The Rogue
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4.3 • 10 Ratings
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Dear Reader—
Seductive and mysterious, Merlyn was the laird of Ravensmuir—never had a man so stirred my body and soul. I gave myself to him—willingly, trustingly, passionately—and we soon wed. Then a horrible revelation emerged, shattering my innocence and my marriage…
Five years later, Merlyn returned to my doorstep, desperate for my help. The scoundrel swore he was haunted by memories of me, that a treasure locked in Ravensmuir could clear his name. Yet I could not surrender to his will again. Now he is said to be murdered and Ravensmuir has fallen into my hands.
But even as I cross the threshold of this cursed keep, I hear his whisper in the darkness, feel his caress in the night, and I know that Merlyn has told me but part of his tale. Should I do as is right and expose his lair? Or dare I trust my alluring but deceptive spouse—the rogue who destroyed my heart?
—Ysabella
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An unconventional heroine and a mystery about forged religious relics lend spice to this beguiling medieval romance from Delacroix, author of the Bride Quest series (The Beauty, etc.). Ysabella is an illiterate peasant living in near poverty with her sister and young brother. The family is reviled by the town for aspiring above its station five years earlier, impetuous Ysabella married Merlyn Lammergeier, the lord of the manor, only to leave him in a fortnight. While the town assumes she's been cast off, the truth is she refused to live with a man who earned his fortune selling false relics to wealthy lords. Merlyn left Ravensmuir shortly thereafter but has now returned to reclaim his birthright and his bride. When he is attacked and left for dead, Ysabella agrees to play the grieving widow to help discover the assailant. Delacroix does a fine job of integrating historical detail into her plot; Ysabella's illiteracy, for example, is not merely mentioned, but used as a source of conflict between the couple. The story is told in the first person from Ysabella's point of view, which lends it an air of oral history, and the details of the relic trade are engrossing. Though a few plot twists are predictable, readers will treasure this rich and compulsively readable tale.
