Tempting the Laird is an all-consuming passionate romance and the author swept me away with the storytelling. ~ Amanda, Guilty Pleasures
Blurb:
Mystery and desire cloak the Scottish Highlands
Unruly. Unmarried. Unapologetic. Catriona Mackenzie’s reputation precedes her everywhere she goes. Her beloved late aunt Zelda taught Cat to live out loud and speak her mind, and that’s exactly what she does when Zelda’s legacy—a refuge for women in need—comes under fire. When her quest puts her in the path of the disturbingly mysterious Hamlin Graham, Duke of Montrose, Cat is soon caught up in the provocative rumors surrounding the dark duke. Never one to retreat, Cat boldly goes where no one else has dared for answers.
Shrouded in secrets, a hostage of lies, Hamlin must endure the fear and suspicion of those who believe he is a murderer. The sudden disappearance of his wife and the truth he keeps silent are a risk to his chances at earning a coveted parliamentary seat. But he’s kept his affairs tightly held until a woman with sparkling eyes and brazen determination appears unexpectedly in his life. Deadly allegations might be his downfall, but his unleashed passion could be the duke’s ultimate undoing.
I knew it was going to take a special someone for Catriona MacKenzie to fall in love with and Tempting the Laird tells us that story of her
finding the love she’s been long waiting for. Catriona MacKenzie has been sheltering women and children at an abbey after the Battle of Culloden and has recently been told that it is being seized by the English. She turns to her Uncle Knox for help and hopes he and his connections can get this act overturned. She meets her uncle’s neighbor, the Duke of Montrose, Hamlin Graham, and hears the rumors that he is a murderer for killing his wife. Is this the truth or is he holding another secret close to his vest? She’s going to do what she can to figure out the truth.
Hamlin Graham is about to get voted into the House of Lords and doesn’t want anything in his personal life to prevent him from getting accepted but rumors surround him. What he can’t escape is Catriona. When Catriona introduces herself and barges into his life every chance she gets he finds it harder to keep his feelings in check because she makes him want things he didn’t think he’d ever have in his life. Love, family and children. Catriona makes special effort to help him with his young ward, Eula, and Eula couldn’t help but to fall under the spell of her loving attention. Eula connected Hamlin and Catriona in the beginning but then they find any excuse to be together. Hamlin wasn’t a complicated man but had a big responsibility of his dukedom and felt the constraint society held him in check. Only with Catriona he allowed himself to feel as a man and not the Duke. His grand gesture at the end just shows me how much she meant to him to stand up for her and face any consequences.
Catriona is a wonderfully written character because she is more than the outspoken and independent woman and her depths are slowly revealed. You get glimpses of her many layers of this complicated woman. She may have the independent streak like her aunt Zelda but she wants a family and love of a man as well but the times made it difficult for her to find one. I love that she doesn’t feel sorry for herself but makes the best of her situation and moves on. Her love affair with Hamlin might have started as a summer romance but quickly turned into something more when she found herself falling deeply in love with him. Catriona is a lucky lady that she was allowed so much leeway growing up surrounded by family and loved ones. She has a big heart and wanted to help as many people as she can, even those that don’t deserve it.
Tempting the Laird is an all-consuming passionate romance and the author swept me away with the storytelling. There was drama and mystery, passion and love, and had me well engrossed into finishing it long into the night. I could not have asked for a better story for one of my favorite characters. The love she has waited for finally came and it is everything that she wanted for her life.
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