With great courage and bravado, Lieutenant Greydon Quinn and his good friend, Sanjay, Prince of Amjerat in India, attempted to stop a Thugee band from robbing the Baaghh kaa kkhuun, the Blood of the Tiger diamond, from its rightful place in the temple. Badly outnumbered, they failed in their mission, but Greydon vowed he would do all that was possible to bring the powerful and dangerous red diamond back for his friend. With a brilliant insight for a strategy, Greydon believed the best way to find the diamond was with the help of the most successful jewel thief in England who had an uncanny ability to distinguish true gems from fakes. While his strategy worked, Greydon was totally floored to find the Mayfair Thief was none other than the lovely Lady Viola Preston!
Left with no choice, either from her illicit career she had to embark upon to keep her family from hungry after their father's will did not protect them or from the fear of going before a magistrate if Greydon turned her in, Lady Viola agreed to help find the diamond. Prepared for the worst, Viola was totally unprepared for the passion that would flare between her and Greydon. While willing to share kisses, Lady Viola wasn't prepared to tell him about her special gifts. People are afraid of those who are different and she wanted him to care about her. But, could she stay with him after seeing the cruel and disturbing vision of his past?
Mia Marlowe has written a real gem of a Regency romance that is totally fresh, fascinating, and suspenseful as Viola, Greydon, and Prince Sanjay travel from London to Europe in their quest to find the missing temple stone. Drawing on the tensions and mutinous backlash against the highhanded British for their treatment of India as a backdrop, Marlowe skillfully builds the plot and suspense while deftly entertaining the reader as Viola and Greydon attempt to maneuver each other while coming to terms with their own feelings. Sprinkled with dialogue that sparkles like diamonds and passion as steamy as a jungle, you will just want to read on long into the night to find out how things transpire. This is intriguing regency with a small paranormal twist that you will definitely not want to miss!
Londonβs most talented criminal is about to be
fingered...
Lady Viola Preston can relieve a gentleman of the studs at
his wrists without his being any the wiser and pick any lock
devised by man in less than a minute. But sheβs careful to
wear gloves when she steals jewels. Because when Viola
touches a gemstone with her bare skin, it βspeaksβ to her,
sending disturbing visionsβvisions almost as unsettling as
the sight of the cool-eyed stranger who catches her red handed.
Now Viola will only be stealing at Greydon Quinnβs behest.
And even more daunting than the violent history of the red
diamond heβs after is the prospect of a night in the
devastatingly handsome lieutenantβs arms. Touch has always
been Violaβs weakness, and the full body-to-body contact
Quinn has in mind is about to shatter her defenses and set
her senses reeling.
When Lady Violaβs father died, his title and income reverted to another branch of her family. Her weasel of a cousin refused to support Violaβs mother and soft-headed sister, so she turned to lifting jewels to keep their threadbare household together. Greydon Quinn wonders if Viola fully considered all her possibilities. "You didnβt have to resort to thievery to provide for your family, you know," Quinn said. "A woman has other options. Marriage, for example."
"Not if her dowry has disappeared in a blink." Lady Viola had been all ginger sauce up to this point, spicy but not the least sour. The sudden bitterness in her tone surprised him.Β
"Youβre undoubtedly well-educated. You might have become a governess."
"How deliciously lowering. The earlβs daughter takes a position tending a baronβs brats." She laughed mirthlessly. "The ton would have eaten that for breakfast with a spoon."
"Thereβs another choice theyβd consider more even more lowering, but some women make it."
Quinn wondered, not for the first time, about her level of sensual experience. She was old to still be unwed, probably in her mid-twenties, and hadnβt been under a manβs protection since her father died. When he insisted on sharing this cabin onboard with her, she had protested, but not with a virginβs horror at the scandal of it or with demands that he marry in truth to protect her good name.
And she kissed like a woman who knew what passion was.
"Are you suggesting I sell myself, lieutenant?"
"As frank a woman as you are, Iβm certain you considered it." He moved closer and realized she was trembling a bit, but trying to control it. "Youβd cut a wide swath through the demimonde. A gentleman with plump pockets would snap you up in a heartbeat to keep youβ"
"As his own private plaything," Viola finished for him.
"His cosseted, protected, adored plaything. You could name your own terms. What man wouldnβt want you? Youβre well-born . . . beautiful . . . accomplished . . ." Without conscious volition, Quinn found himself reaching to cup her cheek. She didnβt pull away. In fact, she inhaled a hitching breath when his thumb feathered over her skin. "Passionate."
"How could you know that?" she whispered, her lips barely moving.
He bent to lower his lips to within inches of hers. "A man just knows."
Then to his very great surprise, she slipped her fingers under his lapels and stood tiptoe. Eyes wide open, she closed the distance between their mouths.Β Β Β
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