DISHONORABLE INTENTIONS - Katherine Ivy
Cerridwen Press
ISBN: 978-1-41991-547-5
March 2008
Historical Romance

London, England – 1816

Her mother’s friend, Dowager Marchioness of Herringsford, is giving Miss Arabella Cole a Season. She calls the Dowager aunt, and the Dowager’s daughter, Sally, her cousin, although Sally is much more -- best friend, confidante, and collaborator. Arabella’s brother has ruined the family having gambled the family’s assets away. Arabella has two choices, marry a rich man or find a lost family treasure. The Eye of the Storm, a fabulous sapphire the size of a goose egg, once belonged to her grandfather and was either stolen or lost in a game of cards to the fourth Earl of Bainbridge many years ago.

To find the sapphire, Arabella concocts a plan to commit burglary. She knows the sixth Earl of Bainbridge is out of the country, so she steals into Duvall House in the middle of the night in hopes of discovering the ledger in which she believes the fourth earl left clues to where he hid the sapphire. Unfortunately, the gardener discovers her, but then lets her escape.

Gabriel Ashton Duvall, the sixth Earl of Bainbridge, has returned home. Despite his title, his tarnished reputation is unredeemable. He left seven years ago under a cloud of dishonor, abandoning his fiancée the night before the wedding. After he left, she bore a child who, rumor says, looks amazingly like him. What the episode left with Gabriel was an intense distrust and distaste of women of the ton. In between his leaving and his return, Gabriel started Corvin Shipping and built it into a thriving business.

His first night in his London home, Gabriel discovers a thief searching through his grandfather’s belongings. He is amazed and tantalized to discover the thief is a woman named Bella. He lets her go, knowing she will return. He believes she is hunting a particular item, passing up stealing some of his grandfather's valuable possessions. His desire for his burglar Bella continues to plague him until he discovers her at a ball and learns her name is Arabella. His thief, for whom he had been developing too strong an attraction, is no better than any other Society female, a woman like his vile former fiancée. However, whenever Bella's mad search leads her into trouble, Gabriel can't help but protect her.

Along with the romance between Arabella and Gabriel, DISHONORABLE INTENTIONS contains a treasure hunt for the Eye of the Storm. One can believe Gabriel’s grandfather stole the gem. He was a collector of mineral and rock samples, so if he won it, why hide the stone and leave riddles to its whereabouts? Of course, someone else knows about the stone and wants it enough to go to any lengths to possess it, which places Arabella in extreme danger. Who else hunts for the stone is part of the story’s suspense.

The hero and heroine meet in a manner unusual for most Society couples, both are strong minded, and both are victims of society. The viewpoint changes between Arabella and Gabriel, giving the reader insight into their thoughts and emotions. A secondary romance threads through the story with Sally and one of Gabriel's few friends. Author Katherine Ivy has given
a satisfying story set in the Regency world, but one with an intriguing twist.

Robin Lee