Caress of Fire [Mass Market Paperback]

Martha Hix (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1992

With her dream of opening a millinery shop in Chicago, Lisette Keller joins Gil McLoughlin's cattle drive in order to raise the necessary funds and discovers that true happiness may be waiting for her in Gil's arms. Original.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Splendor (April 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 082173718X
• ISBN-13: 978-0821737187
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,969,994 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a chic from kansas, July 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Caress of Fire (Mass Market Paperback)

Ok! i really liked this book, no loved it (i read it twice!) but i was also a little frustrated with Gil, Lisette never gave him any cause for not trusting her. I did feel bad for the whole bad 1st experience she had in San Antonio.Elizabeth did burn Gil,but I am suprised Lisette took what she did from Gil. But then again both of them had been burnt once.I was glad he felt horrible about the things he said to Lisette and i am glad she gave him a hard time and didn't just fall into his arms! But that is what made this book great!- and the fact that it took place in the part of the world i am from! I am officially hooked on Martha Hix! keep 'em coming! If anyone has found her continuing story of Gil and Lisette, let me know! [e-mail]

3.0 out of 5 stars So so, March 15, 2010

By 

CORTEGA (The Great North) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Caress of Fire (Mass Market Paperback)

Gil is a former Union officer who was married to a tart named Betty. When Betty had a baby by another man, Gil divorced her and consequently has trust issues with women.

Lisette is a German girl whose family fought for the Confederacy. She has lost all her family except her brother Adolf, who is married to a mean woman named Monika. Monika treats Lisette like their personal slave, and Lisette is dying to get away and make a life for herself.

However, Lisette (four years earlier) once lived in San Antonio and fell in love with a young man who was soon to join the war. The night before he left, Lisette (thinking they would be married after the war) agreed to sleep with the man. However, he never came back to her and in fact met someone else and married the other woman.

Lisette now lives with the secret that she is no longer pure and therefore not just any man is going to want her. She dreams of running away from her brother's farm and moving to Chicago to open a hat shop.

Gil moves to Fredericksburg and operates a up and coming ranch operation. He sees the beautiful Lisette and decides she would be the perfect wife for him. Lisette knows that Gil is going to herd cattle north and she sees Gil as her ticket out of Fredericksburg. She skews up the courage to ask him if he will hire her as his trail cook, but Gil turns her down flat, as the trail is no place for a single woman.

Disheartened, Lisette returns to her brother's farm and after one last confrontation with her sister-in-law, she sneaks away, stealing a mule and food, and heads out to find Gil's traveling party.

When she catches up to the herd, she begs Gil to let her stay but he refuses. She asks if he'll at least let her cook a meal to show she is better than the current cook, who is actually a terrible cook and hands have been quitting for the past week based on the awful food provided. She quickly shows she is a good cook, but that doesn't matter to Gil. A single woman cannot be amongst hard cowboys. Lisette begs him to let her stay and the next day Gil tells her that the only way she can stay is if she marries him. Because Lisette has a secret about her lack of virginity, she declines. Gil presses her and scares her enough with tales of all the things that could go wrong if she tries to make her way back home alone, that Lisette agrees to marry him.

They marry, but Gil told her it would be in name only. Soon, he decides that he wants to make her his wife in every way, but Lisette is resistant since she knows he'll discover she isn't a virgin. Gil has said enough about his trollop of an ex-wife that Lisette knows he will not forgive her lack of virginity or her not telling him upfront about it.

However, Lisette is attracted to Gil, and Gil is after her constantly to be his wife completely, and so one day under the oaks when they are alone, he presses her to give in to him. She does, and when he discovers she is not a virgin he is very angry and withdraws from her emotionally. Now he believes she is a hussy just like his former wife and that she deliberately trapped him.

The rest of the cowboys notice the tension between them, and Gil notices the cowboys being nice to Lisette. Lisette being a nice woman is a bit naive about being too nice to the men, but to Gil she is just easy. Matthias is a young man on the crew who grew up Lisette and has always loved her. When she married Gil, Matthias was upset but now that he sees the tension between the two, he is more forward with Lisette, even telling her that he will marry her if she divorces Gil. Gil sees Matthias rub Lisette's back and tells him to get away from his wife. When Matthias leaves, Gil accuses Lisette of leading Matthias on. She is upset that Gil thinks she is so loose.

The next day one hand who had had his eyes on Lisette from the beginning approached when she was alone and tried to rape her. As she struggled to get away, he punched her and tore her clothing and just as she was about to lose the fight, Gil came and rescued her, beating up the guy and sending him on his way. This time Gil knows that Lisette didn't provoke the attention and front that point on, they draw closer.

Lisette discovers she is pregnant and as they continue their route north, her belly grows and she and Gil are happy. But, by 7 months pregnant, Lisette's belly is huge and various people they come in contact with keep telling Lisette that she is going to delivery the baby any day. This makes Gil suspicious that Lisette was already when she married him, and the more he dwells on it, the more he becomes convinced that Lisette was a loose woman, got pregnant by someone else, and trapped him. Try and she might, Lisette cannot convince her otherwise.

When Lisette gets kidnapped by an Indian, she tries to get the upper hand on him by telling him to disrobe and come closer to her. The whole time she is supposedly seducing the Indian, Gil is there watching the whole encounter. Though he shoots the Indian, it is one more peg against Lisette in Gil's mind.

In the midst of all this, there is a secondary problem of a man whom Gil jailed during the war, who wants his revenge on Gil. The man hires on to Gil's outfit and plots with other ex-Confederate hands against Gil. They begin killing cattle and even Gil's beloved collie dog. In the meantime, the man (Hatch) had been hooked up with an Indian woman, who makes her way to the crew. Gil forbids another woman on the crew, but Matthias falls in love with the young woman. Gil fires Matthias, and when the crew reaches San Antonio, Gil and the young Indian woman marry. But, Hatch turns up and accuses the Indian woman of killing their baby. Turns out it is true, and Matthias is so horrified that he leaves her. The young Indian flees the scene and Lisette is arrested for aiding her flight. Lisette's brother shows up and gets her out of jail. The brother is remorseful about the way he and his wife had treated Lisette. He agrees to help Lisette find the Indian woman, because Lisette had befriended her on the trail.

They find her nearly dead (Hatch stabbed her), and before she dies, she is able to tell them (Matthias has come around by now) about Hatch's plan to ruin Gil. Lisette and her brother and Matthias ride north to warn Gil. When Gil meets Lisette's brother and sees how nice he is, it gives him even more ammunition against Lisette who said her brother had treated her like dirt.

Ultimately, they reach their destination of Abilene and by the time they get there, Gil is convince Lisette is carrying another man's child. When they find his grandmother waiting there, the grandmother confirms that Lisette is sure to have the baby at any moment. Gil tells Lisette he will be divorcing her.

She goes into labor and winds up having THREE little girls, which is why her belly is so big and why everyone thought she was ready to deliver. Gil is remorseful when he finds out he had misjudged her, and after making him suffer a bit, Lisette forgives him and they end up happily every after.

Throughout the story, though, Lisette throws one monkey-wrench into Gil's plans and authority as they travel north. She undermines him in front of his crew time and again and that is part of the reason that he is so vexed with her. His hurt regarding his ex-wife's wantonness is something that really wears on him, so the thought of Lisette being the same is something he cannot deal with and to be fair she does put herself in positions that would cause him pause, especially with his background.

I cannot believe I just wrote this whole thing, but it was an okay story. The constant misunderstandings were annoying, and it seemed that like everything but the kitchen sink was thrown in and wasn't necessary: good Indians, bad Indians, Civil War, kidnapped by Indians, misunderstandings one after another, etc.

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Story, August 31, 2006

By 

msbooklady "msbooklady" (Biloxi, MS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Caress of Fire (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is never boring but it is almost always aggravating. The hero?, Gil, is such a jerk sometimes that I kind of wish Lissette would just leave.

Lissette is a penniless German girl who is practically a slave on her brothers farm. She must work the fields, do all the housework, tend their kids and he orders her to marry someone he chooses. To escape this life, she applies as a cook on Gil's cattle drive. Gil is interested in Lissette romantically but her brother refuses to introduce him because he is a divorced man and that is scandilous in that day and age. When Lissette applies as a cook he refuses, because it would be improper for her to go along on an all male cattle drive.

Lissette runs away and shows up on the cattle drive. She is accepted because they desparately need a cook , but in order to stay she must marry Gil for appearances sake. Gil assures her it will be a marriage of convenience unless she wants it otherwise. He hopes to change her mind and be a full husband to her. He was burnt in a previous marriage when he found out his wife was sleeping around and wants to marry a true Lady. Lissette is carrying around a secret, she is no longer a virgin because she slept with her boyfriend before he went off to war and then he married someone else. She doesn't want a full marriage because she fears she will be shamed. When Gil pressures her to consummate their marriage she resists, then tells him the truth. The problem is she lapsed into German and doesn't realize it. When Gil finds out she isn't a virgin he is disgusted and angry. Gil spends the rest of the book comparing Lissette to his ex wife and shaming her the whole time.

I just couldn't get over Gil's mental cruelty. Lissette never lied and said she was a virgin, as a matter of fact she tried to keep from marrying him but he insisted. Time and time again she proves her loyalty only to have him accuse her of being unfaithful. Even when she becomes pregnant he suspects he is not the father, although he has no proof otherwise and even threatens divorce. At the end when his kids look exactly like him, he has to eat crow and then expects instant forgiveness. I'm sorry, Gil was such a creep it was hard to root for a happy ending, I kind of wish Lissette would have went through with the divorce.