Review on: Scandal’s Bride by Stephanie Laurens
Series: Cynster (Book 3)
Rating: 4.5/5
Catriona Hennessy is the Lady of the Vale, a title that comes along with a great parcel of land known as the Vale, an isolated place filled with prosperity. When her guardian (Seamus McEnery) dies leaving Catriona to the guardianship of his guardian’s son, she is forced to pay her respects to the family and leaves for the McEnery house. Soon after, Catriona receives dreams and visions from “The Lady”, the religious entity that guards and protects the Vale and its people, of a certain young man whom Catriona interprets is the man she is fated to be wed to. It is while traveling to the McEnery house that Catriona meets her fated – Richard “Scandal” Cynster, the complete opposite of the shy and passive man she wishes to be married to. Sparks fly between the two but it’s not until Seamus’ will forces Richard and Catriona together, either Richard decides to marry Catriona in a week, or all his property and money will go to charity instead of to his family.
Catriona is told by The Lady in her visions that Richard will be the father to her children, and she decides to re-interpret this as him getting her pregnant but not getting married to her, as he is in her definition – a rake who won’t be happy being married to just one person. Using her knowledge in medicinal herbs, Catriona tricks Richard into thinking that their first night of sexual intercourse was just a very realistic dream. Unknown to Catriona, Richard doesn’t take her potion for the second and third night that she visits him in his room, and he later traps her by deciding that he is willing to marry Catriona.
It is here – after their sudden marriage, that the passion between Catriona and Richard are tested. As the Lady of the Vale, Catriona has responsibilities to the title, her land, and its people. Is she willing to share her responsibilities with Richard, a complete outsider, and only her consort. Richard on the other hand is a Cynster, so he is by birth passionate and agressive. Is he willing to stay the silent companion who will patiently wait for her or will he fight for her respect and her love?