Lord of Fire by Gaelen Foley

After years of preparation, he has baited his trap well, luring the depraved members of Society into his devil's playground so he can earn their trust and uncover their secrets.

Yet no one in London suspects that Lord Lucien Knight is England's most cunning spy, an officer who has sacrificed his soul for his country. Now an unexpected intruder has invaded his fortress of sin, jeopardizing his carefully laid plans - and igniting his deepest desires.

Beautiful, innocent Alice Montague finds herself at the mercy of scandalous Lord Lucien. But as he begins his slow seduction to corrupt her virtue, Alice glimpses a man tormented by his own choices, a man who promises her nothing but his undeniable passion...

This book is the second book in the Knight Miscellany series by Gaelen Foley. With the first book in the series (The Duke) I apparently quite liked it when I read it, but couldn't remember a darned thing about it when it came to writing the review. Even when I was reading this book, there would be a mention about Robert and Belinda, and I seriously could remember very little. I have to say...there is not much chance of not being able to remember this book.

Gaelen Foley has written a historical romance that features spies the way spy romances should be written. Many times it feel as though the spies that we meet in romances are spy drama - the lite version, but that was definitely not the case here.

Lucien Knight has captured my imagination - the man is everything I like my heroes to be. Dark, tortured (literally), struggling with the darker side of himself whilst falling deeply in love with his heroine. The fact that he basically blackmailed Alice to stay with him, and tried to then corrupt her only to suddenly find that he wanted more than he thought he did from her was well done, and the scene where he finds himself unburdening himself to Alice, stepping out from the facade of invincible spy was really well written.

Alice has a few moments that border on TSTL - if I was in a strange house, the very first thing I would do is to follow the crowds who are all hiding their identities, get into a boat and follow a stream, and then stay in the midst of what would appear to be an orgy. Other than those moments, she was definitely a match for Lucien, prepared to walk away from him when he will not be honest with her, despite knowing that she could well be ruined, and would be totally heartbroken.

The villain in this one was definitely not cardboard cut out as so many romance novel villains are, and there were definite consequences for all the characters as the events unfolded.

i can't wait to read the story of Lucien's twin brother, Damien. I loved reading about the relationship between the brothers - estranged by circumstance and choice but still connected to each other in many, many ways.

If you like historical romance novels that feature dashing and daring spies, then this one could well be worth a read.