"Charlotte Boyett-Compo comes through with another great story!"
Commander Sierran Morgan just could not carry out his
general's orders, so now he has no other option than to
endure the madman's punishment. After having the skin
whipped off his back, he's been thrown in the dungeon. His
only hope is a trial. Of course, when he's brought out of
his cell, he knows that hope is gone for one of the
general's cronies is sitting in judgment. It comes as no
surprise to Sierran when he's remanded to the custody of
the DungeonMaster of Dragonmoor—Lord Charles Henry Allen.
The only way anyone leaves Dragonmoor is feet first. As the only brother of the Justonian king, Lord Charles'
peculiarities are not spoken of. See, Lord Charles is the
DungeonMaster for a good reason—he can keep a prisoner
alive for months and months while torturing them. The only
person Lord Charles loves is his daughter, Lady Anna
Celeste, or Celeste as she prefers to be called. Young,
having just turned sixteen, Celeste is a prisoner in
Dragonmoor. She lives in a suite of rooms in a tower and is
only allowed to leave them when accompanied by her father.
The only time she can eat in the dining area is when she is
with her father, and then she never sees any of the
servants. Lord Charles plans on keeping Celeste as pure as
the day she was born. No man will ever have Celeste, for
when he dies, he already has her future planned out her,
not that he'll tell her those plans. Well, Sierran's men are not going to allow their commander
to die in the DungeonMaster's care. So once the general has
been taken care of, his men storm Dragonmoor and manage to
take control. When they find Lord Charles in the company of
his daughter, they use her to get Lord Charles to lead them
to Sierran. Now Celeste had no idea her father had a
dungeon, much less that he tortures people. So when she
sees Sierran, she is shocked, to say the least. The poor
man is tied to a stone slab and has cuts all over his chest
and arms. Celeste immediately tries to do what she can to
help Sierran and orders a well padded cart with satin
coverlets to move him. They take Sierran, Lord Charles and
Celeste to Sierran's ship, where they plan to sail to the
island where Sierran has his home. On the way to Sierran's
home, he decides to marry Celeste as the two of them begin
to care for each other and ultimately fall in love. Of course, when they get to the island, everything does not
go according to plan when they find Sierran's older brother
there. He demands Sierran accompany him to their father's
home—the same home Sierran has never seen. Turns out
Sierran's father has married Sierran by proxy to the Widow
Summerall because he wants her lands. Now Sierran has to
consummate the marriage in order for his father to gain the
widow's lands. Not surprisingly, Sierran declines the
invitation and his men send his brother on his way. Will Sierran's family accept his refusal to help the family
out? Even though they've never treated Sierran as part of
the family? Will they come up with some way to get Sierran
to consummate the marriage? What of Lord Charles? What will
Sierran do with him? And how will Celeste feel about that? THE WYNDMASTER'S LADY is a fantastic story of betrayal,
madness and love. Once again Charlotte Boyett-Compo proves
her talent as a weaver of wonderful tales. As always with
Charlotte's stories, we see just how terrible one man can
treat another. To compensate for this, we also have a love
meant to be. This story took me through a gamut of
emotions, from anger to the way Sierran is abused, to humor
with some of the things Celeste comes out with. And I love
the ending. Pure poetic justice. As with all of Charlotte
Boyett-Compo's works, I highly recommend this story. I love
Charlotte's work, and this one doesn't disappoint.
Reviewed by Chere Gruver
Posted March 31, 2009
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Sierran Morgan is a man living on borrowed time but Anna Celeste Allen is the key to keeping him alive. Thrown into the dungeon of a madman, Commander Sierran Morgan does not expect to survive his encounter. Tortured brutally, he knows he is living on borrowed time. When he is rescued by his men, Sierran will garner his revenge on the dungeon master by taking the man and his innocent daughter hostage. The last thing he counted on was Anna Celeste Allen’s willingness to help him heal from her father’s vicious abuse. Anna Celeste had been a virtual prisoner in her own home all her life. She was never to know a home and family of her own though her fevered dreams were filled with daring knights coming to rescue her. Falling in love with Anna wasn’t something Sierran planned but he falls hard for the beautiful young woman. On board his ship, he takes Anna as his bride amd vows to give her all her father had denied her. But when he returns home, he is stunned to learn his family had married him by proxy to his father’s mistress so they could gain an inheritance Sierran never wanted. With one wife he’ll fight to keep and another he would rather die than touch, Sierran’s life will never be the same.
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Length: Novel Warning: this title contains the following: explicit sex, graphic language, violence, graphic torture.
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