The Countess (Bride Quest) [Paperback]

Claire Delacroix (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 2000

Be Mine for  a year  and  a day  and  I will possess your heart forevermore!

Driven from her late husband's estate, Countess Eglantine de Crevy fled to wildest Scotland to claim a castle, only to find a ruin--and a clan chieftain standing guard. Kinbeath was hers, she declared, vowing to rebuild the manor and launch a bride quest so her daughters could marry for love. But Duncan MacLaren had devised a bride quest of his own, swearing to win the land--and the fiery countess--in a war of sweet seduction....

Eglantine declared she would never be captured by this barbarian. Yet Duncan awakened passions she had never known before. She promised to fight him with every weapon at her command even as he vowed to woo her for a year and a day--and make her his pagan bride. Each thought Kinbeath the prize they most desired, a prize to be won at any price. Until passion turned to love, and the chieftain found himself fighting for the heart and hand of the woman he was born to possess.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Don't miss the Acclaimed Bride Quest Series:

"The Bride Quest series brings back the glorious time of knights and their ladies in living color, filling our world of dreams with rainbow streams of magnificent adventures, mysteries, ribald humor, and divine lovers."
-- The Belles and Beaux of Romance

The Princess
The Damsel
The Heiress

Available from Bantam Dell

From the Inside Flap

Be Mine for  a year  and  a day  and  I will possess your heart forevermore!

Driven from her late husband's estate, Countess Eglantine de Crevy fled to wildest Scotland to claim a castle, only to find a ruin--and a clan chieftain standing guard. Kinbeath was hers, she declared, vowing to rebuild the manor and launch a bride quest so her daughters could marry for love. But Duncan MacLaren had devised a bride quest of his own, swearing to win the land--and the fiery countess--in a war of sweet seduction....

Eglantine declared she would never be captured by this barbarian. Yet Duncan awakened passions she had never known before. She promised to fight him with every weapon at her command even as he vowed to woo her for a year and a day--and make her his pagan bride. Each thought Kinbeath the prize they most desired, a prize to be won at any price. Until passion turned to love, and the chieftain found himself fighting for the heart and hand of the woman he was born to possess.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Dell; Regular Print/Single Titl edition (August 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440236347
• ISBN-13: 978-0440236344
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,329,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

NYT bestselling author Claire Delacroix always loved stories, both telling them and hearing them. She sold her first romance novel - THE ROMANCE OF THE ROSE - in 1992 and has been happily writing romances ever since. She makes her home with her family, a number of incomplete knitting projects and a lot of overgrown houseplants. Claire loves to travel, to cook, to ride her bike and to read.

In 2011, Claire has been re-releasing many of her historical romances in digital format. For more information about these releases, please visit her website at http://www.delacroix.net. You can also search for Kindle editions of her books right here on Amazon.

Visit Claire's website, Chateau Delacroix, at
http://www.delacroix.net

Find Claire on FaceBook here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Claire-Delacroix/108553409224492

Claire also writes as Deborah Cooke:
http://www.deborahcooke.com

She blogs most weekdays at her blog, Alive & Knitting, at
http://www.delacroix.net/blog

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars same plot different book, May 5, 2008

By 

Cindy Creasy "One A Day" (Lees Summit, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Countess (Bride Quest) (Paperback)

there are five books to this series, after the first two all the books were the same with little plot change. You have to read this series in order or the story lines go a little crazy. Not as well written as other books I have read in the past (series included). This was my least favorite in the series but in order for the other two books (her daughters) you have to read this book and get through it first. The other books in the series took me less than six hours to read, this book took me more than fifteen hours to read.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars And the Bride Quest Continues!!, September 7, 2000

By 

Deborah L. Kepler "Deb Kepler" (Carthage, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Countess (Bride Quest) (Paperback)

When Countess Eglantine de Crevy leaves her late husband's estate for the wilds of Scotland, she expects to find the castle Kinbeath. Instead, she finds a ruin and a clan chieftain claiming the ruin as his own. Duncan MacLaren has no intention of giving up his claim on Kinbeath, espically to a highborn, spoiled Countess, even if she does hold the deed to the land. Eglantine is determined to rebuild Kinbeath and turn it into a fine manor once again, and she will not let some barbarien Scotsman stand in her way. She intends to launch a bride quest for her three daughters, so that they may have a match made in love instead of being made for money. Little does she know that Duncan is just as determined to get the Countess into his bed and into his heart. He sets out on a bride quest of his own: To win the heart of the icemaiden Eglantine de Crevy and make her his bride, whether she likes it or not!!

If you have read the first three 'Bride Quest" books, make sure you read this one too. Claire Delacroix is a wonderful writer with a flair for writing of Scotish lore with all of their fantasies and fairy beliefs.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bride Quest continues ....wonderful!, October 17, 2000

By 

Vyvyan Dunlap "annievyv" (Middlebury, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Countess (Bride Quest) (Paperback)

After reading the trilogy Bride Quest series; The Princess, The Damsel, and The Heiress...I was more than thrilled when Claire Delacroix gave us The Countess. The interweaving of each character unfolds into a dynamic historic setting that draws you in til the very end. These books are not just average ..they are well researched and well written. I look forward to reading more in, The Beauty, when it comes out.