Made for Sin

I love a super-hot romance and this didn't disappoint. In fact, I got two for the price of one. It's a clever plot device to use a runaway younger sister in order to have the older (and supposedly more mature) sister begin searching for her. This has Caroline teaming up with the rake who seduced and ruined her sister, Lucy. Caroline is determined to find Lucy and marry her off to Radbourne, as he is honor bound to take her. Lucy, horrified by the outcome of her tryst with Radbourne - and not a little furious at being called by another woman's name, escapes from Radbourne by throwing herself out of his carriage. Alone and in the wild, she is befriended by a band of Army men and their wives, on their way to Dover to make for the Peninsula. Taking pity upon her, Sergeant Michael Hall allows her to join them. Her behavior toward Michael that night around the fire makes him think her a member of the demimonde rather than the scared, frightened innocent she is. Making up a story of abduction and rape, she plays upon his sense of honor, knowing that he would rather get her to the nearest town and have done with her. Michael mistrusts her story but allows himself a small bit of pleasure and comfort in the rough. Caroline's conscience pangs her after her one night spent with Alex. She knows that Lucy needs to marry Radbourne in order to redeem her reputation but Caroline has found something so special she almost wishes Lucy isn't found.She knows she will have to give him up at some point but decides to enjoy Alex for as long as she can. I enjoyed both sisters' stories, although I found myself liking Caroline and Alex's story better than Lucy and Michael's. They quickly developed a rapport which was touching and humorous. I loved Caroline's 'damn the torpedoes' attitude regarding Alex. Sometimes a girl knows she's only going to get one night and she'd better make the most of it!

In Lord Alex Radbourne's carriage, Lucy Waverton is enjoying being on top until he calls her Danielle; she jumps out of his moving coach. He looks for her, but Lucy hides in the bushes as she feels humiliated. Sergeant Michael Hall finds her and takes her to his camp where he assumes she is a high priced courtesan because she has sex with him. The next morning she informs him that she lost a lot of money gambling and met this aristocrat to arrange payment; he was drunk, abducted and raped her. She is shocked when Michael insists they had sex as she swears she could not have. Alex keeps looking for Lucy as he feels ashamed and he plans to marry her to make amends for his behavior.. When he finally finds her, he grabs her only to learn he accosted Lucy's older sister Caroline, who he informs he is honor bound to wed her sibling. Caroline and Alex agree to search for Lucy together. He explains that he wanted to teach Lucy a lesson about gambling over one's head and got drunk, which led to a series of errors by him. However, making love with Caroline feels right though he knows he must wed Lucy who is falling in love with her soldier. This is a terrific Regency romance that effortlessly merges erotica into its two subplots; starring a sister in each with the hunk they love. The siblings and their men are fully developed while the support cast, mostly two spouses of soldiers, enhances the tale by better understanding the life of a fighting man. Though profanity seems overused in the sex scenes and underused when the lead players are in danger, sub-genre readers will appreciate this hot historical. Harriet Klausner