REVIEW: What A Lady Most Desires by Lecia Cornwall

What A Lady Most Desires by Lecia Cornwall: War is a terrible, devastating thing, and in 1815, in Brussels, during the Battle of Waterloo, any proper English lady should not be tending the injured, sick and dying with her hands. However, that is just what Lady Delphine St. James is doing. The night before the battle she meets up with Major Lord Stephen Ives, a man who is “able to stop her breath just by walking into a room” at the Duchess of Richmond’s ball. Stephen Ives is a diplomat and a cavalry officer, who Delphine had met a year earlier, and who had summarily dismissed her. Attracted and intrigued by him, she longs to know why he was not attracted to her, and when she sees him in the ballroom, she goes towards him. Waylaid by Captain Lord Rothdale, an oaf of calvary officer, a gambler and a drunk, she is rescued from his unwanted advances by Stephen Ives, and they dance. While they are dancing a soldier walks in and goes to talk to Lord Wellington, who calls over a certain officers. Suddenly, the dance is over and the battle is about to begin. Stephen walks her to the carriage and, overcome with emotion, Delphine throws herself at him and gives him an unforgettable kiss goodbye.

She threw herself into his arms to stop the words, and kissed him. He caught her, and for a moment he was stiff, his posture indignant, but she stood on her toes and pressed her lips to his, praying that he would come back alive. Then his arms wrapped around her and he kissed her back. She felt the sudden desperation in him, the need. He deepened the kiss, and she opened to his urging, let is tongue sweep in.…She pressed closer still, and he kissed her with all the passion she had dreamed of.

Steven is a very serious soldier and did not care for Delphine the first time he met her because he felt that she was craven and too interested in marrying solely for money. However he is surprised and touched by her kiss since he has always felt a level of attraction to her. He returns to his billet but is very surprised to find Capt. Rothdale going through his neighbor’s precious belongings. Stephen tells Lord Rothdale that if they both survive the battle he will report Rothdale for thievery.

During the battle the house where Delphine staying quickly becomes a field hospital and Delphine eagerly works with the soldiers and the doctors to help wherever she can. On the battlefield Stephan rescues an infantry officer but later is shot in the back and his horse is killed from underneath him. When he arrives at the hospital severely injured and close to death. Dauphine refuses to let him die, stays with him and takes care of him night and day. When he finally awakes he’s better, still in pain, but tragically blind. More tragically, he has been accused of thievery, cowardice, and treason.

How Delphine and Stephen find the way to their happily ever after is a winding and sometimes tortuous tale. Blinded, in custody, and unsure of himself for probably the first time in his life, Stephen is literately ‘feeling his way around’ not only physically but emotionally also—since he is learning that Delphine is far more than who he thought she was, and that people think that he is far less than he thought he was. At the same time, Delphine is learning that she is more than a huge dowery and a part of her parent’s Tory ambitions. Both the characters learn about themselves and each other, growing in significant ways. “What a Lady Most Desires” is a satisfying book, and one worth reading.

Book Info:

Published August 26th 2014 by Avon

True desire always finds a way…

On the night before the final battle against Napoleon, Lady Delphine St. James finds herself dancing with the one man she has always wanted, Major Lord Stephen Ives. He makes it clear he has no time for a lady he sees as flirtatious and silly, but as the call to arms sounds, she bids him farewell with a kiss that stirs them both. When he returns gravely injured, she is intent on caring for him, even if his surly behavior tests her patience.

After the battle, Stephen is not only wounded and blind, but falsely accused of cowardice and theft. The only light in his dark world is Delphine, the one woman he never imagined he could desire. But she deserves more than he can give her.

As their feelings deepen and hidden enemies conspire to force them to part forever, can their love survive the cruelest test of all?