4.25 stars
Jean de Lacey, Vicomte de Landreville a qualified & respected lawyer is a jaded French émigré who reluctantly decides the only way to revive his fortunes is by marrying a wealthy wife. But before he proposes to anyone, he must free himself of the smuggling gang he has been involved with since his arrival in England & who violently resist his wish to quit.
He woos young, beautiful Eugenie Ponnette, a fellow émigré, however Jean resists agreeing to the love match she insists on, even though his passion for Eugenie is different to anything he has experienced before.
A well written book with strong characters & a well paced plot. Jean & Eugenie are both very likeable, he once thought himself in love & now thinks he can’t feel that again nor remain faithful to one woman, she believes in love & will only marry for a ‘grand passion’. The pair are attracted to each other & their attraction grows but Jean also feels very protective of Eugenie. He decides to court her but things are anything but smooth, he wants to stop his smuggling, there’s a lover who wants him for herself, so the course of true love certainly doesn’t run smoothly. The verbal sparring is very good & often had me smiling. I thoroughly enjoyed the book & look forward to more from the author

Jean and Eugenie have a steamy romance that I enjoyed reading. Both are immigrants from France and are trying to make their way in society. I liked that Eugenie would not settle for anything less than a man who loved her and would stay loyal to her. I liked the H, Jean, less because although I like rakes in my stories, I do not like when they still have mistresses after meeting the h. I like new more loyalty in Hs. That being said, I enjoyed the steamy romance between our characters and look forward to the next story!