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A Notorious Gentleman . . .
Sullivan Waring wants only two things: his rightful inheritance, and revenge against the man who stole it from him. By day, Sullivan is the most respected horse breeder in England; by night, he plunders the ton's most opulent homes to reclaim his late mother's beautiful paintings. His quest is going swimmingly . . . until the night he's discovered by Lady Isabel Chalsey. Clad only in a revealing nightdress, she's an entrancingly different kind of plunder, and how can a thief resist stealing a kiss?
A Curious Lady . . .
Surprised by a masked man in her own home, Isabel should be quaking with fear. Instead the sight of the sinfully handsome Sullivan makes her tremble with excitement. Who is this man, and why is he so set on this reckless pursuit? Lady Isabel loves a challenge, and she'll dare anything to uncover Sullivan's secret—but she may instead convince him that she is the greatest prize of all.
After the Kiss
Prologue
The First Royal Dragoons
Maguilla, Spain
June 11, 1812
Captain Sullivan James Waring ducked low along his mount's neck just as a rifle ball whistled past his head. The French continued their retreat, but they weren't making the English advance an easy one. Guiding his chestnut gelding, Salty, with his knees, Sullivan reloaded his pistol as he and nearly seven hundred members of the combined First Royal Dragoons and the Third Dragoon Guards pounded across the rolling Spanish plain.
"Sullivan! What the devil is Slade doing?" the rider just to his right shouted."Advancing seven miles past any assistance," Sullivan replied grimly, not certain Captain Phineas Bromley could even hear him over the gunfire and pounding hooves. He sent a glance back over his shoulder at the men and horses under his command. The line was ragged, and the horses tiring. And General Slade continued to gallop along in front of them.
The six hundred French mounts ahead of him were tiring, as well, but it was hardly a compensation. Seven miles behind them they'd left a hundred or so French captives with a handful of dragoons to watch them...a victory and a damned fine bounty by anyone's measure. Continuing this pursuit so far beyond any reinforcements was mad. With the village of Maguilla and the broken ground of a riverbed coming into view ahead of them, it was beginning to look suicidal."Close ranks!" he bellowed.
Another rider angled toward him. "At this pace," Major Lord Bramwell Lowry Johns contributed breathlessly, "in three days we'll reach the coast and then be able to swim home to Dover.""We'll never live that long,"Sullivan returned, blinking dust from his eyes. "That's Maguilla up ahead. You outrank Phin and me, Bram. If you can catch General Slade, you might remind him that the bulk of the French cavalry is out here somewhere."
The major began to reply, then flinched sideways as his black watering cap flew back off his head. "They've shot my bloody hat off, the bastards!" Bram took aim, fired his pistol, and dropped one of the French cavalrymen ahead of them.
"Take that, you brigands!"
The French might be brigands, but the Royal Dragoons had their own troubles. A hundred feet ahead of them General Slade waved his saber in the air, yelling as he had been for the past ten minutes. "Haste, haste! Gallop, damn you!" The black horse hairs on his hat trailed behind him like a bloody parade streamer."That man is the worst officer I've ever seen," Sullivan grunted, beginning to see why they'd had to make it a punishable offense to shoot one's own commanding officer.
They pounded over a low rise, twelve hundred French and English cavalry stretched out over nearly a quarter mile. Ahead the ramshackle town of Maguilla looked deserted, as did the broken, tree dotted riverbank beyond.
"This is not good," Phin shouted, echoing Sullivan's own assessment.
"Take the right flank," Bram ordered Phin, abruptly serious as he signaled for his men to fall to the left.
Spread out as they were, flanking maneuvers at best would keep them from being surprised from behind. Waving an arm forward, Sullivan kept his own men pounding up the middle behind the general. "Idiot," he muttered. At least Slade hadn't stopped the charge to adjust his stirrups this time, like he'd done last month at Corunna, but the current insanity didn't seem to be much of an improvement.
The French dragoons slowed as they reached the outskirts of the town. Sullivan lifted his pistol, accelerating as Slade stopped, the dimwit probably surprised that the chase was ending. "Arrêtez!" he yelled, focusing his attention on the nearest of the green coated officers.
At the same moment he heard Phin's distinctive bellow. "Fall back! Fall back, for God's sake!"
He looked to the right just as a barrage of pistol and rifle fire nearly took off his head. Charging over the lip of the riverbank looked to be an entire regiment of green jacketed dragoons, all of them firing into the mass of British cavalry. Christ. The French Seventeenth had been waiting for them.
"Covering fire!" He aimed beyond Phin's retreating dragoons and fired off his pistol. One of the Frogs hit the ground, but he barely took the time to note it. The right flank, made up of two hundred of the First Royal Dragoons, was disintegrating.
He wheeled Salty to see that most of the left flank was leading the way back in the direction they'd come. Bram waded his bay against the current, rejoining him. "I knew I should have stayed in bed this morning," the Duke of Levonzy's second son panted, shoving his pistol into his waistband and pulling his saber.
"Maybe we'll find your hat on the way back," Sullivan grunted. A dismounted greencoat grabbed for Salty's bridle. Sullivan kicked him in the face, and the Frog flew backward to the ground, where he stayed. "Where's Phin?"
Wheeling again, he spotted Viscount Quence's younger brother. The captain was on the ground, his bay floundering half on top of him, with the French dragoons cutting a swath toward him through the fleeing English. Without thinking, Sullivan spurred Salty. The chestnut charged forward, right into the French line. Sullivan sliced out with his saber, feeling the wrench and tug as steel met flesh.
"Phin!"
Phineas Bromley staggered to his feet as Sullivan reached him. Kicking a boot out of his stirrup to provide a foothold, he reached down a hand, grabbed Phin's wrist, and hauled backward. The captain swung up behind him. Salty stumbled sideways as he adjusted to the additional weight, and then they were off back the way they'd come, Bram flanking them and yelling obscenities in French as General Slade passed by them, still yelling.
"Fifty pounds to any man who'll stand and fight with me! Fifty pounds!"
Bram muttered something that sounded like, "Bloody stupid muggins," but Sullivan couldn't be certain.
"My thanks, Sully!" Phin shouted in his ear.
"No need. My mother wants to paint your portrait, remember? You can't get killed before you're immortalized."
Something burned hot and wet into his left shoulder. Sullivan slammed backward, nearly knocking Phin off of Salty's back behind him.
"Sully? Sullivan!"
His vision blurred. The last thing he remembered was Phin reaching around him for the reins, and Bram moving in to grab his left shoulder and keep him upright. And then everything went dark.
After the KissA year after being shot as an officer serving in the Peninsular War highly regarded horse breeder Sullivan Waring lives a secret life. During the day the Ton admires his work with horses at night they treat him with contempt. He does not care how they feel instead he wants what was stolen from him so in the evening he sneaks into the homes of the affluent to take back his late mother¿s paintings. ------------- However Lady Isabel Chalsey catches the notorious Mayfair Marauder in the act of thieving. He is stunned by her beauty and cannot stop himself from taking a kiss he is further shocked when she demands he train a horse for her use or she will expose him. As he falls in love, he prepares a mare for Isabel while helping her overcome her fear of horses but may not be able to overcome his own dark secrets that eat at his soul.------------- The first Notorious Gentlemen tale (Sully¿s Peninsular War buddies to follow) is a terrific Regency romantic mystery that hooks readers when the heroine going for a late snack catches the notorious gentleman removing a portrait from the wall. The story line never slows down as Lady Isabel ¿blackmails¿ the thief after a witty exchange. Readers will enjoy their antics AFTER THE KISS as Suzanne Enoch provides a superb opening act.---------- Harriet Klausner
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted April 26, 2010
I am a new reader to the historical fiction genre and have discovered I love it! This book series was the ice breaker and I have read many more of Suzanne Enoch's books. This series is a def. must read.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Elle_See
Posted April 8, 2010
I Also Recommend:
Overall, I thought this was a promising start to a new series. Sullivan and Isabel aren't the prototypical perfect hero and heroine, but (thank goodness) they exhibit *actual character development* throughout the story. Isabel is obnoxious and a little hard to stomach for the first few chapters, but she improves upon further acquaintance. Sullivan is a pretty bitter person at first, but he's started to put the worst of his issues behind him by the end of the book. And I'm kind of hoping Isabel's younger brother gets his own book at some point - he was fairly enjoyable.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I really like Sullivan and Tibby was a cute heroine. This story was interesting and wasn't slow. Good read.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.goldenharp
Posted February 16, 2009
I Also Recommend:
This book took the reader on Sullivan Waring's journey of self-discovery. While he sought acknowledgement from his biological father through trying to recover his inheritance, he learned that greatest acknowledgement is that which comes from ones own knowledge and appreciation of what one has made of one's life. It took the love of an unconventional young woman to open his eyes to value of who he was as a man and to give him energy enough to achieve his dream.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted August 11, 2008
I have read all of Suzanne Enoch's novels. The first two books of this series are good, but not outstanding. The main characters are well written but they are lacking some excitement. The men in these stories are not rich, successful or titled. They are brave soldiers who return home and face hardships. They are admirable characters, but there is nothing to reform and they are not that ambitious. There is no real lesson to learn or teach. These stories are centered around revenge and correcting the past. The women are in these stories are not as independent or fiesty as her prior characters. They tend to be more subservient and they see to be waiting for life to happen to them. Suzanne Enoch can do much better...her previous books sizzle with romance and excitement. These stories are nice and I would recommend them as a read.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted July 18, 2008
Suzanne Enoch has a long history of writing highly entertaining and sensual Regency romances. The first book in her new Notorious Gentlemen Series is off to a great start. Sullivan Waring is the notorious gentleman in this fascinating debut. He is a handsome and self-assured man who is well sought out by every gentleman of the ton for the highly prized horses he breeds. But other than his horses, he is kept at arm¿s length out of the social circles of the aristocracy because he is the known, but unspoken of illegitimate son of the Marquis of Dunston, a well-respected member of the ton who never recognized Sullivan. Sullivan discovers further insult to injury upon his return from fighting in Spain. His mother, a talented artist, passed away while he was at war. Knowing that her paintings were to be left to her son, his illegitimate family had sold them to highly placed members of the ton, knowing as an outsider in this social circle he would never get the opportunity to enter the homes of the ton and discover where the paintings are located, nor would he have the power to purchase them back. Sullivan embarks on a plan of revenge on his father. While building his successful breeding business, he becomes the famous thief, The Mayfair Marauder, thus becoming a further embarrassment to his father and enjoying the blackmail knowing that his father would not reveal him as the thief and add further scandal to the family. With his horse business and a well-placed aristocrat friend Phineas Bromley his perfectly developed plan to re-obtain the paintings is nearly finished. Until the night he robs the home of the Marquis of Darshear. Just as he is to make his usual perfect exit, he instead finds a perfectly lovely lady in his path. To throw her off he kisses her senseless and suddenly discovers he is not only spellbound, but discovered. The lovely Isabel at first frightened, becomes enthralled and a bit devious by removing Sullivan¿s mask during the kiss. Sullivan comes to realize ¿After the Kiss¿ that the lovely and intelligent lady now has reversed his plans of revenge and blackmail back on to him. Isabel has been bored with the men in her social circles and immediately taken with this handsome and kiss stealing thief, creates a blackmail plan so that she can continue seeing him and find out more about the man behind the kiss as well as the mask. Sullivan knows now that he has met his match when he falls into Isabel¿s blackmail scheme. She promises to not to turn him in if he will allow her father to purchase one of his best horses and teach her to ride every day. Each day Sullivan jumps to Isabel¿s commands due to that special kiss that caught him in Isabel's blackmail net. A kiss that seems to draw Isabel and Sullivan to each other more than they both expected with a desire and passion that builds and becomes more sensual with each new encounter. Now that Sullivan has been uncovered and discovered by the beautiful Isabel and his revenge and blackmail have taken a reverse in this highly charged, sensual relationship, will Sullivan¿s identity be discovered? But most of all will the Marquis of Dunston ever legally recognize Sullivan as his son? The characters are interesting, enchanting and the verbal banter highly entertaining. ¿After the Kiss¿ is a well-written story containing many mysteries, secrets and highly charged sensuality. Each page is a delight making it difficult to put this book down. Ms. Enoch, already a favorite with many romance fans, is getting better and better with each book. This series is destined as a definite keeper. This reviewer is looking forward to the next book in The Notorious Gentleman Series about Sullivan¿s friend Phineas Bromley!
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Overview
A Notorious Gentleman . . .
Sullivan Waring wants only two things: his rightful inheritance, and revenge against the man who stole it from him. By day, Sullivan is the most respected horse breeder in England; by night, he plunders the ton's most opulent homes to reclaim his late mother's beautiful paintings. His quest is going swimmingly . . . until the night he's discovered by Lady Isabel Chalsey. Clad only in a revealing nightdress, she's an ...