Pamela Britton, Tempted

Tempted

Pamela Britton

Warner, Jan 2004, $5.99, 336 pp.

ISBN: 0446611301

Though he hoped to be different then his not so illustrious ancestors, Lord George Alexander Drummond feels he is just as much a rake as any of them. Still, Alex tries to avoid the infamous family label of "Wicked Wainridge" that has been worn by generations of his blood. Thus in 1816 he joins Customs in an effort to decimate the Hollowbrook smugglers and because of his family reputation succeeds much greater than anyone could imagine.

Smuggler Tobias Brown wants revenge, which he feels he can achieve when he reads an ad that Alex placed in the papers seeking to hire a nurse to care for his running wild child Gabby. Tobias sends his widowed daughter Mary Callahan to apply for the job. Though insolent and obviously not interested in this job, Alex hires Mary because of how well she handles out of control Gabby. Though Alex swore no more trysts, he and Mary fall in love. However, she is a mole in his household and he knows that scandal will earn him the all time worst reputation any family member ever had.

TEMPTED is an exciting Regency romance starring several intriguing protagonists especially Mary, her father and his daughter. The lead couple is an odd duo, but in many ways fit the sub-genre rules especially Alex. The commoner Mary is refreshing as her independence and feistiness seems appropriate for her station in life. The story line contains a suspense subplot, but the novel clearly belongs to the cast as each in their way is TEMPTED beyond what is expected of any of them.

Harriet Klausner