To Desire a Devil (The Legend of the Four Soldiers, 4)

Everyone thought that Reynaud St. Aubyn the true Earl of Blanchard was dead. Reynaud walks into Earl of Blanchard home while there is a party and due to fever and being held prisoner for years everyone thinks is mad-homeless person. Beatrice Corning, the niece of the present earl realizes that it is the Reynaud and helps nurse him back to health. The story of who betrayed the soldiers while they were in colonies fighting continues on from the previous books - with all the characters coming back to find the trader. A great conclusion to the series - the romance is wonderful, lots of twists and turns and love that all the old characters come back for a final bow... enjoy! Here is a list of all the book The Legend of the Four Soldiers series; To Taste Temptation (The Legend of the Four Soldiers) , To Seduce A Sinner (The Legend of the Four Soldiers), To Beguile A Beast (The Legend of the Four Soldiers) and this book To Desire a Devil (The Legend of the Four Soldiers).

I have been waiting to read "To Desire a Devil" for a while now and I have to say how much I enjoyed it. Reynaud and Beatrice seem to be the perfect match for each other. Hoyt knows how to make everything flow perfectly in her books, I usually have to wait till I have free time to start on of her books cause it is so hard to put them down! Cant wait till her next series comes out..

I thought the story was a suberb way to end the series. Reynaud's approach to getting his life back was facinating and the "directness" to seducing Beatrice was well written based on Reynaud's past, leading up to some great love sceenes. Ms. Hoyt's heros always have a sharpness to them and Reynaud made the story a page turner.

The year is 1765 and "Beatrice Corning", a proper English lady lives with her "Uncle Reggie", the Earl of Blanchard in a London townhouse where she assists as hostess and administrates the running of the household. During a dull political tea being held at the Blanchard townhouse a seemingly insane man, raving in French with a facial tattoo and dangling earring staggers in and collapses amongst the proper bewigged gentlemen and their ladies. As it turns out the "lunatic" is "Reynaud St. Aubyn", the blood heir to the Blanchard name, monies and estates and thought dead when burned at the steak by Indians in the colonies 7 years previously. It is Beatrice who recognizes the "savage", lying on the parlor room floor, for before he passes out she glimpses his distinctive black eyes. The same obsidian eyes that stare back at her from his portrait as a young man hanging in the room. Reynaud is a complex tortured hero. After enduring 7 years of captivity, slavery, torture and starvation he is a changed man from the young Aristocrat who bought his commission and left to serve and fight for Britain in the colonies. Through sheer strength of will and determination to return to England, his family and his Earldom he survived unspeakable hardship and horror. When he does awaken in "his home" to find his father has passed 5 years previously and a "usurper" (Uncle Reggie) has claimed the Earldom he becomes obsessed with reclaiming what is rightfully his. Despite her uncle's misgivings, Beatrice takes matters in hand and tends to Reynaud, nursing him back to health weathering his surly disposition and cutting sarcastic manner. She is determined to find out what has happened to the passionate young man whose vision in the portrait she has desired and dreamed of for many years. Beatrice is "four and twenty", and while she has had suitors has never had an offer of marriage. She wants passion in her life and to be loved. She thought she saw that passion in the eyes of the Reynaud in the portrait, however being confronted with this angry, bitter, sarcastic, and seemingly self obsessed man is, needless to say not what she expected. Reynaud also suffers from posttraumatic stress and when he feels threatened he has flash backs and envisions himself to be back in the colonies fighting for his very survival. By the same token, when there is an attempt on his life, which also puts Beatrice in peril, he takes charge and shows that he is, at heart a brave and honorable man. Reynaud's family and friends gradually rally around him and as he is reintroduced to life as an English gentleman is encouraged by his supportive feisty "Tante Cristelle" (his French aunt) to take a "pretty" and proper English wife to reinforce his respectability and enhance his chances to regain his title. By this time Beatrice and Reynaud have established a relationship and rapport. He, in fact, feels quite protective of her and decides that she is to be his. Ms. Hoyt has a beautiful voice, h

Elizabeth Hoyt's latest novel in her Four Soldier's Series is perhaps her best when it comes to creating an incredibly interesting hero. Reynaud St. Aubyn is arresting from the moment he literally bursts on the scene; the best parts of this novel are when he is center stage. Reynaud returns to London from the American Colonies feverish, very thin and absolutely stunned to find strangers living in his home. Furthermore, someone is claiming his title, lands and money. His fury is almost overwhelming. Beatrice Corning and her uncle are living in Reynaud's home. They, like all of London, had believed colonial natives had killed Reynaud. Beatrice's uncle ascended to the Earldom after Reynaud's father died. Beatrice is startled when Reynaud returns but she is not unhappy. Beatrice has studied the portrait of Reynaud in her home and has always found him enigmatic. He is even more so in the flesh. Unlike the other soldiers in this series Reynaud is almost untamed. But like his fellow soldiers he knows the horrors of war. Beatrice is an admirable heroine. Her best virtue is her deep concern for others. She is a staunch supporter of pension rights for wounded veterans and fiercely protective of the men in her life to include Reynaud. I liked Beatrice almost from the start; she is both selfless and kind. Reynaud is a mighty presence. Even though Beatrice is very likable, Reynaud is more dynamic; his charisma and determination come across on every page. Reynaud has survived for seven years in the American colonies with a native tribe and he fiercely guards his past. He is very controlled but now and again he suffers post traumatic stress and this vulnerability is almost heartbreaking. Some of the best scenes in this novel are his recounting his seven years in the colonies. Ms Hoyt does an excellent job of slowly revealing this man's physical and emotional scars from this brutal time in his life. This is actually as moving as the physical trysts this couple shares. Their romance is intense, with Reynaud really in charge of its direction. This is the only way Reynaud knows how to live, by charting his course with steely determination and once he sets his sights on Beatrice, he means to have her. With Beatrice, Renaud finds long awaited peace and comfort. Beatrice discovers love, passion and her power as a woman. Reynaud keeps his emotions under tight control and Beatrice is wise enough to understand that this is due to his past rather than to anything she has done. The only fault I found in this novel was the side story of Beatrice's friend Lotty and her husband. I felt it did not move the story forward and honestly, I had a tendency to skim these portions to get back to Beatrice and Reynaud's scenes. Since this is the final book of the series it gives the reader an opportunity to revisit previous characters. This was nicely done and gave closure to the former soldiers as they have long searched for the man who betrayed the regi