Readers of Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, and Sabrina Jeffries will love Ashlyn Macnamara’s novel about a smoldering new love that is threatened by past betrayals.
Viscount Lindenhurst cannot seem to find a governess who meets his impossible standards—until Cecelia Sanford becomes the first woman to interrupt the widower’s brooding in years. Lind had returned home from the Napoleonic wars, broken in body and soul and longing for his wife’s embrace, only to find her changed. Before they could reconcile, an accident struck their son and claimed her life. Now enter Cecelia, with her soft curves and sharp tongue—a tempting distraction, it is true, but not a welcome one.
Past the usual marrying age and haunted by a scandal of her own, Cecelia soon finds herself caring for both the child and the man. The viscount is brittle and even abrupt at times, yet she cannot deny the attraction that stirs her body in his presence. Moved by the deep sense of abandonment that tortures his soul, Cecelia aches to fully awaken Lind’s heart from its rancorous slumber—if she can just keep their pasts from destroying a second chance at love.
He refused to give in to the temptation to dismount. To approach her. She was a governess, for God’s sake, and the younger sister of a man he’d once deemed a friend. Reason enough to stay away, no matter how deucedly attractive he found her. “That is the accepted method for gaining entrance to a proper school when the time comes.”
“And what will you do when he shows no desire to deal with the vagaries of the first declension, let alone the third?”
He arched a brow at her, an expression usually guaranteed to cow the most recalcitrant servant. “And what do you know of such things?”
A smile flitted across her lips, evaporating so quickly, he wondered if he’d really seen it. “Perhaps I listened in when Alexander had lessons. But no matter. You are skirting the issue.”
“And what is the issue?” Besides the fact that he was the employer and thus set the rules.
“I’ve no idea if Latin is among his aptitudes or even his interests, but he has shown me one area that fascinates him.”
Good Lord, he knew what was coming. One of the other governesses had tried to discuss the boy with him. And what was her name? He’d been through so many he couldn’t recall, even if the conversation hadn’t taken place all that long ago. “I do not wish to discuss the boy’s obsession with those soldiers of his.”
“How can you not?” She stepped toward him, one hand outstretched, approaching his thigh. Near. Too near. “This might be the key to convincing him reading and writing are worth learning.”
God help her if she so much as grazed her fingertips against his leg. He wasn’t at all sure he could take responsibility for the outcome, not the way his body yearned toward hers. Not the way his cock came fully erect at the thought of her touch. He suppressed an urge to rein Judas away.
How long since he’d let a woman touch him? Not since Lydia. And even that had been ages before he’d lost her.
With his wife, he’d felt like a whole being. Complete. That was, until he’d discovered the truth.
And now, what kind of man would give in to his appetites like some mindless animal, no matter how long he’d done without female companionship? He ought to have learned to control himself long since.
“The last thing he needs is to be encouraged toward the military.” He forced the statement through his teeth as precisely as if he were giving orders. “Do you think the army would take him in his state?”
Her fingers wavered, and she curled them into a fist. Thank God. He well remembered her as a girl, those hands always in motion, fluttering like birds, brushing against various and sundry. She’d damned well better keep them away from him.
About the Author:
Ashlyn Macnamara is the author of What a Lady Craves, A Most Devilish Rogue, and A Most Scandalous Proposal. She lives in the wilds of suburbia outside of Montreal with her husband and two teenage daughters. When not writing, she looks for other excuses to neglect the housework, among them knitting, reading, and wasting time on the Internet in the guise of doing research.
Jennifer’s Review of What A Lady Demands
Review (3.75 Stars): I love romances where the main character is a tortured dark hero that pushes everyone away from him and has a strong young woman that is brave enough to break down the walls around his heart. Cecelia has always been attracted to Lind but has never acted on it until she gets the opportunity to care for him and his son after the death of his wife. I loved that she was spunky enough to deal with Lind’s personality and not be afraid of him when he was pushing people away from him. It took me a while to warm up to him but I could definitely see what attracted Cecelia to him and the sparks flew whenever they were together. Ms. Macnamara is a new author to me but I enjoyed What A Lady Demands and am looking forward to reading the first book in the series, What a Lady Craves.
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