounded hero. Both Olivia and Jack are compelling characters, and their chemistry is electric. The military conflict provides an effective backdrop for the personal drama, and a creepy villain adds an element of suspense. Eileen Dreyer is probably best known for her contemporary thrillers (which I highly recommend), but she is a welcome addition to historicals, and I look forward to the next book in her Drake's Rakes series.
Olivia Grace has secrets that could destroy her. One of the greatest of these is the Earl of Gracechurch, who married and divorced her five years earlier. Abandoned and disgraced, Grace has survived those years at the edge of respectability. Then she stumbles over Jack on the battlefield of Waterloo, and he becomes an even more dangerous secret. For not only is he unconscious, he is clad in an enemy uniform.But worse, when Jack finally wakes in Olivia's care, he can't remember how he came to be on a battlefield in Belgium. In fact, he can remember nothing of the last five years. He thinks he and Olivia are still blissfully together. To keep him from being hanged for a traitor, Olivia must pretend she and Jack are still married. To unearth the real traitors, Olivia and Jack must unravel the truth hidden within his faulty memory. To save themselves and the friends who have given them sanctuary, they must stand against their enemies, even as they both keep their secrets.In the end, can they risk everything to help Jack recover his lost memories, even though the truth may destroy them both?
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