Fans of Eloisa James & Julia Quinn discussion
Monday Puzzler
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Puzzler April 2, 2012: One Scene Does It All (Almost)
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I don't think I've read this book, but I want to! Sounds like this would be right up my alley.
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No idea. It kind of sounds like something I've read but can't put my finger on it. Is it a part of a series where his cousin would have his own book?
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Did you guess right, Manda?
Irish, the cousin's book, The Diabolical Baron was MJP's first novel. The hero of The Rake, Reggie Davenport, is the villain--sort of--in that book.
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I haven't read THE RAKE since it was first released. Looks like its time for me to get an ebook for the keeper shelf.
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Anne Gracie is certainly one of my favorite authors. So is MJP. I have so many favorites. :)
I bought this as an e-book, now I must read it soon!
Wow, Janga, I did read that, but it was forever ago! Looks like it's time for a re-read. LOL
Ha, I'd just bought that one! I'll have to move it up on the list.
Behind her a battle was raging, incoherent and cacophonous. Despite their superior numbers and weapons, the attackers were having a hard time destroying two men who were unarmed, but trained and deadly fighters. ____ saw _________ duck a saber slash, then ruthlessly wrest control of the sword away, unhorsing his antagonist in the process. _______ was involved in a tussle with another attacker that ended when he knocked the man from the saddle with a savage blow of his fist.
As a third man raised a pistol on _______’s back, ____ screamed his name and fired her own weapon at the attacker. An accurate shot was impossible, but by sheer luck her bullet winged the man. Bellowing with pain, he dropped his gun.
Then the masked man came at _____ again, leveling a pistol as he drove his horse at her. Impossible to reload under these conditions. Even as she wondered wildly why he was so intent on murdering her, she drew her arm back and hurled her useless weapon as hard as she could. The empty pistol clipped the man’s cheek, causing him to jerk and sending his shot off harmlessly.
“You miserable bitch!” he swore. Grabbing at her bridle, he used his burly strength to immobilize her horse. Then he reached into his boot and pulled out a long, viciously edged knife.
Having discouraged his own adversaries, ______ looked around in time to see the attack on ____. With horror he saw that she was trapped in the sidesaddle, unable to evade her attacker. Knowing he was too far away to reach her before the knife would strike home, _______ leaped from his horse and grabbed the Baker rifle that lay by the edge of the road only two feet from him.
____ was struggling fiercely with the masked man, trying to prevent him from getting a clear stab at her, but the bastard was large and strong, and she was unable to fight free. To ______, the movement seemed ghoulishly slow as her attacker raised his knife high, the thin blade flashing in the morning sun.
Too frightened for prayer, ______ dropped into approved firing position, one knee on the ground, the other raised to support his elbow and steady his aim. As the lethal knife stabbed downward, he cocked the hammer and squeezed the trigger, praying that the weapon was accurate.
His bullet slammed into the middle of the masked man’s chest, knocking him backward off his horse. The knife spun glittering through the air. As the flat crack of the rifle echoed between the trees, a shout went up. The four remaining attackers, now considerably the worse for wear, abandoned the fight. The two that had been unhorsed scrambled onto their mounts and bolted after their fellows as quickly as possible.
The entire skirmish had taken less than two minutes. As the hoofbeats faded in the distance, the little stretch of road was absolutely silent. Even the birds had been shocked out of their songs by the gunfire. The masked man lay motionless on the ground, his clothing saturated with blood, while the man who had fallen down the hill still sprawled unconscious in the ditch.
Wordlessly ______ crossed to ____’s mount and held his arms up. She slid into his embrace. Though she had fought like a tigress and quite possibly saved his own worthless life, now that the danger was over her slim body trembled violently. He held her with rib-bruising pressure as he offered a passionate mental prayer of thanksgiving that she had been spared.
_________ trotted his horse over. “Were either of you injured?” He looked as calm as a man riding in London’s Rotten Row, but his rust-brown coat had a black hole scorched along one shoulder.
Easy for ______ to be composed; it wasn’t his woman that had almost been killed. If ______ had had any doubts that he wanted _____ _______ to be his woman, they were resolved now. “I think we’re both all right. _____?”
“I’m fine. Sorry to be quaking like a blancmange.” A little shakily, she disentangled herself from his embrace.
_________ swung down from his horse. “Nerves are permitted. For someone experiencing her first taste of combat, you acquitted yourself very well.”
“If you hadn’t been here, _______, the odds would have been hopeless. I’m glad you decided to accompany us today. Thank you.” ______’s voice was detached, but his emotions were not. While he rated his own fighting skills highly, the chances of their escaping this deadly ambush would have been nil if his cousin hadn’t been with them, and a trained soldier. Even as it was, the result could easily have gone the other way.
_________ said, “It was the army’s loss when you couldn’t join.”
It was a typically elliptical exchange of masculine compliments, but entirely satisfactory. Their gazes met and held for a moment, and _______ knew that from now on, he and his cousin were friends.
Building bridges was a great improvement on burning them.