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409 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 29, 2004
"I’ll marry no man but you McKenna. And if you ever leave me, I’ll be alone for the rest of my life."
"Aline …. I would never leave unless you told me to go …"
Aline was his curse, his fate, his consuming desire. He would never stop wanting her, no matter what she did, no matter how many oceans and continents he managed to put between them.
"No man on earth has ever hated sunrise as much as I do."
"You sleep too," she said groggily, her hand creeping to the center of his chest.
"No." McKenna smiled and pressed a soft kiss against her temple. His voice was husky with wonder.
"Not when staying awake is better than anything I could find in a dream."
“I’ve cursed every day I’ve had to live without you, and every night that I spent with another woman, wishing that it was you in my arms—”
In the past Gideon had seen McKenna with women in far more licentious circumstances than this.
Since the day that John McKenna had been brought to the estate at the age of 8, he and Aline had been constant companions for ten years, climbing trees, swimming in the river, and running around barefoot. But eventually things had begun to change between them. No healthy young man could fail to be stirred and set off-kilter by Aline, who at the age of 17, had become the loveliest girl on God's green earth.
You think you want me now. but you'll change. Someday you'll find it damned easy to forget about me. A servant.....
“For thousands of nights I dreamed of making love to you. No man on earth has ever hated sunrise as much as I do.”
"I'll love you until the day I did. You're the only man I'll ever want, McKenna, the only -"
“The worst thing you can do for love is deny it; so when you find that special someone, don't let anyone or anything to get in your way.”Lisa Kleypas is one of my absolute favourite authors. Most of her books are keepers for me. I devoured her books in 2007, after my BFF recommended her to me, and they helped me through one of the absolute worst years of my life. So, that makes Lisa Kleypas’ books and characters even more extra special for me. I’ll never be able to express how much they mean to me!
~ Author Unknown
“It hurts to love someone and not be loved in return, but what is the most painful is to love someone and never find the courage to let the person know how you feel.”
~ Author Unknown
“It was likely that no one had been surprised, however, as it was clear that Aline and Mckenna belonged together. There was something invisible and yet irrefutable that made them a couple. Perhaps it was the way both of them stole quick glances at each other when one thought the other wasn't looking... glances of wonder and hunger.”When their love is found out, to protect McKenna from her father’s destruction, Aline says some very hurtful things to send McKenna away.
“I want morning and noon and nightfall with you. I want your tears, your smiles, your kisses...the smell of your hair, the taste of your skin, the touch of your breath on my face. I want to see you in the final hour of my life...to lie in your arms as I take my last breath.”My heart ached for Aline and her feelings of unworthiness; it really hurt to see that even in the face of McKenna’s immense love, she couldn’t bring herself to share with him her fears and secrets. I found both their reactions realistic and raw, and I really, really longed for Aline to get over her issues so that she and McKenna could have the happily-ever-after they deserved. Aline and McKenna brought me to tears.
“I’ll marry no one but you, McKenna,” she whispered. “And if you ever leave me, I’ll be alone for the rest of my life.”
His dark head lowered over hers. “Aline,” he said in the hushed voice that he might have used in prayer. “I would never leave unless you told me to go.”
Now this is how a second-chance romance is supposed to be written. I ADORE this book!
Lady Aline Marsden and John McKenna grew up together. She’s nobility and he’s a mere servant on their estate, but that never mattered to them. They loved each other as friends and over time it grew to something more powerful and more forbidden, something McKenna tried to ignore but Aline was determined to pursue. But their worst fears were realised when her father found out about them, and Aline had to break McKenna’s heart and her own to keep him safe and to send him away.
The dark reality was that he and Aline had never been separate—they could live on opposite sides of the earth, and they would still be caught together in a hellish tangle. Not have her? He had never stopped having her…She had been a perpetual torment to him. She was going to suffer for that, as he had suffered for more than a decade.
Now, twelve years later, McKenna returns to Stony Cross with his fortune and his business partner. They intend to do business with Aline’s brother and others, but what McKenna really intends to do is get revenge on the woman who shattered his heart. To exorcise her from his dreams, his soul. But their powerful feelings hasn’t diminished, instead it burns brighter than ever. Can McKenna let go of his vengeance and hurt, and take a risk again on the only woman he had ever loved. Does Aline have the courage to tell McKenna the real truth of why she sent him away all those years ago, and trust in McKenna’s love enough to realise he would accept her as she was?
“I love him beyond reason,” she whispered. “He’s a stranger to me now, and yet he is still so familiar. I can’t imagine a sweeter agony, having him so close.”
Aline grew up knowing her parents didn’t care about her or her siblings. The only reason they ever gave her any attention was to make sure she understood that with her looks they expect her to make an advantageous marriage. But all Aline has ever wanted was to be with the boy she loved forever, even though she knew it was impossible. My heart just broke for Aline and how much she loved McKenna, how hard it was to send him away. And her fears when she saw him again, thinking that once he found out about what happened to her that he wouldn’t want her anymore. At times I wanted to shake her, and yell at her to tell him the truth, to trust that he wouldn’t care about her scars, but I understood her fears and her love for him was wonderful, the way she never cared about his station, all she ever wanted was him.
Aline was his curse, his fate, his consuming desire. He would never stop wanting her, no matter what she did, no matter how many oceans and continents he managed to put between them.
Now McKenna I freaking loved. Every woman should be loved the way he loves Aline. The way he loved her as a boy, how he never would have left her if she hadn’t sent him away, and the intense way he loved her as a man was so awesome! I loved that he never stopped loving her, even when he hated her, he loved her. And the way he put aside his pride at the end was so fantastic and so damn romantic!!
“Loving you has been the most real thing in my life.”
This is one of the most romantic books I have EVER read! The powerful love these two had for each other, their longing, hurt and McKenna’s anger was so tangible, I felt consumed by it. I’m not a fan of angst, but I freaking loved every painful and scorching moment between these two. How they tried so hard not to reveal their true feelings, but couldn’t stay away from each other. Their love was a beautiful thing.
I also loved the secondary romance between Aline’s sister Olivia and McKenna’s business partner Gideon. Their sweetness and playfulness was the perfect counterpart to the consuming angst of the main romance.
I also loved Aline’s friend Adam and I wish we could have gotten his own HEA too. Then there was Marcus, Aline’s older brother and I adored how serious he was and how much he loved his sisters. Even his over protectiveness and high-handed actions made me love him. I’m reading his book next and I can’t wait!
Lisa Kleypas is my favorite HR author and this is definitely my favorite series by her. If you love HR then this is a must read series. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.