This is a story which contains elements of romance, suspence and well rounded realistic characters, making the book hard to put down. It is also refreshing as it deals with a different storyline from most romance books which cannot escape from the common cliches.
Constance Athelson has a gift which allows her to communicate with the dead and see into the future. Relying on her intuition she attends The Black Widow's Ball dressed as Isis in the hope of meeting Lucien Blackmore, Earl of Blackmore. She wants to be employed by him in cataloguing his collection of egyptian art and antiquities. Constance has had vast experience in this area having worked with her husband prior to his death. She is aware that being a woman will not work in her favour so her application will most likely be rejected due to her gender.
On arriving at the ball however, she begins to regret her decision as this is no place for a widowed viscountess,and neither will her revealing outfit persuade her prospective employer of her suitability for the position of 'Antiquities Cataloguer'. Concealed behind her mask, she flees to the safety of a room only to find herself in the arms of a stranger who believes she is the goddess Isis incarnate. They share passionate, consuming sex but Constance escapes without revealing her identity to her lover and without seeing the man she hoped would employ her.
Constance succeds in getting employed by cleverly avoiding to reveal her sex in her application and without signing her full name. When she arrives at Lyndham's Keep her boss is conveniently away so she has a few weeks to work before he becomes aware of her trickery. She hopes that her thorough work will persuade the earl to overlook her gender. Imagine her surprise when the Earl turns out to be none other than the man at the ball! He , in turn, is infuriated by her presence but cannot avoid the strong sexual attraction he feels for her. He recognises her as the woman he has been searching for since that fateful encounter, but there is a family curse that has been haunting the family for two generations. The males in the family murder the women they love and then they suicide. Can Lucien take a risk with the woman he loves to destraction? Can he trust her and believe that she communicates with the dead?
Well, it definitely kept me engrossed though I did find Lucien's mistrust of Constance frustrating and aggravating to the point where I would have loved to give him a slap across the face for being so short sighted and stubborn. Great read with a difference.
