He jerked the last button loose and pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it on the floor, then stripped his trousers off. She started to sit up but he set his hand on her shoulder to keep her as she was. He liked her this way ... naked, laid out on her belly. She was exquisitely lovely and she couldn't attack.
"Have I mentioned you're the most beautiful woman in the world?"
"From one cause and another we have missed saying such things to each other."
Those sleek cat muscles of hers told him how nervous she was. Willing, but nervous. He could use that nervousness. He could make it explode inside her like foam in a keg. He'd send her wild tonight. Beyond thought. Beyond restraint. "I like the curve here ..." He ran his hand down the long taut muscles that paralleled her spine. "It's like the countryside back home. Long and rolling."
"I am like countryside?"
"Somerset countryside." He stroked her buttocks. "With little hills."
"But truly, men have strange minds."
He stroked her again. "Did your mother tell you that?"
"I find that my mother did not say anything to the point. She did not wish me to be a courtesan, you understand, and therefore did not instruct me in those arts." She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "Except a few trifles. I believe they are not known to respectable English girls, who are very uneducated. I will show you, if you like."
A pang of pure lust shot through him. His lady was not at all innocent in some ways. He foresaw many long, interesting nights while they worked out exactly who would be in charge in this bed.
Cover copy
She's braved battlefields. She's stolen dispatches from under the
noses of heads of state. She's played the worldly courtesan, the naïve
virgin, the refined British lady, even a Gypsy boy. But Annique
Villiers, the elusive spy known as the Fox Cub, has finally met the one
man she can't outwit...
British spymaster Robert Grey must
enter France and bring back the brilliant, beautiful-and dangerous-Fox
Cub. His duty is to capture her and her secrets for England. When the
two natural enemies are thrown into prison, they forge an uneasy
alliance to break free. But their pact is temporary and betrayal seems
inevitable as the fates of nations hang in the balance.
Booklist:
British spymaster Robert Grey came to France to find Annique Villiers,
the notorious “Fox Cub,” only to end up sharing the same prison cell as
the beautiful spy. In order to escape, the two enter into a reluctant
partnership that ends the minute they’re free. Believing that Annique
has valuable information about the “Albion plans”—Napoléon’s scheme to
invade England—Robert’s only goal is to get her back to London, but the
surprisingly resourceful Annique is determined to thwart Robert at
every turn. In her exceptional debut romance, Bourne deftly distills
danger, deception, and desire into a seamlessly constructed story that
will captivate readers with its irresistible combination of superbly
nuanced characters and a high-adrenaline plot. --John Charles
Romantic Times
* * * * 1/2 Hot Pick
Bourne debuts with an emotionally powerful
action-adventure thriller reminiscent of Elizabeth Boyle and Madeline
Hunter. With its twists, surprises galore, spies and counter-spies and
trust and distrust, this intricate, marvelous story captivates.
Annique
Villiers, the elusive spy known as the Fox Cub, has outwitted,
outmaneuvered and outfoxed every man she's ever met, until British
spymaster Robert Grey steps into a French prison. Grey's mission is to
capture the Cub and uncover exactly what she knows and who she works
for.
As enemies, they hate one another; as fellow prisoners they must band together to escape. Their truce is
filled with suspicion, but there's also a spark of something more -- a
forbidden passion that threatens their missions. As they flee through
the
countryside, pursued by enemies left and right, their tense alliance hangs
on a thread. Surrounded by deception, piled-on secrets and heaped-on lies
that go back decades, Grey and Annique become a force to be reckoned
with in a world gone mad. (Berkley Sensation, Jan., 373 pp., $7.99)
. . . "there
are stakes - huge, changing-the course-of-history, life-or-death
stakes" . . . "wild monkey sex" . . . "heartbreak, escape, lust ". .
. "I shamelessly pimped this" . . . "SO. FREAKIN. AWESOME" . . .
"Ah, clever young, vulnerable, wise-beyond-his-years Adrian". . . "The
heroine is a courageous innocent and the hero is more of a cynic. There
is some humor as well as emotional angst, and a [ . . .] sense of
wonder during the love scenes."
Spymaster's Lady is 2009 winner of the American Library Association, Reference and User Services Award for Best Romance Genre Book.
The RUSA Reading List seeks to highlight outstanding genre fiction that
merit special attention by general adult readers and the librarians who
work with them.
Spymaster's Lady was a finalist in the Historical Romance category of the 2009 RITA awards.
The RITA is awarded annually by the Romance Writers of America to recognize outstanding Romance genre books.
All About Romance readers poll listed Spymaster's Lady as the Best Romance novel of 2008.
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