The Border Hostage
A Novel
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4,4 • Оценок: 40
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- 5,99 $
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- 5,99 $
От издателя
New York Times bestselling author Virginia Henley brings her trademark passion, power, and steamy sensuality to this dazzling work of romance fiction–an unforgettable tale of a headstrong Englishwoman abducted by a Scotsman seeking passionate revenge....
Raven Carleton is every inch the English lady. But on this glorious morning, as she gallops along the seacoast, Raven is thinking about her freedom, not her imminent betrothal to aristocratic Christopher Dacre. Suddenly Raven is forced to draw rein when a man appears directly in her path. Silhouetted against the predawn sky, he is magnificent–a darkly powerful stranger who will alter the course of her life.
When Scotsman Heath Kennedy first glimpses Raven Carleton, he sees a creature of such infinite loveliness, she takes his breath away. But in a land divided, Raven is about to become a pawn in the bitter border wars between England and Scotland. Abducted by Heath and held for ransom, Raven finds herself attracted to him in ways she never could have imagined...and Heath is utterly beguiled by his headstrong captive. Risking the wrath of two realms, the Scotsman does the unthinkable: He offers Raven her freedom. He asks only one thing in return.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The territory fought over for centuries by English nobles and Scottish clansmen provides the setting for New York Times bestselling author Henley's 17th historical romance (after The Marriage Prize, etc.). She establishes the tone right away with a graphic and portentous mating scene between a mare and a stallion. Rugged, handsome Heath Kennedy, bastard son of the wealthy Lord of Galloway, is abducted by a renegade band of border prowlers who mistake him for his brother-in-law, Lord Ram Douglas. Though they try to drown him, he survives and encounters beauteous free spirit Raven Carleton downstream on her father's estate; despite her upbringing as a proper English lady, she's riding her horse bareback, alone, at dawn. Heath must find Ram and warn him of danger, so he "borrows" Raven's shirt and mount she's mortified, he's smitten. Thus starts a multifaceted plot involving Raven's betrothal to the shady Christopher Dacre, an English aristocrat favored by her parents, and her troublesome attraction to the intrepid Scottish thief who has an affinity for horses that matches her own gift for falconry. It turns out Dacre was behind Heath's kidnapping, and Heath soon returns the favor by abducting him and Raven, too. Raids, arson and a scheme to kidnap Scotland's infant monarch provide action and intrigue as Heath and Raven, who are of course destined for each other, fall into a love/hate relationship that includes perilous escapes and lubricious love scenes. Heath's reliance on the earth to renew strength as well as the supernatural gift of "the sight" Raven has inherited from her grandmother are only a few of many unusual details that enhance this 16th-century saga of political intrigue and tempestuous romance.
