Wicked Widow - Softcover

Setting: London, Regency period
Sensuality Rating: 7

Award-winning author Amanda Quick weaves a tale of a man and a woman who understand just what it means to be haunted. Artemis Hunt, the mysterious master of a secret society, has been obsessed by the knowledge that he was unable to protect his mistress from a brutal death, and has spent the last five years plotting her revenge. Madeline Reed Deveridge, known as the infamous Wicked Widow by polite society, is rumored to have murdered her husband. But now Madeline is afraid that her dead spouse has returned from beyond the grave to terrorize her. In fear for her life and that of her beloved aunt, Madeline blackmails Artemis into aiding her by threatening to expose his ownership of the Dream Pavilions, London's premier pleasure garden--an association, if revealed, that would destroy his reputation and put his long-held plans of vengeance at serious risk. The two are drawn together at first by necessity, but Artemis soon finds himself intrigued then intoxicated by the confident woman known as the Wicked Widow. Madeline, who is inclined to distrust men after her disastrous marriage, falls prey to the unfamiliar feelings Artemis inspires in her. Their burgeoning passion may save them each from an empty future--if their secrets don't kill them first. Another Quick masterpiece! --Alison Trinkle

Scandal is afoot and seduction is in the air in this, Amanda Quick's sixteenth and most deliciously entertaining novel. Now the mistress of Regency-period romantic suspense brings us a notorious widow and a man of mystery as they flirt with danger, fight temptation, and fall into the snare of desire and intrigue....

Madeline Deveridge is all too aware of the whispers behind her back, the rumors that she dispatched her husband to the next world and concealed her crime. But Madeline has a far more pressing problem than being called the Wicked Widow. She fears that she and her beloved aunt are being haunted! And all the evidence points to one improbable culprit: the ghost of her late husband. Of course it is impossible, but Madeline cannot take chances. So she dares summon the only person with the power to help her uncover the truth--Artemis Hunt.

Brilliant, relentless, reclusive, Artemis has made it his business to keep much of his private life hidden. No one knows that he's the owner of the Dream Pavilions, London's favorite pleasure gardens, or that he's a master of an arcane society. Curiosity brings him out on a fog-shrouded night to meet the infamous Wicked Widow, but his amusement quickly flees when he realizes that Madeline has learned enough about his affairs to wreak havoc on his carefully ordered existence. He must secure her guarantee never to divulge his secrets to anyone, even if it means helping her track down a phantom.

As soon as the bargain is struck, Artemis and Madeline find their arrangement complicated by a searing desire, and the frightening realization that the ghost poses a very real danger. Now they must plunge into a world of intrigue and ancient mysteries, where a tantalizing passion--and a calculating killer--will not be denied.
She's known as the Wicked Widow, for rumors abound that she dispatched her husband to the next world.  But Madeline Deveridge has a more vexing problem than her scandalous reputation.  Her husband's ghost is haunting her! She must exorcise him, and turns to Artemis Hunt for aid.  Owner of the Dream Pavilions, London's favorite pleasure gardens, Artemis is no stranger to the exotic and the mysterious.  So he agrees to join Madeline in her unusual enterprise, never expecting to find himself in the thrall of true passion.  But the ghost is a real menace -- and intent on using Madeline for a deadly purpose. -->