Want a NOOK? Explore Now
A passionate, rich, and wonderfully moving romance from RITA Award–winning author Laura Lee Guhrke.
London
March 1832
The ostrich plume was tickling her nose, and there was nothing Grace Cheval could do about it. She slid the bow across the strings of her violin, trying to concentrate on the allegro of Vivaldi's L'Autunno, rather than on the huge feather that had come loose from her hat and fallen forward across her cheek. She prayed she wouldn't sneeze.
The feather wasn't her only problem. Ballrooms were always too warm, especially at these crowded charity affairs. Worse, the ball was Fancy Dress, and the costume she had been given to wear did not help. The heavy velvet doublet of a highwayman made playing her violin for an entire evening a tiring business. The combination of doublet, plumed hat, and leather mask made her feel as if she were in an oven. As she played, Grace shook her head several times, trying to get the ostrich plume out of her face without missing a note of the music, but it was a futile attempt. The silly thing insisted on falling right back down again to tickle her nose.
Vivaldi finally ended, much to her relief. As the couples who had been engaged in the quadrille left the ballroom floor, she set her violin and bow in her lap, then lifted her hands to yank the ostrich plume out of her hat. When it came away, she tossed it aside and turned her sheet music to the Weber waltz, which was the last dance of the evening. She lifted her violin once again as one of her fellow musicians leaned closer to her.
"You only got half of it," he told her in a low voice. "The other half is poking straight up out of your hat."
"Rot," she shot back as shetucked her violin beneath her chin. "You are such a liar, Teddy."
"I'm not lying," the young man answered, settling the laurel wreath of Caesar more firmly into his chestnut brown hair before lifting his bow to the cello between his knees. "Sticking up like that, it looks like a house chimney, only fluffy."
Grace raised her own bow. "I can always tell when you're lying. Your ears get red."
He gave a chuckle as they began to play. Grace had performed at so many balls during the past three years that she knew most published waltzes by heart, and that enabled her to have a look at the dancers as she played.
Queen Elizabeth danced by, along with her partner, Henry the Second. Helen of Troy was next, with a man whose costume was merely a black evening suit and long, gold-lined black cape. He made her think at once of Faust's devil, Mephistopheles. The two made a striking pair, for the woman's white toga was an eye-catching contrast to the man's dark clothes and coloring. As the couple swirled past her, she noticed that his black hair was long and tied back, an odd thing, many years out of fashion, yet not quite in keeping with his costume. He wore no mask, and her glimpse of his face caused her hand to falter in surprise. Her violin hit a strident note. She recovered herself, and the pair moved out of her line of vision, but Grace knew she had not been mistaken in her recognition of him.
Dylan Moore.
She would never forget the night she had met the famous composer, and she doubted most other women would forget either. A compelling man, tall, with eyes of true black. Meeting his gaze had been like looking into an abyss where no light could penetrate the depths. A man with a resolute jaw that said he usually got what he wanted, and a cynical curve to his mouth that said he was easily bored by it afterward. A man of breathtaking genius, wealth and position, a man who seemed to have everything life could offer, a man who had put the barrel of a pistol beneath his chin.
She could still remember the sick lurch of her stomach as she had watched him from behind the heavy velvet curtain of the Palladium that night five years ago. She had played her violin then, too, hoping the notes of Moore's own music would not be drowned out by a pistol shot.
Etienne had taken her back to Paris only a day later, and she had not seen Moore again, but she had heard a great deal about him during the five years that had followed their strange encounter. Everyone from Paris to Vienna and back again had been eager to discuss the latest news about England's most famous composer. There had been plenty of it.
His tempestuous love affair with the actress Abigail Williams was the stuff of legend, an affair begun when he had jumped down from his box at Covent Garden and carried her right off the stage in the midst of a play, ended when she had found him in bed with a beautiful Chinese prostitute he had supposedly won in a card game. He had lived openly with half a dozen women during the past five years, including a Russian dancer and the illegitimate daughter of an Indian rajah.
In addition to news about Moore, there was gossip. It was said that a riding accident had affected his brain and he was slowly going mad. It was said that he drank and gambled to excess, used opiates, smoked hashish. It was said he went without sleep for days at a time, fought countless duels but only with swords, and rode his horse at breakneck speed no matter whether he was riding on the Row or jumping fences at a country house. It was said there was no dare he would not take up, no challenge he would let pass, no rule he had not broken ...
His Every Kiss. Copyright © by Laura Lee Guhrke. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.In 1827 three months has lapsed since England¿s greatest contemporary musician Dylan Moore fell off the horse and suffered a concussion. Now he cannot sleep nor hear the music anymore as a terrible buzzing inside his head drowns out everything. Tired, he grabs a pistol and walks to the Charing Cross Palladium where a violin playing char woman talks him out of suicide. He heeds her advice because for a brief moment he heard the music, but once she left he returns to the buzzing.--- Five years later, Dylan recognizes the char woman at a party because he can once again hear the music inside his head. He goes up to Grace Cheval and tells her he hates her for getting him to stay alive. As they begin to see one another, she is reluctant to fall in love with an artist as she still remembers the passion of her first husband, a renowned painter that nearly drowned her in its intensity.--- This enticing late Regency romance stars an intense compassionate artist and the woman that keeps him sane. The story line centers on the relationship between Dylan and Grace as she inspires him to compose terrific music while also having doubts about involvement with another brooding, egotistical, and arrogant artist who believes in the magic of love as she brings the music out of him one loving spoonful at a time.--- Harriet Klausner
4 out of 4 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 October 28, 2005
I am really pleased that I took a chance and bought ¿His Every Kiss¿ by Laura Lee Guhrke. I had never heard of this author before but, I won¿t soon forget her. It has been years since I read a good novel that truly got my emotions involved and made me feel a part of the plot line. I could almost touch these characters they became so real. If you enjoy a romance novel that is not so steep in history it boggles the mind or so intense into sex scenes that you think you are involved in a soft porn movie than this book could be for you. I can truly say this is one of the top books I have ever read. And¿I have read honestly thousands of romances since I was 18 years old. You will connect with the main characters Grace Cheval and Dylan Moore. This was a beautiful story not of dukes, duchess, princes or princesses¿or even high society. Instead¿it was about human emotions and how you deal with love won and lost, sexual attraction, uncomfortable emotions and how to be a decent human being. The back drop of Dylan¿s musical brilliance as a pianist and composer, and Grace¿s ¿fall from grace¿ due to running away with her first love and the repercussions from such actions will keep you engrossed from the beginning. Dylan is drawn to Grace from the first time he met her not just due to her beauty and talent as a violinist but, something deeper that draws him to her as no other woman. She allows him to hear music again after he lost it for years. Thus¿she becomes critical to his world. Grace in turn is deeply attracted to him as his passion and drive is white hot but, she got burned before in this haze of intensity and doesn¿t want to again but, Dylan¿s kisses and drugging passion are hard to resist. Lots of twists occur such as the unexpected arrival of Dylan¿s unknown daughter ¿Isabel¿ and how they deal with her, Dylan¿s medical condition of ringing ears from an accident years before and his lost musical touch, Dylan¿s fascination and need for Grace to be his muse and Grace¿s past disgrace of living in sin with a famous painter and what he did with all those nude paintings he made of her over the years. Truly, the twists and developments never end and you don¿t want them to. The love scenes are happily second in this book to the great characters and story line. In romances, often the love scenes need to be hot to keep the action going but, not here. The ending of the book is marvelously written and actually made me tear up and sniffle a few times ¿ the writing made the emotions that real and raw you couldn¿t help but, be moved and pray for a happy ending. I¿m sad that their tale is now over¿.I say buy this, keep it, never lend it out and expect to read it again and again. Enjoy!
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.MBV
Posted April 10, 2012
EXCELLENT STORY AND I ENJOYED THE WHOLE CONCEPT WITH THE DAUGHTER. BUT, THE HERO IS A LITTLE TOO ARTISTIC. ALL IN ALL, ANOTHER GREAAT BOOK.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.ZebraNookReader
Posted December 20, 2011
I thought the story dragged on a bit about a 1/3 the way in. It just reiterated the "way things were" without any movement. But slowly, it came alive and the story started to come alive again with action in players and forward development of the tale. I am working my way through the collection of works from this author have have yet to been disappointed.
0 out of 2 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 27, 2009
Prepare yourself to want to read the other Guhrke books. I read all of them.
0 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 20, 2007
This book had caring and a lot of chemistry between Dylan and Grace, but it took too long for Dylan to admit that he loved Grace. I think that there could have been more to this story, in that Dylan, Grace and Isabel finally got to be a family, and maybe Grace and Dylan had a child together to culminate their love.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted January 8, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted October 23, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted May 31, 2012
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted March 11, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted February 22, 2012
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted February 1, 2013
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted January 9, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted August 2, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted October 6, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted January 4, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted January 21, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted July 26, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted August 22, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted April 27, 2012
No text was provided for this review.
Overview
A passionate, rich, and wonderfully moving romance from RITA Award–winning author Laura Lee Guhrke.