To Seduce a Sinner

Elizabeth Hoyt

Melisande Fleming has loved Jasper Renshaw, Viscount Vale, for six years. She sees him at the different London soirees. She watches as he woos and wins another lover - all beautiful women who can flirt and talk. At one time Jasper was engaged to her best friend, but then Emeline fell in love with a colonist in America. She married him and they sailed to Boston. When Jasper is then jilted at the altar by his second fiancee, Melisande offers herself to be his wife.

Jasper had not noticed Melisande before, even when she was with Emeline, his best friend's sister he was to marry. She is quiet. She dresses in browns and grays and is not an outstanding beauty. But he needs heirs. She is willing. So a few weeks later the two are wed.

There are secrets between the couple who have wed for convenience. She cannot let him know she loves him. Nor does she tell him of her past. He was in the Americas fighting against the French. He was with a troop that was routed by a group of Wyandotte Indians. The few men who didn't die on the battlefield were captured, tortured, and some killed before they were finally ransomed a couple weeks later.

About six months earlier Jasper learned from Emeline's new husband that they were betrayed at that battle. Someone had been a traitor and given away the troop's location, making it easy to corner them and defeat them. Samuel Hartley returned to America. Jasper has now taken on the mantle of responsibility to locate the traitor. He has a few of his own demons to shake.

He now also has an intriguing new wife. She may have seemed plain when they married, but Jasper soon learns there is more to Melisande Fleming Renshaw than is apparent on the outside. She too, is a mystery, that he now must solve - and keep safe.

To Seduce a Sinner is a wonderful story. The combination of Jasper and Melisande learning about each other and his quest entwine into a book I didn't want to put down. Elizabeth Hoyt makes the battle in the Colonial states feel historically real. There is enough description of the captivity to show the horror of the torture without being too graphic.

The sex scenes are very graphic. If that is offensive to the reader most of them can be skipped. But some of Melisande's and Jasper's revelations to each other are mixed in with the lovemaking, so they can't be completely ignored. The way Jasper finds to describe Melisande at the end of the book is lovely - very fitting and romantic.

This novel is part of the Four Soldiers series. At the beginning of each chapter there is another story: a fairy tale about Laughing Jack, a soldier returning to his country from a war. It has it's own romance and moral and is a good counterpoint to the main tale. Any romantic will appreciate this novel.

Notice: Explicit sexual content, Non-graphic violence

Publicist provided for review

To Taste Temptation
To Seduce a Sinner
To Beguile a Beast
To Desire a Devil