Hope is the most dangerous temptation of all… kiss.
Lucian Zachariah Edward, Viscount Luckfeld, returned to Selbourne Castle in hopes of a glimpse of the woman who reminded him his stone heart could still beat. Only to find out that he’d be sharing a roof with her for a fortnight as a potential suitor for her hand. But Luc carries a secret that makes marrying for love an impossible dream.
All Luc wants is to keep his distance, but Miss Jeanette proves irresistible.
Despite his deeply held secrets and his confession that he must marry an heiress, Jeanie will make him an offer he can’t refuse. Will she forsake her respectability for Luc? Or will Luc do the impossible and find a way to marry Jeanie and save his families legacy, too?
Four Times The Temptation is the 4thbook in Dayna Quince’s Regency Romance series, The Northumberland Nine.
If you like charming rogues and fastpaced Regency romance with sizzle and emotion, then you’ll love Dayna Quince’s new novel.
more
I have not read the previous books in this series nor anything else by this author. I am pleased to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s a period romance and it’s very well written, the characters are likable, and the story is intriguing. I’ll be looking out for more by this author in the future.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I’m a big fan of this series but this fourth book was not up to snuff. Started well but the ending was lazy. The first three were complex and detailed. There were so many ways this story could have unfolded but it just ended! Hopefully the next series book will be an improvement.
The fourth book in The Northumberland Nine Series which is mainly Jeanette Marsden and Lucian Zachariah Edward, Viscount Luckfeld’s story they have so much to overcome before they get their happy ending. This series is just getting better with each book I know I want to read the next book. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
1825 Selbourne Castle.
“Do try to relax. They may wear fine things, but we needn’t impress them We’r the Northumberland Nine, so they’re already impressed. That is why they call us infamous.” said Jeanie’s sister Georgie to her when Jeanie felt out of place at the ball with all the ladie’s finery! Her first ball! Can you imagine?
Of course it was difficult because all of the sisters were looking for husbands due to their father having left them almost destitute.
When she saw him, she could not breath. Lord Luckfeld. He was the most handsome man she had ever seen! She had to leave the ball and went outside and who does she run into? The very man that left her speechless, in a rather awkward circumstance! What she did not know is that Lucien had seen her at the house party during the week and had tried to stay away from her. “She was a flame in the dark and he was a besotted moth.”
Dayna Quince has again written an enchanting story that grabbed me from the first. I adore the fact there are nine sisters and every one of them really different! Her descriptions of the surroundings and characters form a picture in my mind that takes me away to Regency England and I love it!
Sit back and hold on as you turn the pages of this fast paced romance because you will not be able to put it down until the end! Cannot wait for Sister five!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Jeanie Marsden and Luc, Viscount Luckfield have been attracted to each other since they first met at house party at Selbourne Castle four months ago. Now they are back at another house party there. But they both need to marry for money, so a match between is impossible. Still they can’t fight the attraction. I liked that Luc was an artist who draws and Jeanie was an artist too with her embroidery and needle work. I didn’t like how he made her promise that she wouldn’t allow herself to become someone’s mistress and then he takes advantage of her knowing he can’t marry her. Like the previous books in this series, there was plenty of humor and drama.
The Duchess of Selbourne had invited Miss Jeanette Marsden, one of nine sisters, to her first ball and house party held at Selbourne Castle. Jeanie is a caring and quiet person who lives with her sisters on their impoverished landed gentleman father’s modest estate and dreams of finding love one day. All around her woman sparkled with gems and wealth. The Duchess took the sisters to meet some gentlemen and get their dance cards filled. Immediately Jeanie’s eyes landed on Lord Luckfeld who was dressed in evening blacks. She couldn’t look away from the handsome man – until his head turned and he looked right at her. She backed away quickly and hurried to the refreshment table for a drink of lemon water. Ashamed at being such a wallflower, she made her way outside. But the door handle rattled and she ran to hide herself between two potted plants. A younger man commented that the sisters would make good mistresses with their beauty. The second man was not pleased about that. The men talked and smoked cigars, then the younger one went back inside. Jeanie’s nose tickled from the smoke. When she heard no sound, she started to crawl out, then sneezed loudly.
A man said, “Bless you,” and handed her a handkerchief. She delicately wiped her nose, then looked up to hand it back to him – but her voice left her! Lord Lucian Zachariah Edward, Viscount Luckfeld, or Luc, as she had heard his friends refer to him, was looking down at her and offered his hand. He told her he wanted to dance with her and insisted when she said she was not suited to a ball. He asked her to walk with him outside before the rain, and they talked. Again he asked her to dance with him. He had avoided her for 11 days at the house party but he was attracted to her. He loved that she knew how to appreciate the things that she had. He really wanted to sketch her but he didn’t have his pencil with him. He wanted to paint her on canvas when he returned to his studio. Sadly, he had nothing to offer her more than his friendship; he needed to marry an heiress to fill the empty coffers of his family’s depleted fortune for the sake of his siblings. Jeanie needed a husband who could provide a decent living for her. He again asked her to dance and taught her to waltz. And he asked her to promise him she would never become any man’s mistress! He wanted so much to believe that she might one day be his – and then he kissed her.
Four months later, Jeanie attended another house party at Selbourne Castle. She was nervous, knowing Luc would be there. She already knew that she loved him. Her mother was now pregnant again, and no one knew what future awaited them if their father died and Cousin Irving inherited their home and land. If the baby was a boy, they would at least be saved from Cousin Irving throwing them out, but not from poverty and hunger. She saw Lord Luckfeld and he did come over to kiss her hand. But he was different now, less friendly. As the guests walked to the beach, he apologized for kissing her last time. Strange, but that confession didn’t seem to take away any of his stress.
As the rest of the guests went for a ride, Luc grabbed his artist supplies and headed to the tower to capture his impressions of Jeanie while they lingered in his mind. She also had decided not to go on the ride. She had been hurt when he said the kiss was just his being a rake and meant nothing. It had meant everything to her. And as he sketched her in the tower later, he realized something too – he loved her. What could they do? He could not marry for love. His brother and sister depended on him. What other options did he have?
This was such a marvelous love story about two wonderful people who fell in love but, through no fault of their own, could not marry. When he looked in her eyes, he could see her hopes, her dreams — and they were of him, or rather the man he was supposed to be, the man she needed him to be. He saw how she felt about the man who had kissed her. Neither one of them could forget that kiss. But the future of others was at stake and one’s own happiness had to be put aside, didn’t it? Get a copy of this lovely book and read for yourself how it resolves when there seems to be no path forward. You will not regret it!
Another delightful book in the Northumberland Nine Series! I’m so enjoying reading each of the sisters’ stories, this one being Jeanette’s story.
Jeanette Marsden is one of 9 sisters attending a two week house party at Selbourne Castle, hoping to catch a husband. Lucian Zachariah Edward, Viscount Luckfeld, is also attending the same party. They had met once before at another party, where they had shared her first dance and first kiss! Luc cannot let it go any further, though, because he needs to marry an heiress, not a poor country girl. Jeanette is very hard to resist and Luc finds himself seeking her presence at every turn and even trying to be “just friends” is not working out!
I was given a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
One of nines country sisters has found love with a Viscount, broke and he needs to marry a woman with money since his stepfather screwed over the title and Luc needs to send his young brother off to school and a teenage sister that wants her Season but his rake ways were cut off at the seam with Jeanette ‘Jeanie’. The first time they met was at a ball and they shared a kiss. Now 4 months later they meet back up and Jeanie hasn’t stop dreaming or thinking about Luc and Luc hasn’t even thought about seducing a new woman since their kiss. But he is still looking for an heiress and she still gave him her hear anyways…. will they get their HEA or will Luc still needs money from and heiress but keeps Jeanie as his mistress???
As one of nine sisters, known as the Northumberland Nine, Jeannette Marsden is infamous simply for being one of so many daughters without a single son. As a guest at the Duchess of Selbourne’s house party, she finally has a chance to experience society, one that she’s never had before due to her family’s lack of finances. Jeanie longs to visit London and knows this party is as close as she can hope to get to a true London season. She hopes to find love at this house party even though, unbeknownst to everyone else, she already lost her heart to Viscount Luckfeld at the previous Selbourne ball months previously.
Lucien Edward, Lord Luckfeld, ventured to Selbourne hoping to see the woman who reignited the beating of his otherwise cold heart and was shocked to learn he’d be living in the same house as her for two weeks. Luc must marry an heiress to ensure his siblings’ futures, but Jeanette is irresistible to him. He knows he can’t have her for his own but he hopes to use this time to drink in her presence and create the perfect drawing of her to supplement his memory of her for a lifetime without her.
Jeanie can’t believe their kiss seems to have meant nothing to Luc when it’s all she’s been able to think about and is floored when he offers her friendship. Since his father spitefully spent the family fortune to punish Luc for the true circumstances of his birth, poor Luc can’t afford to follow his heart now. He finds it increasingly difficult to hide his real pain from Jeanie, who sees him as no one else does. When she offers him carte blanche as the only way they can be together, Luc’s sense of honor is affronted despite the great temptation. Having her as a mistress isn’t enough for either of them but it may be the best they can ever hope for.
Luc was an adorable hero having never been loved and learning what love truly means and shy, quiet Jeanie was definitely the sister I’ve identified most with thus far. Another sweet addition to this simultaneous series.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
The wallflower and the chivalrous rake.
Jeanette “Jeanie” Marsden is one of the infamous Northumberland nine. As in nine sisters. She is poor and a wallflower. But Luc found her country ways charming.
Lord Lucian “Luc” Edward is Viscount Luckfeld. Only, he’s not so lucky at the moment. He must marry an heiress as he’s in dire need of coin. So, no mistress material or marriage to a poor country mouse.
For the sake of his siblings, he has to marry a woman with a fortune, not Jeanie.
Will he make her mistress material after all?
Recommend.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I have loved reading about the Marsden sisters aka The Northumberland Nine. This book started out exploring Jeanie’s personality. Which I have to say I was not impressed. She seemed so afraid of everything including her own shadow. However, the story was saved when Luc became more prominent in the story. He brought interest and integrity. I was surprised when Weirick got involved into Luc’s financial affairs. He also translated Luc’s mother’s letters in French that were from his father. I was disappointed there was no interest in going to France to seek him out. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.