Life as a duchess… Or something much more dangerous? Part of The King’s Elite: constantly told her beauty and charm are all she has to offer, Lady Clarissa is intent on marrying a duke. And intriguing spy Sebastian Leatham will help her! Only, first she’ll assist him with his new assignment–playing the part of confident aristocrat Lord Millcroft. Sebastian awakens a burning desire within … burning desire within Clarissa that leaves her questioning whether becoming a duchess is what she truly longs for…
The King’s Elite miniseries
Book 1 — The Mysterious Lord Millcroft
Look out for the next book, coming soon!
“The Wild Warriners steal hearts, but none more than youngest brother Jake, whose secrets and sensuality draw readers into Heath’s lively, stylish romance filled with adventure and unforeseen passion” — RT Book Reviews on A Warriner to Seduce Her
“The third of the Wild Warriners series shines with compassion and intense emotions as Heath tackles some thought provoking themes … A Warriner to Tempt Her is tender and loving, powerful and poignant.” — RT Book Reviews on A Warriner to Tempt Her
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The Mysterious Lord Millcroft is the first book in author Virginia Heath’s newest series, The King’s Elite. This was an absolutely fantastic start to what looks to be another 5 star series!
Sebastian (Seb) Leatham is just one of those heroes you automatically fall in love with and I did! We’ve met Seb in the previous book A Warriner to Seduce Her. In the previous book, Seb has been shot and this book starts off with his recuperating at Dr. Joe Warriner’s house. I really enjoyed getting to know Seb and having a shy hero for a change was refreshing and just a perfect match for the incomparable Lady Clarissa!
Lady Clarissa Beaumont is the sister of the heroine Bella from the third book in the Wild Warriners series, A Warriner To Tempt Her. I wasn’t exactly sure Clarissa was a person worthy of being a heroine and having her own story, but oh my author Virginia Heath loves to surprise us, and I absolutely grew to love Clarissa in this book! I would have never imagined these two together but I quickly warmed up to this couple and was rooting for their HEA.
I was sad to see the previous series The Wild Warriners end, but Virginia Heath has got me invested in this new series and I’m hooked! I truly enjoyed Seb & Clarissa and can’t wait to see what she has in store for the rest of the King’s Elite! Highly Recommend!
Seb Leatham, agent of the secret King’s Elite, is recuperating at the home of Bella and Dr. Joe Warriner after being shot trying to catch the leader of a smuggling ring linked to Napoleon. He is bored, tired and can’t wait to get back to work. When the beautiful Lady Clarissa, Bella’s sister, comes to visit he’s tongue tied and shy. He realizes Clarissa is too perfect and wonders what she’s hiding.
Clarissa has wanted to marry the Duke of Westbridge since she met him. He’s sent roses for years but never proposes. When Seb, undercover as Lord Millcroft, sees her at a ball he realizes he must convince her not to give him away. She thinks spending time with “Millcroft” will make the Duke jealous. They all attend a house party at Viscount Penhurst’s home near the coast. Clarissa’s best friend, Penny, is married to Penhurst who is not an ideal husband. Seb is suspicious of Penhurst and has agents hidden up and down the coast hoping to catch the smugglers in the act. Surprisingly, Clarissa is very good at covering for him and making plans. She realizes the Duke is not for her, but Seb might be.
This is a wonderful story and I’ll not say what happens to the smugglers or the suspects. You will have to discover Clarissa’s secret and how Seb reacts for yourself. No spoilers from me as this book has twists and turns. Virginia Heath’s books just keep getting better and better. She’s an automatic buy for me.
Poor Seb-a brilliant spy but completely incompetent in the ways of flirtation and wooing (unless there is a bit of brandy around) meets Clarissa (Gem) who is everything the ton expects and nothing that is really her, as Seb recovers from a serious injury and Gem visits her sister for respite from the gruelling act she lives in society. As they see beneath the surface, feelings grow but are interrupted by the work Seb has to do for his King and country. This story is well written, entertaining and a delight as we see them both blossom with the support and love of the other. Ms Heath does a fabulous job of empowering her female characters to reach for what they really want and not be ruled by societal strictures-great lessons for all of us.
Oh, my! Oh, my! Virginia Heath, what are you doing to me? There was me thinking that this author could never create a character who will send me into a swooning, dithering mess like I was, when I first met lovely, damaged Jamie Warriner. But she has gone and done it again with this magnificence specimen of a man, who I have fallen completely and utterly in love with. Oh, Seb! Be still my beating heart!
After being shot and nearly killed while on his last mission, spy Sebastion Leatham is recuperating at the home of a fellow agent’s brother; Dr Joe Warriner. He finds himself sharing the house with the spellbindingly beautiful and too perfect to be true, sister of Bella Warriner. Seb is instantly tongue-tied and shy around this gleaming goddess, but his well-honed spy intuition tells him that there is more to this beautiful woman then meets the eye, surely someone cannot be that perfect!
Clarissa is harbouring a secret which is the reason why she has ventured to her sister’s in the first place, she has been wanting to marry the Duke of Westbridge since the first moment she met him. She knows he is dazzled by her, what man isn’t? and yet he hasn’t made a moved unless you count the roses he sends.
It is not long before Clarissa and Seb realise that they need each other’s help, Clarissa needs Seb to catch her Duke and Seb needs her in the next part of his mission with those pesky smugglers. I would never have thought that two completely different character, characters who are as far removed from the others world as you can get would work so beautifully together. Their individual personalities as different as they may be, seem to blend with each other so perfectly. They really are a couple I never expected to work, but they do!
I truly believe that Seb Leatham could be the best character that has sprung from this author’s fabulous mind – except maybe delicious Jamie, but I may be a tad biased where that chap is concerned Really, this is what I look for in a hero. Not only is he brilliantly gruff and brave but I love how painfully shy around women he is, such a refreshing change from the usual overly confident heroes that are so popular, I would much rather have a quiet, genuine and kind hero than one who talk’s more than me.
Those of you who have read the Warriner series (really is there anyone out there who hasn’t?) then you will remember Clarissa, the sparkling and perfect sister of Bella. When I first met Lady Clarissa, I will be honest and say that I wasn’t a fan of her, she could be the only character of Ms Heath’s that I didn’t take to. Clarissa perceived herself as way too good for the hard-done by, brilliant Warriner’s and as I am terribly attached to those four brothers’, her attitude really put me off her. Sorry, I do hate to say that, but she did get on my nerves a little when we first met her. So, I was in two frames of mind about her having her own story, but I was interested to see where Ms Heath would take this character and wondering if the little strumpet would redeem herself to me. And I can gladly say that Ms Heath has pulled it off, I will put my hands up and say to the author; “You were right, to give Clarissa her own story.” Clarissa is so much more than the woman I originally thought her to be, her transition from spoilt little madam, to the complex social butterfly is quite an eye-opener and I have now grown to love her as much as I do her sister; Bella.
As beautifully perfect as Clarissa is, there is a fragility about her that quite catches not just Seb off guard but also the reader. My heart bled for her when she think’s herself as good for nothing more than looking beautiful, she is a multi-layered, deeply delightful young lady who at times I wanted to shake and tell her that she is far more than she perceives herself to be.
As well as the captivating blossoming romance between Seb and Clarissa, I have to mention the spine-tingling and gripping smuggling and spying branch of the story. As soon as I heard that Virginia Heath was going to be writing a series based on the spy ring that popped up in the Warriner’s I was so excited about it, and this first instalment of the King’s Elite is so damn good! I cannot wait to properly meet the rest of the spy’s, I just know that this is going to be an invigorating and breath-taking series. The King’s Elite spying world is dark and perilous, you can literally feel the danger, Ms Heath has created a marvellously real and all-consuming deadly world of spies that could be right out of an Ian Fleming novel.
This is an exhilarating, edge of your seat, thrilling and beautifully sensual romance, one that I guarantee with keep you engaged right from page one and never want it to end. I love the sweet and tender romance that between Seb and Clarissa, their relationship blooms from mutual trust to friends to something more. This is a masterpiece of character development each scene is beautifully written to portray each moment of our character’s role in the story. I cannot wait to read the rest of The King’s Elite, thoroughly satisfying and highly recommended.
Pure perfection!
and get your copy. Merry Christmas to you.
I do wonder sometime if universe is against me!
When I have a long awaited book finally in my hands, it is always on the wrong day, I work or family is demanding!
I tried my best but at 1am I had to close it to sleep.
But I did it, I will probably re-read it an other time to appreciate it quietly.
I loved it!
I discovered Virginia Heath during a Romance authors event in Paris, and since I was never disappointed.
I adored both main characters, they have their flaws, but it is what makes them more interactive.
Sebastian’s shyness among women and his deep blushing when around Clarissa were just adorable. A dangerous spy not afraid to face bullets who melts down when confronted to women, it was just sweet and funny.
The scene withClarissa just dressed for bed and him drunk then able to tell his true thoughts was lovely.
“Typsy, he is just perfectly adorable!
Spilling his secrets without restraint, lost was his shyness with two glasses of brandy.”
“With her hair poking out of her head in rainbow tufts, jam stains on the front of her nightdress and one unnoticed sticky lump glued just above her lip, the Gem didn’t seem half as terrifying as she had before.”
Clarissa’s incapacity to perform usual activities for ladies pushed her over the edge, everything she does is calculated to hide her deficiencies, ever her very wish to marry is led by her fear of being see as a fraud.
While they get to know each other, give their trust, they are unable to confess their deepest thoughts, scared to be rejected.
But by hiding their real feelings, they continually hurt the other, until a turn of events brings them to reveal them.
They have lot of insecurities, Seb to be rejected like he was in the past while Clarissa is afraid to become a failure because of her lacking.
“
She found herself being herself more around him than she had ever dared with a man before “
The background plot helped to get them to know each other, it added tension and action without being too overwhelming.
I already have preordered the next book in this new series.
After being nearly shot to death, Sebastian Leatham was recuperating at the home of his colleague Jake Warriner’s brother, Dr Joe Warriner. When Joe’s sister-in-law Lady Clarissa Beaumont bursts inadvertently into his room, Seb is transfixed by her otherworldly beauty – as is most of the world. Clarissa needs to speak with her sister, but is impressed that Seb was hurt because of a heroic deed, although he doesn’t seem very affable. Then one night, Clarissa and Seb realise they need each other to succeed in their respective endeavours: he must catch smugglers, and she must nab her duke.
Although I had adored each and every book of Virginia Heath’s previous series – The Wild Warriners – I must admit I was not as enthused as I should have been about this new series because of the world it’s set in: The King’s Elite is a spying organisation, and historical novels with spies abound these days. Now, I feel utterly silly to have doubted Ms. Heath for even one second. THE MYSTERIOUS LORD MILLCROFT is a delight from beginning to end, and Ms. Heath’s spies are everything they should be; nothing too outrageous. Seb and Clarissa are spectacularly well-defined characters, and also very unusual. Seb is an ideal spy, confident, self-assured, fearless in everything he does except in the presence of women, where he is hopelessly tongue-tied, and shy. Clarissa is beautiful, charming, society is her oyster, she can flirt the way she breathes, and well, that’s it. Oh, and she has a secret …
THE MYSTERIOUS LORD MILLCROFT is filled with marvellous disclosures, surprises, and all sorts of unexpected twists, that I will let you to discover for yourself. This book is a masterpiece of character development as you watch Clarissa bloom, become her true self, as she and Sebastian work together and fall in love, as they both realise that they amount to so much more than what they ever believe they were. THE MYSTERIOUS LORD MILLCROFT is one of the most divine character study I have ever read, I was engrossed from the very beginning, enthralled by Virginia Heath’s absolute mastery of the English language, at the humour and wit that make the brilliant dialogues irresistible, at her unmistakable eye for detail so that every facet of the story shines, and the characters breathe and grow before your very eyes.
If the spying world of THE MYSTERIOUS LORD MILLCROFT feels entirely genuine – it’s easy to imagine Lord Fennimore telling James Bond what to do – the romance is utterly breathtaking. It grows out of trust, friendship and respect; I could feel the sparks Seb and Clarissa were experiencing as they realised that what was happening was as unexpected as it was what they had always needed, but had despaired to find: someone who cared for them, understood, and loved them for what they really are. THE MYSTERIOUS LORD MILLCROFT is thrilling, exhilarating, sensual, seductive, alluring, and so, so, so very romantic. Again, I cannot find the words to properly express how I feel about Virginia Heath’s writing: her incomparable prose, her way with words, her ability to create characters that remain with you, and for whom you genuinely care, and her ingenuity which manifests itself in the glorious ending which has one of the best plot twists I have ever seen. The King’s Elite series will be as outstanding as The Wild Warriners, if not even better.
I just finished reading The Mysterious Lord Millcroft last night and instantly wanted to read it all over again. Clarissa and Seb light up the page with their journey to happily ever after. This book has it all, terrific characters, romance, intrigue, witty dialogue and humor.
This is the first of a new series The King’s Elite by Virginia Heath. Clarissa and Sebastian are minor character from her previous series The Wild Warriners. (You have to read that series too! It’s amazing.) If you want to know how Virginia came up with using these side character she has a blog on her website titled:
When a Side Character Insists on Being a Hero.
Seb Leatham has moved to the top of my favorite hero list. He is the leader of the King’s Elite Invisibles- and poor Seb really doesn’t want to be center stage. And Clarissa? Clarissa was the incomparable sister of Isabella from A Warriner to Tempt Her that I really couldn’t imagine as a heroine. Boy did Virginia Heath prove me wrong, she is not only an amazing heroine I feel in love with her character just as much as Sebastian.
Go buy this book, read it and remember why you fell in love with historical romance. You don’t have to read The Wild Warriners first, but why wouldn’t you?
I don’t think I’ve ever read a book like this before. Typically, if I’m reading historical fiction, it’s about a real historical figure. The Mysterious Lord Millcroft makes me think I should read historical romance/fiction more often.
Clarissa and Seb are so artfully developed that I don’t question their misunderstandings or wavering opinions at all. Nor do I find said misunderstandings or wavering opinions contrived or unnecessary. Both are likable and I imagine a majority of readers would find them relatable.
The relationship that grows between them seems fast by modern standards, although I suppose that by Regency standards, it’s not particularly unusual.
I do find it odd how little thought or care is given to propriety, even by the more “upstanding” characters. Clarissa should have been the talk of the town with some of her scandalous behavior, yet it’s completely ignored.
It’s not a detriment to the story, just a “thing” you may find odd if you’re even remotely familiar with social mores of the time.
As this is the first in the series, I hope we’ll see much more of Clarissa and Seb in future installments, although I’m somewhat concerned that we’ll instead see the stories of some of the other characters like Penny and Gray.
Either way, though, I plan to read the rest of the series.
What a great start to a new series!
Sebastian “Seb” Leatham is a spy tasked with bringing down a dangerous smuggling ring, but at the moment, he is recovering from a near fatal gunshot wound he sustained saving Felicity Blunt in the book A Warriner to Seduce Her. He is currently under the care of Joe and Beth Warriner and chomping at the bit to get back to his mission.
Lady Clarissa Beaumont arrives at her sister Beth’s house unannounced, she needed to get away from the gossips in London and regroup. Clarissa is an “Incomparable” and has been courted for the last two years by the Duke of Westbridge, but lately the duke has begun showing interest in a younger woman and Clarissa is terrified of losing him. She doesn’t love him, in fact she doesn’t even really like him, but as a duchess she will have security and no one will ever have to learn her shameful secret. When she meet Seb, she is surprised by her immediate attraction to him. He is gruff and rude, but she wants him. After a late night meeting with a very drunk Seb, she rushes back to London.
Weeks later, Seb is finally recovered and called to London. He is given a new assignment, he will infiltrate the ton as Lord Millcroft, a sinfully rich, unscrupulous man looking for an investment. He is told to befriend their prime suspect in the smuggling ring – Viscount Penhurst. Seb is not a member of the ton and is painfully shy around women, he sees disaster written all over this mission. That fear is amplified when at his first ton event, he sees Clarissa.
Clarissa wants answers, why is Seb here pretending to be a Lord?? He dances with her and explains what is going on, she is excited and offers to help him and in turn, he will help her make the duke jealous and finally bring him up to scratch! Seb agrees, but secretly wants Gem (his pet name for Clarissa) for himself. Will Clarissa win her duke or will the spy steal her heart?
This was a very well written, fast paced story with action, intrigue, romance, a bit of steam, some amusing moments and a wonderfully exciting ending! I loved the book and am happy to recommend it! This is the first book in a new series, with some cameos from characters from the previous Warriner series.
*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that was provided to me*
This was a pretty good story. However, between the foul language and the sexual content, it read more like a erotic romance. I voluntarily chose to review this and I’ve given it a 4* rating. If you like a little bit of spying going on, then you may like this story. Not for the under 18 readers.
Lady Clarissa visits her sister’s home & finds a wounded Seb Leatham there recovering from a gun shot wound. The pair are instantly attracted to each other but Seb is so delightfully shy that he can hardly string two words together in her presence. Constantly told her beauty and charm is all she has to offer, Lady Clarissa is intent on marrying a duke and intriguing spy Sebastian Leatham will help her! Only first she’ll assist him with his new assignment—playing the part of confident aristocrat Lord Millcroft. Sebastian awakens a burning desire within Clarissa, which leaves her questioning whether becoming a duchess is what she truly longs for.
A wonderful read full of humour, mystery & romance. The strength of the author’s books is in the extremely well portrayed characters. Seb being a shy spy is an inspiration & I’m smiling just thinking of him, his blushes & his red ears. Clarissa the beautiful society lady who has her secrets but is determined to be a duchess until a poultry farmer’s makes her reassess her life. The journey to their HEA was such a fun read, throw in smugglers & traitors & I was one very happy reader