At the very least she wanted a partner she could be friends with and esteem. Maryann is a kindhearted, tender woman, who only wanted to marry for love. I love the way he treated Maryann, letting her know he found her attractive and desirable, yet, at the same time, treating her with respect. Maryann begins to see the real man behind the cultivated image and finds that she is also falling in love.īoth Maryann and Nicolas are truly wonderful characters, though I admit, Nicolas is an obsessed man. His enemies wouldn’t hesitate to use Maryann as a means to get to him if it becomes knowledge that he cares for her. Since he basically put his own personal life on hold, the feelings he is developing for Maryann are unwanted, as well as dangerous. Maryann’s intelligence and lack of the usual silliness of society ladies appeal to Nicolas, and he finds himself greatly attracted to her. Nicolas is intrigued by Maryann’s plot, and he’s more than happy to get close to her, as her brother, Crispin, is the very man he suspects of being the Black Dahlia. In order to thwart this unwanted betrothal, Maryann has made the drastic decision to have her reputation ruined, and plans to use Nicolas as her tool. Her parents are determined that she marry, and have arranged a match with an earl who is well into his fifties. Maryann Fitzwilliam is considered a wallflower, and, at twenty-three, nearing spinster status. So far, there is only one man left to identify, a man Nicolas calls the Black Dahlia, and Nicolas has a lead on who he may be. His sole purpose in life has become finding the identity of each man who abused her, and ruining them.

When Nicolas received Arianna’s letter, he was devastated and full of guilt. Then she threw herself into the river, not wanting to live. With her spirit broken, Arianna sent a letter to Nicolas, describing the men and what they had done. Her journey was interrupted by an encounter with several young aristocrats, who proceeded to rape her, uncaring that she was just sixteen years old and an innocent. Knowing they could never marry, Arianna decided to set off for London to try to find success as an actress. Years ago, as a teenager, Nicolas had a friend, Arianna, who was his first young love but was the daughter of servants. These characteristics are greatly exaggerated, but they have allowed Nicolas to keep company with the very men he seeks to ruin.

Ives, the Marquess of Rothbury, has spent years cultivating a reputation for himself as a rake and libertine. 'Will His Desire for Revenge Outweigh His Desire for Her?' Her Wicked Marquess

Her Wicked Marquess by Stacy Reid