Softcover

ISBN 10: 0449003167 ISBN 13: 9780449003169

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2004

After building a fortune in the exotic East, American adventurer and merchant prince Gavin Elliott sets his sails for London to begin a new life. Then fate intervenes on an infamous island in the East Indies where a European woman faces degradation and peril. Though saving her may cost Gavin his life, he cannot refuse to help the fierce beauty who touches his heart and soul with her indomitable spirit.

Alexandra Warren is returning home from Australia as a widow and mother when a pirate attack condemns her to a life of servitude. A miracle arrives in the form of a steely-eyed Yankee captain, whose reckless courage wins them freedom and a safe passage home to London. Intimate strangers joined by too many secrets, they slowly begin to heal the past with attraction and tenderness—until an old enemy reaches out to threaten the passionate love Gavin has found with his irresistible bartered bride.

Review:

Setting: The East Indies and London, 1834

Sensuality: 7

Lovely widow Alexandra Warren and her young daughter are sailing from Australia to the haven of her family in London when pirates attack their ship and they are captured, separated, and Alex is sold into slavery. Six months later, Captain Gavin Elliott drops anchor at the island of Maduri and is shocked to find a European woman being auctioned in the slave market. Alex clings to hope when the handsome sea captain offers to buy her, but the ruling Sultan of Maduri has plans for Gavin and shrewdly views Alex's plight as a means to control him. Through strength, courage, and wisdom, Gavin thwarts the Sultan's plans, but after surviving the dangers of the South Seas, Alex and Gavin are faced with a more lethal threat when they arrive in London. This time, whether either of them will survive the evil that threatens their lives is anyone's guess.

The exotic locale of the East Indies contrasts vividly with polite London society in this third tale in Ms. Putney's trilogy (The Wild Child and The China Bride). The plot has enough twists and turns to satisfy the most devoted of mystery fans while the relationship between hero and heroine is complicated and the secondary characters well drawn. The author's exploration of British politics, slavery in the 1830s, and London society adds depth and texture to the novel. --Lois Faye Dyer

About the Author:

A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author, Mary Jo Putney is a graduate of Syracuse University with degrees in eighteenth-century literature and industrial design. She has won numerous awards for her writing, including two Romance Writers of America RITA awards, four consecutive Golden Leaf awards for Best Historical Romance, and the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for Historical Romance. The author of twenty-seven novels, Ms. Putney lives near Baltimore, Maryland, with her nearest and dearest, both two-and four-footed.