The Duchess, Her Maid, the Groom & Their Lover

By Victoria Janssen

Book Overview

Wretched be the woman of wealth and fortune who fails to produce a suitable heir... And wretched is what Duchess Camille feels living with the cruel and debauched duke. But that soon turns to desperation when she learns her lecherous husband is plotting to have her killed to make way for a more nubile and fertile companion. Knowing she cannot sit idly by and wait for death, she flees into the night, taking with her her own young lover--the stable hand Henri--and her most loyal servants. With a mind to finding refuge with Maxime, her first love who years ago ignited her sexuality, Camille and her servants take cover in brothels along the way and succumb to the physical delights on offer, sating their longings and fueling jealousies with one another. But the duke's men are not far behind, and Camille knows they must press on, hoping against hope that the man who has every reason to turn her away will remember the fervent passion that once coursed between them....

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0373605269
• ISBN13: 9780373605262
• Release Date: November 2008
• Publisher: Spice
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.1" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

superb erotic historical romance

Their marriage was arranged by their parents as a political deal. However, Duchess Camille fears her cheating violent husband Michel plans to dump her for failing to provide him with an heir and a spare. With no place to go if he throws her out or worse if she stays based on the bruises his cruelty could one day kill her, Camille plans to ask Henri the stable hand to make her pregnant. However Michel goes berserk so Camille flees for her life. Henri, her maid Sylvie and her two eunuchs Arno and Kaspar accompany her to the only potential haven the home of Camille's first love Maxime. She knows if Michel or his thugs catch her she will be raped be-fore being killed and her friends tortured and murdered. Hiding in brothels, they trek towards Maxime's home while enjoying the fruits of their respites. This erotic historical romance is a fun entertaining tale that in some ways will remind readers of the Fielding classic The History of Tom Jones with its bawdy underpinning to a strong cat and mouse story line. The cast is a delight especially the title characters and those they meet in the brothels while the audience will desire for the mean odious villain to be converted with a not sharp knife to a eunuch. Victoria Jansen provides sub-genre fans with a tour of houses of ill repute providing haven to the harried runaways. Harriet Klausner

Enjoyable erotic romance

I enjoyed this book, especially because it centers around a strong independent woman, (the Duchess) who fights to regain what is rightfully hers in a mysterious world that had echoes of pre-Revolutionary France and Georgian England but also contains unique fantasy elements of its own. The sex is interesting, erotic and varied, the characters well-written and the ending very satisfactory for all concerned. I'm looking forward to this authors next book.