Review + Giveaway: Sword Dance by Marie Laval

Sword Dance by Marie Laval

Series: Dancing for the Devil Trilogy - Book 3

Release Date: 31st March 2016
Publisher: Accent Press

Genres: Historical Romance

Cape Wrath, Scotland, November 1847.

Bruce McGunn, laird of Wrath in the far North of Scotland, is as brutal and unforgiving as his land. Discharged from the army, haunted by the spectres of his fallen comrades and convinced he is going mad, he is running out of time to save his estate from the machinations of Cameron McRae, heir to the McGunn's ancestral enemies.

When the clipper carrying McRae’s new bride docks at Wrath harbour, McGunn decides to hold the woman to ransom and use her to get more time to repay his debts. However, far from the spoilt heiress he expected, Rose is genuine and funny - a ray of sunshine in the long winter that has become his life. She is also determined to escape.

As Rose runs away to be reunited with her husband, she discovers there is a sinister side to the dazzlingly handsome aristocrat she married after a whirlwind romance. Why was Cameron so desperate to get her father's military journal? Why did he insist on keeping their wedding a secret? She is even more confused when Bruce catches up with her and she starts to feel irresistibly attracted to him. Soon she risks her marriage to help Bruce find the truth about his past and solve the mystery of the brutal murders committed on his land. Will her love be enough to heal his haunted heart?

EXCERPT 

‘What are you doing? Please stop,’ she breathed, as his lips trailed along the curve of her throat. If only he could... He looked up and the seductive power of her sultry, heavily made-up eyes gleaming in the moonlight hit him like a bolt of lightning. Every fibre of his body reacted to the feel of her soft body against his, the warm fragrance of her skin. She was right, though. What the hell was he doing? Once again he reminded himself that he had no right to feel that way, no right to want her, but damn it, the woman would tempt a saint. And he was no saint.

          He swallowed a deep, hard breath, released her and made himself step back. ‘All right. We’ll stay here a while and wait until McRae and his remaining guests have gone to bed. Where’s your horse?’

          ‘I left it tied to a post behind the hunting lodge.’

          ‘What about your bag?’

          ‘It’s still strapped to the saddle. By the time I spoke to the girls and the musicians, we had to get ready to come here.’

          ‘How did you manage to get into the hunting lodge without being seen by McRae’s men?’

          ‘It wasn’t easy. I got stuck as I sneaked in through one of the downstairs windows and ripped my - ’

          ‘You got stuck?’ He would have laughed if he weren’t so angry.

          ‘The musicians had to pull me in. We had to be quick and very quiet, because Cameron’s men were in the kitchen.’

          Damn the woman. Didn’t she care about the danger she put herself in?    ‘So, after clambering through a window, you had the brilliant idea to disguise yourself as a dancer and throw yourself into the lion’s den.’

          She flinched at the harshness of his tone. ‘I thought I could avoid bumping into Cameron.’

          ‘You bump into everything and anything you come across, why not McRae?’ he interrupted, taut with temper. ‘He could have recognised you when you were with the others in the music room.’

          ‘Then I would have confronted him and exposed him for the liar and the debauched rake he is in front of all his guests!’ The baubles on her necklace tinkled like little bells as she shook her head.

          ‘Weren’t you afraid of all those men ogling you, lusting after you?’ Me included, he remembered, guilt tightening his chest.

          ‘Well, I... I didn’t think I would have to dance. My plan was to get into the castle and hide until I could speak to Lady Sophia. Unfortunately, Cameron’s manservant was watching us like a hawk and I had no choice but to go into the music room with the others. The girls promised to create a diversion so that I could sneak out unnoticed.’

          ‘A diversion? That’s a mild way of putting it,’ he sneered. ‘The girls’ dancing was... ahem... striking, to say the least. Ask that poor old man who collapsed.’ He drew in a deep breath. ‘Anyway, where did you learn to dance like that?’

          She lowered her eyes, snapped a leaf from a nearby bush and tore it into tiny pieces that spiralled to the ground. ‘Malika taught me, in secret. She always said I was good enough to be one of them.’

          She was right, her dancing had been entrancing, mesmerising, but he wasn’t going to tell her. ‘I still can’t believe you took such risks tonight, just to talk to McRae’s fiancée. It was stupid and foolhardy.’ And damned brave, too, even though he would never admit it. Gripped by conflicting urges, he towered above her, his fists clenched and his jaw set. 

Sword Dance is the 3rd installment in the Dancing For The Devil trilogy and the other two previous books MUST be read first. 

Marie Laval has certainly excelled herself in bringing us an exciting end to this trilogy. In this book Bruce and Rose finally get the answers to all the questions and suspicions they have had all along. And, there are some new developments in Rose and Bruce's relationship too with things moving up a notch for them and again passion just jumps straight off the page in this book. It left me swooning just as much as Rose!

Finally accepting that her husband Cameron McRae is in fact the monster everyone has been telling her about, Rose is determined to find out what happened to her dear friend and to confront Cameron over his engagement announcement to another woman. So, ignoring Bruce's advice as usual she sneaks into Cameron's palatial home undercover. She is stunned at the opulence he is living in while those he is throwing off his land are living in poverty and squalor. Bruce himself has gone there to try to find out the truth about his own parentage and is again struck down by the mysterious illness that has been plaguing him and driving him to the brink of insanity. However, both Bruce and Rose get more than they bargained for and deep and dark family secrets that have been buried for a long time are finally revealed. Rose finds out the horrifying truth about Cameron too.

This is a great trilogy and I was sorry when it came to an end. Marie Laval's writing is wonderful throughout and leaves the reader always wanting more. A highly recommended read! 

  

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ABOUT MARIE LAVAL

 

Originally from Lyon in France, Marie has lived in the beautiful Rossendale Valley, Lancashire, England, for the past few years and likes nothing more than dreaming up romance stories and handsome, brooding heroes. She writes historical and contemporary romance. Her contemporary romance A SPELL IN PROVENCE, as well as her historical romances, ANGEL HEART, together with the award-winning THE LION'S EMBRACE, and the DANCING FOR THE DEVIL Trilogy (which includes THE DREAM CATCHER, BLUE BONNETS and SWORD DANCE) are all published by Áccent Press.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marielavalauthor/?ref=ts&fref=ts

Twitter:  Marie Laval @MarieLaval1

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6538479.Marie_Laval

Website: http://marielaval.blogspot.co.uk/