Rating: 
Summary: Steamy romance for mature readers only!
Review: Yes, I would say this book ranks right up there with any of Susan Johnson's in the arena of steamy sex. And perhaps the heroine's behavior seems a bit out of place in this time period. However, Holt's characters have hidden feelings and vulnerabilities that somehow make their actions believable.The biggest hurdle to get over is how Abigail Weston is so quickly converted from a prudish spinster to a wanton wench. Still waters run deep, they say. A second sense tells her that James Stevens is more than the libertine he claims to be. And while she is eager for the physical love he offers, she yearns to help him face the insecurities that render him incapable of real love. In order to do this, however, she must be willing to acknowledge her relationship with him to the world--not an easy thing to do when he has made it clear that he will not commit himself to her in any way. What would she do when (if) he cast her off after she had been rejected by her family and all of society for her wanton behavior? She instinctively knows he loves her, but will their love be enough to overshadow the darkness in his soul? In some ways, jumping off a cliff would be easier! I wasn't crazy about his father Edward's behavior, and his mother disappointed me too at times, but one doesn't get to pick one's relatives, and the ones we end up with aren't always ideal either. But whatever happened to his brother Michael? I'll have to check out some of Holt's newer titles.
| 
