Review
Four Stars!
Charmingly written, witty tale sure to please historical Regency aficionados. --
Romantic TimesLord Noah Edenhall is shocked when his closest friend, Anthony Prescott, Viscount Keighley, commits suicide after receiving a Dear John note from a woman with whom he intended to elope. After covering the matter up to make it look like a simple accident, Noah decides to track down the mysterious woman he knows only as A. He comes to believe twenty-eight year old Augusta Brierley is this woman. Augusta's step-mother Charlotte insists that Augusta attend several balls and teas during the London season she feels it is Augusta's duty as the daughter of the Marquess of Trecastle to go about in society and wed. Augusta wants nothing to do with society except to speak with Lord Belgrace about a matter of great importance. The unconventional beauty is also greatly occupied with her 'work'. At the first ball of the season, Noah finds Augusta. Dressed in an almost gray gown and a curious necklace, she's not quite the vixen he imagined, but he's certain she's an accomplished heartbreaker. He sees her meet with Lord Belgrace, who appears put off by her forward behavior. Noah intercepts Augusta on her way back to the ballroom and, inflamed with lust, kisses her. Her appearance, combined with his own reaction make him wonder if she somehow has enchanted her victims. Reding had me hooked on page one, but her decision not to reveal information that would have been in the forefront of the heroine's thoughts continued to pull me out of the story. Time and time again, for 220 pages, Augusta thinks about her 'work' and her 'urgent need to meet with Belgrace'. The implication is that Augusta is a witch, but later we find this is hardly the case. Once the secret was revealed, I enjoyed the romance much more and was thoroughly enchanted by the last third of the novel. With her superb knowledge and admirable skill, Reding captures the romance and grace of Regency England!Phoebe Imel --
Copyright © 080198 Literary Times, Inc. All rights reserved --
From Literary TimesThis very satisfying historical romance runs the gamut of emations; it also leaves just enough unsaid to make you want to read the next book in the quartet. --
Rendezvous Magazine
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
"Isn't that the lady you were dancing with at Almack's the other evening?" Noah opened his eyes, shielding them against the sunlight as he looked in the direction she pointed. It was indeed Lady Augusta, for although he couldn't see her face beneath the veiled hat she wore, he recognized her curiously-colored horse as she trotted across the adjacent field.
"Lady? I do not recall anyone in particular." Still he stood, watching as Lady Augusta disappeared through a break in the trees. Somehow he knew she was going to meet Belgrace. "How would you like an ice, Sarah?" "Oh, that isn't necessary. Really, Noah." "Nonsense. It is a warm day and I think an ice would be the perfect ending to our picnic. I know of a place where a vendor always sets up to sell them near the park's entrance. It will only take me a moment or two to fetch them." Sarah watched him as he made for Humphrey, who stood happily munching a tuft of grass nearby. "If you insist." He had already swung himself into the saddle and was heading off toward the break in the trees where Lady Augusta had vanished moments earlier, in the opposite direction from the park entrance. So intent was he on his pursuit, he never noticed Sarah's frown. As he came through the trees, Noah searched the isolated glade for Augusta. She couldn't have gone far; there really was nowhere else for her to go to, other than a small secluded embankment that lay beside the pond beyond the tree line. And that is precisely where he spotted her as he drew nearer. She was standing at the water's edge, contemplating the pattern of the lily pads, completely unaware of his approach behind her. Finally she looked up from her study when he was nearly upon her. He noticed then she wore the hat he'd sent her, its dark veil pulled down to shield her face. Thus he could not see her expression when she noticed him; it mattered naught for he soon heard well enough her reaction. "Please go away, sir." Noah ignored her plea and dropped down from the saddle, walking to her. "And miss the chance to admire the hat I sent to you? I had begun to wonder if you had received it at all." Lady Augusta lifted the veil to reveal underneath a very cross expression, her brows narrowed behind her spectacles. "Well, as you can see I did indeed receive it. I thank you for replacing the one you in fact ruined. It was very courteous of you to do so." Noah smiled, but didn't abandon his approach. "You vanished the other night without saying good night." "Really? I thought I had." When she saw he was making no appearance of leaving, she said, "Well then, I apologize for the oversight." She inclined her head. "Good night, Lord Edenhall. And goodbye." Noah didn't budge. "For someone who didn't know the steps of the waltz, you danced very well." She wouldn't look at him. "I think you must have consumed one too many glasses of punch, my lord. I was about as graceful as a cob horse." Noah didn't rise to her retort. Instead he just stared at her. Sensing his scrutiny, Augusta measured a quick glance toward him, and then looked to the break in the trees. Why would he not leave? She had sent a note to the earl very early that morning beseeching him one more time to meet her here in private. She had purposely misled him, too, giving indication that what she had to speak with him about had something to do with her father. Augusta didn't much like deceiving Lord Belgrace, but she knew of no other way to induce him to the park. She had to speak with him and very soon, before the time she had left to her ran out. She knew he would come. What she hadn't counted on was the interference once again of Lord Noah Edenhall. She was beginning to wonder if the man wasn't following her. She needed to get rid of him quickly and before the earl arrived. "Pray forgive me for speaking bluntly, Lord Edenhall, but I must ask that you return to wherever it was you were before you came here. I wish to be alone. I've some thinking to do and that is never a very productive enterprise when one is accompanied." He wasn't dissuaded. "On my honor as a gentleman I could not possibly leave you now, my lady, and especially at this part of the park. These woods are very often the haunt for footpads and the like. You could easily be set upon by bandits. My conscience could never willingly allow any lady to come to harm when I might do anything to prevent it." Augusta sucked in an impatient breath before pressing on. "I assure you I am really quite safe, sir. There are nothing except the songbirds and pond fish anywhere in the vicinity." He wasn't moving. "Perhaps now it is so, but one can never know when a footpad might happen upon a poor helpless lady." Helpless? "I prefer to take my chances, alone, sir." Noah nodded. "Certainly, my lady. If solitude is what you wish then I shall willingly remove myself to that tree stump over there, far enough away to afford you privacy for your contemplation, but near enough that I might still spring to action should the need arise." And before Augusta could respond, he tromped across the embankment to the very stump he'd pointed out that stood just inside the entrance where the trees broke. He made quite an effort of lifting his coat tails before lowering himself to sit, crossing his booted legs at the ankles before him. Augusta just stared at him. He gave a little wave. She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest, wishing for a sizeable rock to hurl at his head. Moments later she heard the sound of another rider approaching, a rider dressed all in black, his face obscured behind the wide brim of his hat. He halted just inside the break in the trees when he spotted her there, and with her Lord Edenhall still occupying his place on the stump. It was Lord Belgrace and he promptly turned about, heading off in the opposite direction. He was gone just as quickly as he had appeared. Augusta was so angry, she wanted to scream. Instead she watched, furious inside, as Noah stood from his stump and retraced his steps to her. "That was indeed fortunate for if ever a figure appeared nefarious, it was he." Augusta didn't offer a response. Instead she spun about and walked over to where Atalanta stood waiting for her. Perhaps, if she hurried, she might catch up with the earl before he left the park. It would be difficult for she had no idea in which direction he'd gone. Still she must try. She mounted quickly, using the stump Noah had been sitting on as a mounting block, and then trotted off, holding in check the profound desire to run down the irksome Lord Noah Edenhall as she passed.
