Never a Gentleman (The Drake's Rakes series) [Mass Market Paperback]

Eileen Dreyer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2011 | Series: The Drake's Rakes series (Book 2)

HE HIDES HIS TRUE COLORS . . .

Miss Grace Fairchild is under no illusions about her charms. Painfully plain, she is a soldier's daughter who has spent her life being useful, not learning the treacherous ways of the ton. She may have been caught in a scandal with society's favorite rogue, but how can she marry him when it means losing herself?

WHILE SHE HIDES HER TRUE SELF . . .

Diccan Hilliard doesn't know which of his enemies drugged him and dumped him in Grace's bed, but he does know the outcome. He and Grace must marry. To his surprise, a wild, heady passion flares between them. Yet Diccan is trapped in a deadly game of intrigue Grace knows nothing about. Will his lies destroy Grace just as he realizes how desperately he needs her? And how can he hope for a future with her, when an old enemy has set his murderous sights on them both?

Editorial Reviews

Review

"With a poetic sense of grace, deftly defined characters, and her usual wicked sense of wit, RITA Award winner Korbel fashions a lusciously sensual and thoroughly romantic love story... Dangerous Temptations is bewitching, beguiling, and brilliant." (Booklist )

About the Author

New York Times best-selling author Eileen Dreyer has won five RITA Awards from the Romance Writers of America, which secures her fourth place in the Romance Writers of America prestigious Hall of Fame. Eileen is an addicted traveler, having sung in some of the best Irish pubs in the world. Eileen also writes as Kathleen Korbel and has over three million books in print worldwide. Born and raised in Missouri, she lives in St. Louis County with her husband Rick and her two children.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Forever; 1 edition (April 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446542067
• ISBN-13: 978-0446542067
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.1 x 6.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #831,229 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Award-winning, bestselling author Eileen Dreyer is actually evil twins. known as Kathleen Korbel to her Silhouette readers, she has published twenty-three books for Silhouette since 1986 and, under her own name(Eileen Dreyer), eight suspense novels and ten short stories. She came to publishing from the world of trauma nursing, which taught her some very important lessons, the most important being "don't sweat the small stuff," or, as her family puts it, "come see me when you get hit by a bus."

Eileen won her first publishing award in 1987, being named the best new Contemporary Romance Author by Romantic Times. Since then she has garnered not only a prestigious Anthony Award nomination for mystery, but five Rita Awards from the Romance Writers of America, which garnered her a place as only the fourth member in the RWA Hall of Fame.

Eileen is a voracious reader--of everything--who started writing at ten, when she ran out of Nancy Drews. She writes in two genres, because she believes in the message of both: hope and justice.(well, and because she hasn't finished that big fantasy yet)You can figure out which is which.

A frequent speaker at writer's conferences and universities all across the country, Eileen is a member not only of Romance Writers of America, but Novelists, Inc, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and, just in case things go wrong, Emergency Nurses Association. She has also assumed the mantle of unofficial mascot for the International Association of Forensic Nurses, a new forensic subspecialty that, amazingly enough, has begun to show up in her work.

A lifelong resident of St. Louis, Missouri, Eileen has been married for thirty-two years to husband Rick, and has two children. She also has animals but refuses to expose them to the glare of the limelight. An addicted traveler, she has sung in some of the best Irish pubs in the world, and enjoys the kind of hands-on book research that lets her salve an insatiable curiosity. She counts film producers, police detectives and Olympic athletes as some of her sources and friends.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Here we go again... April 12, 2011

By January

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have mixed feelings about this book. Like the first book it made me want to know what happened in the end. I liked Grace but the things she put up with just seemed ridiculous. What self respecting woman would put up with what was done to her ? She seemed similar to Olivia in the first book with her lack of backbone. Just when she seemed like she might make a stand Diccan simply gave her a look or touched her and she melted. She didn't know him that well but she heard him verbally degrade her and saw him with the mistress and obviously that just turned her right on ??! I am all for characters being a little imperfect but I still like to see them somehow keep their integrity. These heroes (if you can call them that) seem to have a lot to learn, but I guess why should they when these spineless and desperate for love woman put up with what they dish out. I also just loved in the end when they were passing around the flask with the picture of Mimi and Jack "wistfully" looks at it. Wistfully means -full of yearning and sad. So with that one sentence the author gave me the impression he still has the hots for her (as if he didn't disrespect Olivia enough in the first book). I am not sure if I will be able to read the next one.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Dreyer breaks the golden rule July 14, 2011

By sarah stewart

Format:Mass Market Paperback

To my mind there's a golden rule that you cannot break when writing HR, or any kind of romance. It doesn't matter how reprehensible the hero is or how much of a rake he was in the past, he does NOT have sex with another woman once he has met the heroine. Some of you may disagree and say I'm being prudish, but that's how I like my romance. This book breaks that rule. And so the whole plot line of Diccan Hilliard having wild sex with his mistress while he is supposedly falling in love with his wife doesn't ring true and consequently spoils the book for me. I think this book has real potential. I always love a story line that has a hero falling for a girl who isn't beautiful...give me hope for myself! But this book has too much of a 1970s feel for me...the hero is a beast and the heroine is pathetically glad for whatever attention she gets...so it's not a hit with me.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Oh God! ... 3 stars 4 stars I don't know. April 29, 2011

By romancecritic

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I really am at a loss. I do not know exactly how to describe the emotions this novel evoked. And emotions is the correct word because that is what this novel is, an emotional ride. My heart hurt, my eyes cried, and my mind raged.

Four stars because the novel is well written, well developed, and mostly well researched. The settings are very well described (so well that at the end it got a bit tiresome). The emotions of guilt, on Diccan's side, and betrayal, abandonment, helplessness, and everything else in between, on Grace's side, are so well drawn out that the reader actually suffers them. But the author's horrible treatment of the female protagonist, Grace, and Grace's passivity bring the 3 stars into play.

After being set up and found together in a compromising situation, Grace and Diccan have to wed, to save his reputation and credibility more than hers. He is a diplomat, uncovering a plot to remove England's mad king, replacing him with Charlotte who would be putty in the hands of those behind the scheme (the Lions). So, in the name of England, shortly after his marriage, Diccan is screwing his long time mistress, who has followed him to England, so he can get information from her. Grace only knows that he is sleeping with his mistress, does not know the reasons behind it. But is made to watch her husband screw the brains out of his lover by the Lions (unaware that they are the Lions) so that she could be convinced he is being investigated for treason and help them (the Lions) bring him down. ANYWAY ...

I did not really like this part. I did not like the fact that Grace did nothing, nothing! She was nicknamed the little Colonel, well that is as inept a comparison as can be made. A Colonel should LEAD not FOLLOW, bark orders not be subservient. And that is what Grace is - subservient. It is this that makes the 3 stars stand out even more in my mind. Grow some backbone woman.

I do not know if in 1813, right after the turn of the century, women were exposed to such horrible treatment, horrible emotional neglect, horrible outright discard; I do not know if it was acceptable; I do not know if women thought it their due; I do know that if all that is true, I am glad I live in 2011.