To escape the demons of his past, Hugo Latimer has been drowning his sorrows for more than a decade. When he arrives at his much neglected estate one day, it's to find a coach, a lot of luggage, a strange and diverse collection of animals, and a glowing young woman who looks like a more perfect version of Elizabeth, the love he's been trying to forget. Had Hugo bothered to read his mail over the last year or so, this might not have been unexpected. Seems his former love, on learning of her imminent death, chose to place her daughter Chloe and her considerable inheritance under Hugo's guardianship--he'll be needed to keep Chloe safe from Jasper, Chloe's evil and debauched brother, and Crispin, Jasper's even creepier stepson. Many years ago, Hugo was a member of a cult-like group called the Congregation, which used rituals as an excuse to engage in debauchery and drug use. He's haunted by his actions with this group, particularly after he realized that not all of the women he had joined in using had been willing. He ended up killing Jasper's father, Elizabeth's husband, to protect Elizabeth from being the victim of such a ritual. The Congregation is alive and well, and led now by Jasper, who feels that because the cult was denied the use of Elizabeth, they are owed her daughter. He also would like control of Chloe's wealth. He's determined to marry her to Crispin, who is very much under his thumb, as is pretty much everyone in his sphere. Chloe Gresham has grown up in boarding schools away from her mother, who was always ill (we learn later that the woman had a deeply painful past and an addiction to laudanum). She knows nothing of the past, and can't understand why nobody seemed to want her. And now she's the unwelcome burden of this man, Hugo. Chloe has known Jasper well enough to distrust his cruelty, and she didn't much like Crispin when they were children, though she's willing to allow his attentions, particularly when Hugo just gives her orders and then gets drunk, and when he shows her the joys of passion, then kicks her out of his bed and tells her to stay away. The Congregation could make a good, scary backdrop for the story, but Feather treads too lightly, I found myself comparing this one to similar stories in Anne Stuart's House of Rohan series, where the cult was much more threatening, in part because we got a better look at their activities. Not necessarily Feather's fault; this was written more than a decade before Stuart's series, and I think the genre probably trod more lightly in general around the aberrant sexual activities of the villains. At the end of the day this is another compelling read. Again it's lacking Feather's usual careful attention to the era and historical backdrop and I found I missed it, but it's still a decent story.
I read it when I was only 20, and the heroine of the book is 17 years old, and that just sounds to be perfect I know, but why did I feel disturbed?! let me tell you..A teenager in my age -then- no matter what she'd be craving romance, she wouldn't feel ok about an adult who is also an authority getting emotional benefits from and sleeping with a 17-years-old girl! No, not for reasonable people at any age.. The script was moving a bit slowly, getting boring from the middle to the end. I don't regret buying it, but I could have made a better choice.
