Wonderful stupendous book. A page-turner as well as an excellent romance.

Kate is the daughter of a duke and was once in love with Harry Lidge. Now a bunch of murderous spies are after her, because she knows their secret. But does she? She doesn't remember anything of the sort.

Harry's been assigned to protect her but he hasn't forgiven her for past offenses. Kate has given up on men, given her married life with the Duke of Murther. Despite a truly horrendous start, the two finally make up and begin to live their life together, after so many years.

Kate is a vivid well-drawn character who's forced to begin her life again. Harry is the scarred veteran who is given a second chance. Drama abounds, will the spies kill Kate? Will Harry rescue her? Who are the spies anyway? What's Kate's connection? Finally, all the pieces fall into place.

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Another great read in a great series. I hope the joy continues!
One tiny gripe, which doesn't affect the read at all, is that the young woman on the cover looks more like someone going to the prom than a duchess. ( )

This review is up on my blog at www.bookworm2bookworm.wordpress.comIn 2010 Eileen Dreyer introduced us to her Drake’s Rakes and to three of them, she gave a Grace for their very own.

In ‘Barely a Lady’, Jack found his Grace, Olivia Grace that is and in ‘Never a Gentleman’, Diccan couldn’t outrun his Grace, Grace Fairchild. And then Harry confronts Her Grace, the Dowager Duchess of Murther in ’Always a Temptress’ and their story, as the earlier two, had me spellbound and on the edge of my seat.

How can I do this novel justice AND keep the ‘spoilers’ out?! I want to shout it out loud and let you know all the why’s and what for’s…but I’ll contain my enthusiasm, and tell you why I loved Kate and Harry’s love story.

We met this flamboyant woman in the first book, and she was someone you couldn’t help but like from the start. She was a daughter, sister and a wife of a Duke; fearless, hated, envied and admired. She surrounded herself with friends from all walks of life; aristocrats, soldiers and a motley crew of misfits in her employ made up an eclectic ‘bouquet’ of friends that kept the darkness away and Kate’s life content.

Until the day that greed and secrets, kept by her and from her, shattered, battered and forced her to face all her fears she carefully and methodically hid, in the dark corners of her soul.

Major Sir Harry Lidge we met in the previous book and we knew from his interactions with Kate that the past they shared would one day come to haunt both, and once it did, both would have ‘some splainin’ to do’.

Harry’s life ten years ago was filled with dreams of travel and love for a girl of a Duke, and as a second son of a squire, that was a dream a bit too high, even for him. That however didn’t stop him and the love he felt for his ‘Katie’ came crashing down all around him, like the famous buildings he dreamed one day of building. Being brought up by loving parents, in a home that buzzed with activity and happiness, Harry’s decision to accept the Duke’s offer of a commission was the right thing to do. He knew that his dreams, if ever he survived the war, might be rebuilt and hopes for that dream kept him alive; kept him moving even when the nightmares of the battles fought tried to keep him down.

Upon finishing this novel, I truly couldn’t decide who was more the hero of this piece, Kate or Harry. Both had major hurdles to overcome, but the strength that Kate displayed was ferocious!

The story opens with Kate’s abduction for her protection and continues with her brother’s attempts to commit her to an asylum for her outrageous behavior. In the middle of it all, Drake’s Rakes are still in pursuit of the cursed verse and assassin’s attempts at killing our hero and heroine almost succeed. To some, this might be too much happening all at once, but trust me, none is, and all is important to the story that is fast paced, and every character we meet has depth, but none so like our Kate and Harry. Their road back to each other despite of all the hardships they lived through was destined to end with love and passion winning the day!

‘Always a Temptress’ had me smile, cry and sigh, but it never, EVER had me bored! Ms. Dreyer, I hear that you’ll be writing more of Drake’s Rakes, so BRING THEM ON! I refuse to think that Ian is dead!

Melanie ( )

Fantastic book full of scandal, intrigue and redemption. Harry is back in England after ten years of being at war. He's ready to follow his dream of traveling the world, but has one last thing to do for his friend Drake. He has to kidnap Lady Kate and find out what she has to do with the group who is trying to bring down the monarchy. He will believe anything of her since she betrayed him when they were younger. Kate is a widow who spends her days courting scandal. She avoids Harry whenever possible because of the way he betrayed her when they were younger. She is stunned to find her suspects her of treason.

Kate appears to be a strong woman who doesn't care what society thinks of her. She lives her life the way she wants to. Years ago she and Harry had been friends, then had fallen in love. Her father was going to marry her to an old man and Harry promised to save her, but then he deserted her and left her to her sadistic husband. She has never forgiven him. When he kidnaps her he accuses her of treason and threatens her if she doesn't tell him what he needs to know. Meanwhile Harry had been told lies about her and offered a chance to join the army and get away from her. Once they actually start to listen to what each has to say things start to change between them. Both must learn to trust the other one again. While Harry made me really angry at the beginning with his attitude toward her, once he learned the truth his actions completely changed. I really loved the caring and patience he used to help her heal from her traumas. It was obvious that he still loved her but he was very good at denying it to himself and others. I got a bit frustrated with his tunnel vision regarding his future, as I waited for him to realize what was important. Kate's life during her marriage was so horrific it was amazing that she was as happy as she seemed to be. When Harry made the accusations he did she couldn't understand how he could think that of her. When he confronted her with the things her father had told him she was stunned and furious. I loved the way that she disproved his beliefs. Even so, she was extremely wary of trusting him in any way because of her experiences. I enjoyed seeing her confound him with the truth of her life as it really was. I also liked seeing how she ended up being just as sensitive to his traumas as he was to hers. Their reconciliation wasn't easy and it wasn't fast, but it was believable.

The mystery of the missing information is very well done. Someone is trying to kill Kate because of something she has or knows but she is unaware of what it is. Harry is determined to protect her and it isn't an easy task. He has the help of the other Rakes, plus an interesting assortment of her friends and employees. I loved Bea and her unique way of communicating. Kate and Harry end up in some very interesting situations as the search comes to a head. Some are funny, some are scary and some are heartbreaking. ( )

Harry is a good soldier, but still wants to make Lady Kate suffer, until he admits he's acting like a jerk. Then he wants to protect her. Lady Kate doesn't know why her family is so mean to her. She is afraid of the dark. Her late husband abused her. Her brother wants to lock her up. Her uncle was one of the evil Lions. WHY? All will be revealed at the end, and it still won't make sense. Unlike the previous books in the series, this installment of Drake's Rakes badly needed trimming, in every sense of the word. ( )