The Judas Kiss (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780989519700)

England, 1820. The trial of Queen Caroline is underway. Prinny, George IV now, is determined to divorce his detested wife.The Whigs hope that the Queen will win her case. The Tories pray that she will not. More than a few Londoners wish that the politicians, taking their monarch with them, would jump off the nearest pier.London is about to become even more exciting. In the midst of all this uproar, Clea Fairchild returns home.At fifteen, Clea had been reading Ovid's ART OF LOVE. And scheming how to, once she acquired bosoms, introduce herself into rakehelly Baron Saxe's bed.Clea is one-and-twenty now, a widow whose husband died under mysterious circumstances she is determined to resolve.Kane is almost twice that age.Reprobate though he may be, Lord Saxe is not sufficiently depraved to act on the unseemly attraction he feels for his friend Ned's little sister, whom he is convinced means to drive him mad.Clea wonders, is Kane trying to drive her mad? In the years since they last met, he has grown more dissolute, more jaded, and even more damnably attractive.He has also grown skittish, and is avoiding her as if she carries plague.Clea isn't one to sit quietly in a corner. She has a mystery to solve. Villains to elude. Schoolgirl fantasies to explore.Providing her husband's murderer doesn't dispose of her first.This book is not a standalone. It involves characters, and concludes the storyline, introduced in the first book of the trilogy, THE TYBURN WALTZ.Excerpt: Clea took a swallow of her brandy, eyed her glass as if surprised to see that she still held it, set it aside and rose to her feet. Before Kane could step away from her -- he would have stepped away from her, surely, had he had his wits about him -- she slipped her arms around his neck. "I believe I may be inebriated," she said, and pressed her lips to his.Inebriated? She was drunk as David's sow. Kane had not understood before that the condition was contagious. He felt more than a little intoxicated himself.Lips and teeth and tongue. Murmured imploratins and ragged breaths. His hands moved over Clea's slim torso, her fingers tugged at his hair.This wasn't the first time Kane had found himself the focus of feminine determination. However, never before had his better nature been in such intense conflict with his worse.He released Clea abruptly, uncertain whether he was mor appalled by his behavior or hers.She touched her fingers to her lips. "I dreamed of kithing -- kissing! -- you every night when I was fifteen."Kane felt a tingle in his cheeks. The room was warm, he told himself. Rakehells didn't blush.Nor, in the normal way of things, did rakehells' toes curl in their stockings as result of a simple embrace. He should immediately send Clea on her way.At the very least, he should remove himself to the opposite side of the room.Kane did neither, but remained where he was.Sizzle rating: Mild232 pages61,165 wordsReviews for THE TYBURN WALTZ: "MacKeever expertly combines romance, rumor, passion and mystery to create a gripping and entertaining novel. The primary and secondary characters are well developed and will elicit emotional reponses from readers throughout the novel. THE TYBURN WALTZ is a keeper you'll want to reread often." -- 4 1/2 stars, Romantic Times"I haven't laughed this much while reading in a while! Don't miss this witty, well-written book." -- Romance Review Tod

Author: Maggie Mackeever
ISBN-10: 0989519708
ISBN-13: 9780989519700
Publisher: Vintage Ink Press
Language: English
Published: 09/22/2018
Pages: 234
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.77lbs
Size: 9.02h x 5.98w x 0.53d