The Temptation of Your Touch by Teresa Medeiros

I have been on a  2 month bender of YA and contemporary adult romances. What brought me back to historicals? Two words….Teresa Medeiros.

I have been waiting for this novel for a whole year since I read the first book of this series (The Pleasure of Your Kiss). My wait was not in vain. I pre-ordered this from Amazon and when it came on my Kindle….

 

I will fully disclose that I am biased when it comes to Teresa Medeiros as I own all of her books.

ALL. Of. Them.

So, reviewing her latest book will be like a soccer mom watching her first born play. That child can do NO wrong. I will gush. But I will try not to drool.

First off, Maximillian current Earl of Dravenwood and future Duke of Dryden… Stoic, take charge male (Yum), now heart broken and tortured (double-Yum),  former-boyscout-turned-scoundrel (triple...well you get the idea)

His heart is broken by his fiancée, whom or is it who? arrgh never did get that right in English class it took Max nine years to convince they marry (nine? Yes… freakin' nine). He then runs off to a remote corner in Cornwall to molder away in an equally moldering manor his family recently required. Instead of finding peace, he finds a senile butler, an aged cook, a motley crew of incompetent servants and a housekeeper that makes him itch in places he can’t scratch.

And a ghost.

Wait… 

Max has let one woman rule his heart for over half his life and now a second woman (a dead one) is trying to the same thing.

The music ceased abruptly, almost as if spectral hands had slammed the lid of the music box. He stood there for a long time but there was no repeat performance, no sound at all except for the muted roar of the wind and the distant crash of the waves against the rocks.

A mocking smile tugged at one corner of Max’s mouth

“I’ve been haunted by the best,” he murmured. “If you want to be rid of me, sweetheart, you’ll have to do better than that.”

GAH! Panties drop….NOW!

The White Lady was a young girl who killed herself for putting her love and virtue in the wrong man with disastrous consequenses not only to herself but others as well.

She has kept many away from Cadgwyck Manor and Annie Spencer, the housekeeper, prefers it that way. Annie is like a well made baguette. Crust on the outside and soft on the inside. Annie has her own reasons for moldering away at the mansion. Although all the previous owners disappeared at the first sign of the White Lady, Max is sticking around much to her dismay. The longer the new owner stays at the manor, the longer Annie and Max are drawn to each other despite emotional turmoil and social difference.

I have need of you.

That bold confession made Anne wonder what it would be like to be truly needed by such a man. To hear those same words whispered in her ear in the dark of night in a lover’s hoarse tones.

The constant tension between H/h makes the book waaaay more hotter than the actual sex scene (there was only one but trust me the story does NOT lack heat). Each have deep wounds that need attending that for some reason the other has the ability to mend.
Takes notes. This is how a true romance novel is written. Ms. Medeiros wrote a beautiful love story that evoked not only emotions but the imagination. You can really feel being inside an old haunted castle surrounded by memories, dust, and a spirit. How the author set the scene invoked the senses and help stage the scene for romance, humor, and the supernatural.

Not boredom (I have read plenty of books that went on and on about the fabric of the bladily-blah-blah-blah).

 I loved this book and its going to be one of those that I will pick up more than once. Oh, if you have not read the first of this series pick it up. You won't get lost by reading it out of order but you will understand Max more because of it.