Review: Barbarous

Barbarous by Minerva Spencer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Daphne Redvers was raped by her cousin Malcolm, who was also her legal guardian, eight years ago. Pregnant and alone she could have been disgraced but an elderly family friend, Lord Davenport was kind enough to marry her and claim her twin sons as his own. Now her husband is dead and her cousin has come sniffing around, trying to blackmail her into marrying him and handing over all her wealth.

Then a blast from the past arrives, Hugh Redvers, her husband's adopted son, has been thought dead for many years, in fact he was hidden in plain sight as the privateer One-Eyed Standish, a notorious pirate. Daphne and Hugh have an immediate physical attraction but Daphne is well aware that her son has inherited what rightfully belongs to Hugh, can she bring herself to disinherit her son?

Hugh might be a giant of a man, with good looks only enhanced by the patch over his blind eye. But the scars of his imprisonment and slavery at the hands of Sultan Babba Hussan haunt him still, leaving a pathological need to destroy each of the men who betrayed him and participated in his torture. He has returned to his old home reluctantly because he has received a number of anonymous letters warning that his step-mother (although he calls her auntie) is in danger.

There's pirates, cute twins, evil cousins, talented horses, faithful retainers, kidnapping, swords and delicious frocks - what more could you want from an historical romance?

Loved it.

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