A WICKED GAME - Kate Bateman
Ruthless Rivals #3
St. Martin's Paperbacks
ISBN: 9781250801593
December 2022
Regency Romance

England - 1813 and 1815

Before Morgan Davies left to fight Napoleon, his lifelong "enemy", Harriet Montgomery told him that if he returned unscathed, she would grant him three kisses. The Davies/Montgomery families have been rivals for generations. But lately, the present generation has let slip some of that animosity, even marrying one another. While Harriet secretly has adored Morgan since childhood, she knew she must maintain her family's dignity by spurning the handsome rogue. However, it's obvious by her challenge to Morgan that he may stand a chance with her.

Unfortunately for Morgan, his ship and crew are captured by the French governor of Martinique after the ship runs aground when their map of the area proves faulty. De Caen, his captor treated him and his men cruelly, and Morgan is determined to find out who manufactured the map. At the Admiralty, he is stunned to find Harriet Montgomery in Lord Melville's office, and that she was the person who developed the map. Harriet had taken over her father's map making business when the older man began losing his sight. She was hired by the Admiralty to provide false maps that were smuggled to the French by British spies.

Harriet is relieved that Morgan has returned, but it will take more than the three kisses she's promised him to allow him to woo her. But when he teases her with his "threats" of when and where he will kiss her, she is intrigued. Morgan has kept the thoughts of those kisses in his heart while being held captive. He has always thought of the cheeky, outspoken Harriet as a challenge, and a woman after his own heart. How to woo her is another thing, though. How was anyone to know that Morgan would use the map of a captured French ship when his own map is destroyed?

There is someone else who is determined to discover who made the fake maps. De Caen is in London to find the mapmaker, and he wants to exact vengeance for his country. While Morgan tries to find a way to get Harriet to trust him, and to use those three kisses to get her to love him, he is also worried about protecting her from De Caen. Can he woo and keep her safe at the same time?

Book 3 of the Ruthless Rivals, A WICKED GAME is entertaining, sensuous, and, well, wicked.

Jani Brooks