Brazen Temptress [Mass Market Paperback]

Elizabeth Boyle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 8, 1999

She came to betray him...

No one could have known the truth: that the beauty who swept into the elegant ballroom was a pirate queen with a treacherous plan--to save herself from execution by identifying an infamous privateer attending the ball in disguise. Only Maureen Hawthorne could expose the double life of Julien d'Artiers, the toast of the ton. After all, she was his wife....

But he caught her heart unawares...

Julien was stunned when he beheld the love of his life, the wife he'd presumed dead. But here she was, her turquoise eyes blazing across a crowded ballroom, a woman determined to bring about his complete ruin. She blamed him for her father's death, swore to see him hang. But he took her into his arms and made her dance instead, tormenting her with memories of the passion they'd once shared, determined to make her love him again...willing to do anything to keep from losing her again.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Boyle's third Regency chronicling the adventures of the D'Artiers family, Maureen Hawthorne de Ryes, scheduled to be hanged for smuggling, makes a deal with the Lord Admiral of England to save herself and her ship's crew. She agrees to uncover the identity of her erstwhile husband, Captain de Ryes, a notorious privateer who moves freely in society disguised as a nobleman. Abandoned after their wedding night, Maureen is haunted by memories of her brief marriage as she assumes the identity of a young lady of the ton in order to seek out her husband in London's ballrooms. When de Ryes, a.k.a. Julien D'Artiers, realizes who she is, he risks capture to convince his wife of the truth behind his apparent betrayal, revealing the sinister role played by the Lord Admiral. Boyle (Brazen Heiress) skillfully weaves flashbacks of the couple's courtship with the dangers of Maureen's current bargain until the past and present story lines coalesce in a rousing shipboard finale. A captivating melange of intrigue, suspense and romance makes this series an increasing delight. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Inside Flap

She came to betray him...

No one could have known the truth: that the beauty who swept into the elegant ballroom was a pirate queen with a treacherous plan--to save herself from execution by identifying an infamous privateer attending the ball in disguise. Only Maureen Hawthorne could expose the double life of Julien d'Artiers, the toast of the ton. After all, she was his wife....

But he caught her heart unawares...

Julien was stunned when he beheld the love of his life, the wife he'd presumed dead. But here she was, her turquoise eyes blazing across a crowded ballroom, a woman determined to bring about his complete ruin. She blamed him for her father's death, swore to see him hang. But he took her into his arms and made her dance instead, tormenting her with memories of the passion they'd once shared, determined to make her love him again...willing to do anything to keep from losing her again.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Dell (June 8, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440226392
• ISBN-13: 978-0440226390
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #955,624 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Elizabeth Boyle's passions include her husband and two sons (or as she calls them, "her heroes in training"). In between the kids's activities, camping and gardening and trying to keep up on her ever-growing knitting pattern collection, she continues to write new and exciting romances.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An average conclusion to a wonderful trilogy., July 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Brazen Temptress (Mass Market Paperback)

Elizabeth Boyle can write the best swashbuckling fun ever. Masquerade, intrigue, passion... she can do all of these wonderfully. "Brazen Angel" was superb, "Brazen Heiress" very good, and this, her latest, is just so-so.

Oh, the exciting intrigue is still there. However, "Brazen Temptress" is basically a Big Misunderstanding story. A very well-done BM story, but nonetheless, the story is driven by the hero's incomprehensible refusal to set the story straight early on (probably because otherwise there will be no story!). Seeing the heroine being put through suspicions after suspicions, just because the hero won't talk, becomes very irritating after so much and ultimately spoils the fun.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent read!, May 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Brazen Temptress (Mass Market Paperback)

The Lord Admiral wanted to capture the elusive pirate known as deRyes. Instead, as he was pronouncing sentence on a band of smugglers, he found he had captured the wife of deRyes. The Lord Admiral made a deal with Maureen. If she were to enter London society and point out who deRyes was, she and her crew would be allowed to go free. Since deRyes had betrayed her and murdered her fathr, she was more than happy to agree.

***A delicious adventure with more twists to the plot than I ever imagined possible to instill in a story! An excellent choice to read!***

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tempting Regencyromance, April 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Brazen Temptress (Mass Market Paperback)

In 1813 England, Judge Porter decrees that pirate Captain Maureen Hawthorne and her men are to be hung as smugglers. As she is escorted out of the courtroom, she overhears the Lord Admiral Peter Cotwell talking with his long time friends, Captain Will Johnston and Porter. He asks them to give him ideas as to how to catch the notorious traitor-pirate De Ryes, who hides among the Ton. Maureen offers a deal that will provide her and her men freedom in exchange for her identifying De Ryes, who as her spouse, betrayed her now deceased father. Peter quickly accepts.

Lord Julian D'Artiers is the most scandalous rogue that is acceptable by polite society. To everyone's shock, he enters Almack's. To his own shock, he sees his wife Maureen, who he thought drowned when she jumped off his ship eight years ago. The brazen Julian dances with an equally stunned Maureen, warning her to beware of Peter, not him. Still in love with the person she thinks killed her father, Maureen wonders who to trust because if she selects the wrong person, she will end up at the gallows.

BRAZEN TEMPTRESS is an exciting Regency romance that fans of the sub-genre will enjoy. The story line is entertaining as Maureen struggles between believing her beloved or the political appointee. The characters are fully developed, especially Julian, who will make readers' blood boil. As with her two previous "Brazen" tales (BRAZEN HEIRESS and BRAZEN ANGEL), award winning Elizabeth Boyle provides a pleasurable, action-packed novel.

Harriet Klausner