Christine Dodd My Fair Temptress

My Fair Temptress

Christine Dodd

Avon, Oct 2005, $6.99, 384 pp.

ISBN: 0060561122

Renowned as a flirt with no employment history, a desperate Lady Caroline Ritter suddenly needs a job with no prospects. However, the Distinguished Academy of Governesses hires her to teach foppish loser Jude Durant what a woman desires.

Jude still works undercover for the Foreign Office after years on the continent playing the fool, but his current mission is to learn who is behind the assassination plan to kill the Queen. He keeps his persona going, although he knows he needs no lessons on how to pleasure a lady. However, besides struggling to hide his real self, he finds he wants to be the teacher's pet, as he is very attracted to Caroline, who surprises him with her intelligence, wit, and depth of character. Neither expected love to spring up between the tutor and the pupil, but first he must complete the mission, while also keeping his beloved pawn safe.

Though there is a degree of suspense in this superb Victorian romance, the tale clearly belongs to the lead couple, as the teacher tries to train the student, who knows he must continue his masquerade for the sake of Her Majesty, but needs to teach the art of lovemaking to his instructor. The storyline is amusing, as these two excellent characters battle over who teaches who, as love makes both winners. Christine Dodd writes a fun tale, that focuses on the gender war for supremacy in and out of the bedroom, with an assassination plot to add a hint of danger to the participants.