"fabulous Victorian romantic suspense"

After a decade on the job by 1856 Hugh MacCarrick is considered by his superior Lord Weyland as the perfect assassin; dangerous situations do not faze him because he has been cursed; his affliction is compounded because he loves Jane, the daughter of his boss unattainable to a MacCarrick, who are cursed "to walk with death or walk alone". Thus he expects something bad to eventually happen to him anyway so he takes risks that no one else would contemplate.

However, daring Hugh is not prepared for his latest assignment. Lord Weyland asks Hugh to come home from the continent to keep his daughter Jane safe as he believes a former agent turned rogue Davis Grey plans to kill her. Although he has always loved her, Hugh knows she and the other Weyland eight are women he can never have especially now that he is a hardened killer. Once the threat is neutralized, he will leave. However, Jane will not let him go this time; her plan is to seduce her beloved so that he will never leave her again as she believes together they can prevent the curse from happening.

The second MacCarrick Victorian romantic suspense (see IF YOU DARE) is a fabulous thriller that grips readers from the onset as the hero lives life over the edge because he expects the ancient curse to destroy him; he believes. Jane is a terrific counterpart to Hugh because she refuses to back down when she must choose between transferring the curse to her and giving up on her beloved. Without love, she feels she has nothing at all (hopefully Tom Jones the singer will not mind my paraphrasing).

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted May 27, 2007

Summary

He tried to run....

In his youth, Hugh MacCarrick foolishly fell in love with a beautiful English lass who delighted in teasing him with her flirtatious ways. Yet he knew he could never marry her because he was shadowed by an accursed family legacy. To avoid temptation, Hugh left home, ultimately becoming an assassin.

She tried to forget him....

Jane Weyland was devastated when the Highlander she believed would marry her abandoned her instead. Years later, when Hugh MacCarrick is summoned to protect her from her father's enemies, her heartache has turned to fury—but her desire for him has not waned.

Will passion overwhelm them?

In hiding, Jane torments Hugh with seductive play. He struggles to resist her because of deadly secrets that could endanger her further. But Hugh is no longer a gentle young man—and toying with the fever-pitched desires of a hardened warrior will either get Jane burned...or enflame a love that never died.