Lucy Monroe, Take Me

Take Me

Lucy Monroe

Berkley, Oct 2006, $799

ISBN: 0425212211

In 1825, his dying housekeeper and friend Mary asks her employer Viscount Ravenswood to introduce her daughter Hannah to the infamous hermit the Duchess of Clairborne. Instead he offers to raise the child as his own though he knows she is a by-product of a rape, but Mary gets him to agree to her deathbed request to take the lass to the "Angel" as she calls Calantha. He considers Calantha as evil because her late husband, the monstrous duke, raped Mary and sired Hannah and she did nothing to protect their servant.

Calantha does not want any part of the man known by the Ton as Lord Beast because she fears her attraction to Jared. However, he refuses to back down as honor demands he complete his quest though he too finds he cannot ignore the Angel who somehow is in his every conscious thought. As they fall in love over a child and roses, someone is trying to hurt Hannah with all the evidence pointing at Calantha.

The third "T Me" Regency romance (see TOUCH ME and TEMPT ME) is a terrific tale starring a hero whose father "stole" him at birth from his mother and sister, and a woman he initially considers a she-demon. As they fall in love, Calantha, a survivor of a nasty relationship just like Jared is, risks all to keep Hannah safe while her beloved wonders if she could be the culprit as he still struggles with her being an Angel. If they trust in love they might save Hannah's life, but Calantha believes he loved Mary and Jared fears his heart is blinding his head from the reality of an avenging angel. TAKE ME is a superb ending to a fine historical trilogy.

Harriet Klausner