She’s the Lily of the Vessey
“The Accidental Mistress” by Tracy Anne Warren
If ever there was a story featuring a deliciously perfect piece of man meat who wanted nothing more than to love, honor and cherish a young nubile heroine but the latter refuses to partake of said meat because she would rather maintain her independence, this is it. Now personally I’ve never understood the principle as my momma had always told me to never EVER deny an Alpha Male who wants a piece of your ass. I believe in common parlance it is the equivalent of “never look a gift horse in the mouthâ€. Whatever it is, I’ve always lived by that principle. Always act! Never hesitate! I mean, if Gerard came up to me with his smoldering eyes and said “Sheri darling, I…†I’d be stripped naked lying spread eagle on his bed in two shakes of a horses’ tail.
Now the heroine in question is a certain Lily Bainbridge, who has, in order to escape marriage to a repulsive individual, faked her death and fled to London. As the story is set in a time when it is not acceptable for a woman to travel anywhere by herself (i.e. I’m too lazy to go find out what time period this was set in), she decides to disguise herself as a boy. Now you may be thinking that this is also a story about a man who develops feelings for a boy and then gets all confused about his sexuality but all is fine because the boy is actually a woman. You would be wrong. Ethan Andarton, the Marquis of Vessey, realizes Lily’s ruse almost the instant she walks into the local tavern as such is the intense power of his manhood. When he confronts her after a hearty meal, he convinces her to travel with him to London, under the excuse that it would not be safe for a fair maiden to t ravel by herself in the back of a mail coach. Though you and I and Ethan all know, that what he wants, is to spend more time with her. Before I carry on, let me say this – Ethan is hot stuff. Alright moving on, Ethan and Lily are in Ethan’s luxurious carriage en route to London and he is adorably persuading her to reveal her true name. When she refuses for the final time, he growls out his annoyance at how she would leave him with only a memory of their encounter and so, he grabs her and kisses the ever-living breath out of her, in order to make the memory a damn good one. *whimper* A man who takes matters into his own hands is a man whose hands I want to reside in.
Months later, Ethan and Lily are introduced at a ball and Ethan, who has spent the last few months fantasizing and obsessing about Lily, is thrilled at the turn of events. He embarks then on a plan to seduce (as if my poor heart can take a flirty Ethan at his best). The chemistry between Ethan and Lily is feverish and there were many a times I had to stop reading in order to mist myself with a bottle of evian. Ethan is felled midway through the book by a nefarious bee (also known as Cupid who got tired of waiting for the two of them to get it on) and Lily races him to a nearby inn, where Ethan is then treated by a physician. Though drugged full of laudanum, Ethan awakens in the middle of the night to find Lily curled up next to him in the same bed, and, with little encouragement from her (i.e. she asks him “is this a dream? Because in my dreams, you are kissing me†(I seriously need to try that one day)), makes earth-shattering love to her. Of course, Lily then goes and does the whole “this can never happen again†song and dance and Ethan is understandably frustrated.
None too soon however, Lily regains her senses and agrees to become Ethan’s mistress, despite the fact that Ethan made her an offer of marriage. In case you guys are keeping count, Lily is officially the first member of the Too Stupid To Live Romance heroine club of 2008. During their time together, Ethan showers her with presents, jewels and everything her little heart desires, while practically moving into her town house so that they won’t spend one moment apart from each other. All good things in the Romance world must however come to an end (for a while (for the purposes of eventual reunification made possible by The Grovel)) and in this book, comes in the form of Ethan’s mother, and Lily’s disgusting step-father and ex-fiancée. Turns out, Ethan had contemplated offering his hand in marriage to another (before he met Lily) and his mother is holding him to his contemplations, having discovered his inappropriate dalliance with his new mistress. This leads to a row between Ethan and Lily which is slightly heart twingy to read about. For anyone who has ever had to clear out their room of the remnants of a past lover/boyfriend, the scene where Lily strips her room bare of all memories of Ethan and then crumples when she realizes that a single book is all she has left of him and so cannot bear to give that one back as well, is in a word, heartbreaking.
Despite their huge row, Ethan nonetheless races to rescue Lily from the clutches of her ex-fiancée and her stepfather and Lily finally confesses all the secrets she had been keeping from him. I’m not going to tell you the ending because, you already know. I note that “The Accidental Mistress†is the second of a trilogy of books and will definitely be hopping to my nearest and dearest library to ferret out the rest (especially since Rafe from “My Fair Mistress†sounds like an Alpha Hero I’d like to invite to my fortnightly manwich party and then perhaps for a little sleep over) of Tracy Anne Warren’s books. Hooray for another series!
mallory said,
January 18, 2008 @ 1:22 am
I have read this one and Rafe’s and am in the process of trying to finish the third one with Tony and Gabriella. I liked Rafelious’s story best. I made the wonderful mistake of picking up Warlord by Elizabeth Elliott before I finished Tony and Grabriellas story and immediately had to have Betrothed and Scoundrel so alas Tony and Gabby have to wait. What ever happened to Elizabeth Elliott?
lauren said,
January 18, 2008 @ 2:14 am
She has another book coming out this year.
La Lola said,
January 18, 2008 @ 9:00 am
“Sheridan!” *bangs beautifully manicured fist on the door* “I know you’re in there! I can hear you whimpering- I want to put you in a manwich and eat you Ethan- Pass me the book!”
mallory said,
January 20, 2008 @ 4:47 am
Lauren, are you talking about Elizabeth Vaughn or Elizabeth Elliiott? Both had books called Warlord. I was talking about Elizabeth Elliott. She hasnt wriiten anything since 1996. I hope you are right and EE is writing one this year but I cant find anything out about it. Let me in on it if she is! That would be sweet!
lauren said,
January 20, 2008 @ 6:10 am
Well I was talking about htat EE but I was a little bit confussed, her deadline is this year, but there is no date set for the book to be released, which is why you won;t fond anything on it. She has a webpage that says she’s working on a manuscripe and it’s due this spring. She also says that she had writersblock.
Trollop said,
January 23, 2008 @ 2:56 am
Re: The chemistry between Ethan and Lily is feverish and there were many a times I had to stop reading in order to mist myself with a bottle of evian.
That’s as far as I needed to read to go download the ebook ASAP *g*
Thanks for the rec.