Always a Temptress by Eileen Dreyer

Lady Kate Seaton has put on a happy face for years.  She is the daughter of a duke, the sister of a duke and the wife of a late duke which has made her bold, admired and envied by all...all that is except her brother and his wife, who are trying to commit her into an asylum to gain control of a home Kate owns.  When her brothers latest attempt happens in the presence of Major Sir Harry Lidge, Harry steps in and says they are married so Kates brother has no control of her anymore.  Harry is shocked by what he says as he and Kate have a past in which they were happily in love and Harry was lead to believe that Kate tricked him and it sent Harry into the army for ten years.  Upon his return, he learns that Kate holds a vital clue needed for the Drakes Rakes and he knows he can not let her go into an asylum, hence the announcement of marriage.  Even though neither one of them want to marry, especially to each other, they agree that it must happen to protect Kate and Harry temporarily puts his dreams of travel on hold to help solve the mystery of who is after Kate, if Kate has this mysterious verse and if he can ever trust Kate again.

There is so much depth and emotion in this story that it will just keep you so engrossed you won't even notice the time!  Kate.  Wow, her secrets and her past are just truly heartbreaking and the more we learn, the more you feel for Kate.  And Harry.  Wow again.  His understanding and caring for Kate, whom he thinks betrayed him, is just so wonderful.  It is really hard to say much without spoiling anything but you will fall in love with these two as a couple!  They are just perfect for each other.  They need each other to be complete and you can just feel that.  Truly, they need each other and the road to that is filled with bumps but when they find each other finally, you will be sighing with happiness!  And yes, I did sort of guess some of the reason as to why Kate was treated the was she was, I was still a bit surprised in the end so that is always a plus for me.  Also, the culprit behind Kates attacks was not quite who I thought either.  Overall, a truly heartbreaking, sigh-worthy, happy 5 stars!

This was my first Eileen Dreyer book and is book three in The Drake Rakes series and I really did not feel out of place ready it as such but she has a new fan in me!  I plan on going and grabbing Barely a Lady and Never a Gentleman to read their stories and it looks like there is going to be more in the future for this series that I know I will be picking up!