Courting an Angel

Devereux Family #5

by Patricia Grasso

DANGER TO HER PEACE OF MIND LURKED IN HIS GRAY-EYED GAZE AND HIS DEVASTATING SMILE...


She felt his presence before she saw him, the black-clad stranger whose silver stare struck her dumb. He was the handsomest man she had ever seen... the husband who'd married and abandoned her ten years before. Rob MacArthur, the elfin girl with a boy's name, was only eight when she wend the fifteen-year-old marquess, who promised to be her knight and slay the monster beneath her bed. Where was he when she, who bore the devil's flower on her hand, was forced to flee Scotland as a witch? Now this stranger, who haunted her dreams and set her body afire, had come to England to claim her, to carry her north to the homeland she feared...

Gordon Campbell was stunned. His child bride was now a ravishing woman with emerald eyes and ebony hair - a prize to be won over yet again. But he couldn't know that his heart, so set on conquest, could be breached by love. Or that the sweet seduction he planned was poisoned with deadly enemies, intent on destroying his wife...

Genres: Historical Romance, Historical, Romance, Medieval, Tudor Period

423 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

I'm a dog person. Who lives with 10 cats. Get the picture?

My first brush with the romance genre happened in my high school junior year. I discovered Gone With the Wind and hid it behind my American history book to read during class. (The Civil War is American history.) The ambiguous ending left me dissatisfied, though. Rhett and Scarlet needed a happily-ever-after. Believing in happily-ever-afters positively screams romantic-at-heart.

On the other hand, I love murder and mayhem as much as happily-ever-after. My usual television fare is fiction and nonfiction crime shows, not love stories. Which accounts for the mysteries I sneaked into my historical romances. Now I'm trying my hand at writing a humorous mystery, sans historical and sans emphasis on the love interest. I even prepared for my mystery-in-progress by attending the local NRA's Pistol School. Shooting pistols is great fun. I adore the .22 semiautomatics.

After graduating from high school without distinction, I earned both Bachelor and Master degrees at a state college. Again, without distinction. I held several part-time jobs during my college days: file clerk in an insurance company, long-distance telephone operator, kimono-wearing waitress in a Japanese restaurant.

And then I began my teaching career, eighteen years in the eighth grade and thirteen years at the high school. Weary with the same old routine, I decided I needed a creative outlet. So I decided to write a romance novel but only managed to talk about writing one. After five years of listening to me, a friend said to stop talking and start writing.

So I did.

I made every mistake known to man. Blunder would be a more appropriate word, but I did learn using the trial and error method. As well as studying the works of authors I admired.

After five years of writing for nothing but love, I sold my first novel. Since then, I've sold eighteen novels and won several awards--- National Readers' Choice Award New England Readers' Choice Award, Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice and KISS Awards, B. Dalton and Bookrak Awards for best-selling author. My novels have been translated into fifteen languages and sold in twenty countries.

If I had my life over, would I become a writer? Nope. I would enjoy being a Victoria Secret model. Perhaps in my next incarnation I won't be too old, too short, or too unphotogenic.

Reviews

[Preeti ♥︎ Her Bookshelves · Rating 4 out of 5]

The H is a cheating, lying slimeball in reality and intends to continue as such even after collecting his child bride who's just turned 18. Although in all fairness, his conduct after meeting his wife again is more or less faultless - for a medieval guy.

Yes so, I don't expect celibacy from an adult guy with a child bride (15 to her 8 when they marry) but it his loose morals and adulterous behavior (with married ladies at courts and maids at home) that turn me off in general.

They both belong to highland clans who have inter-married for ages. He had made some promises to his child bride but those he forgets the moment he leaves She, also after growing up falls for another guy in London. The h has a red birthmark on her hand that has her clan people think of as a stain of Satan and that has marked her whole life while she finds easier acceptance in the more 'modern' London society. She has no intention of ever going back among the ignorant Highlanders and wants an annulment and makes it clear to her husband who comes to 'collect' her.

It's a long winded story with the H/h meeting again in London and then fleeing from Elizabethan court's wrath after the beheading of Queen Mary of Scots. Then, the shocker that awaits the h at his keep/castle and how they slowly get to know each other before the final part at the Stuart court at Edinburgh with the highly superstitious and greedy King James, just teetering at declaring her a witch.

Two bitchy main (and few sidey) ow make an appearance and the h is hurt with her husbands prior affairs rubbed in her face. He keeps saying he always loved her but that isn't how it appears to her (and the reader). He's never really repentant and his reaction is mostly a grin-and-shrug and the h, after initial hurt feelings, takes things in her big-hearted stride. I appreciated her mature reaction more than once.
But, as I said, his bark is worse than his bite in the present and he's mostly sweet and caring. And his defense of his wife against ignorant 'witch-hunters' helps him score easy points.
The first/London part is actually the most boring and then the book picks up.
An easy 3.75*.

[MaryD · Rating 3 out of 5]

Over all, I liked this except for one big issue (for me)- Gordon gave Rob a ring with the saying "Ye, and only ye" and insisted throughout the book that this was his true vow. However even though he was married, he'd carried on numerous affairs with the "ladies" of the court up until the very day he was told he needed to go get his wife. Yes, he'd married her when she was only 8 & he was 15, but they were still married, and he kept lying to her. Yet she kept forgiving him because he was so charming! Uggghhh!.

I gained more of an insight into the King James/ Queen Mary/ Queen Elizabeth relationships, which added to the intrigue.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read: 11/19/25
Setting: Tudor England & Scotland
trope: MOC, second chances

This was an okay story.
plot: This book is about Rob, Brianne's daughter (book 1). She is married as a child to Gordon. They have a cute start and then she never hears from him again. Gordon is enjoying married life. He doesn't need or remember his wife. She would get in the way of his womanizing. Now, he has to fetch her back to Scotland.

Rob will never return to a superstitious Scotland again. She was born with a birth mark on her hand and her clan ostracized her because of this "devil's mark".Now, she will make a life in England, if only she can talk Gordan into an annulment. Unfortunately, Gordon will not be turned away and goes about wooing his wife. Tragedy forcing them to flee England and eventually thet start their marriage. Of course, there is a villain who will use the superstition against Rob for his evil revenge.

liked:
1. I really enjoyed the story once they consummated the marriage. Unfortunately, that was 60% into the story.
2. I enjoyed revisiting some of my favorite characters. Rob's father, Uncle, and FIL protesting Queen Mary's death was hilarious! I guess we all get old 😂
3. This book had one of the sweetest prologues I've read in awhile. Think The Wedding by Julie Garwood. My heart melts when he slays Rob's monster for her. 🥹

dislike:
1. This story would have been so much better if the couple would have made up sooner and tried to have a real marriage. The "courting" took too long.
2. Rob could have just told him why she could never return to Scotland. Problem solved!
3. I didn't expect Gordon to feel bad about the womanizing but he could have atleast written to her over the years. 😡 Dick move!

Conclusion: The latest books haven't been as good.

[Karen Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I immensely enjoyed reading this book. I loved meeting the new characters, as well as revisiting the ones we already knew. Lady Rob was a well developed character that grew before my eyes, in years, bravery and self-esteem. I really liked her. The relationship between Lady Rob and Gordon was fun. An all around great book.

[Jazzy Singh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda boring.

[Amy Brobst · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think Patricia Grasso reads her own work. On it's own, Courting an Angel is great, but she uses the same titles in To Tempt an Angel and uses the same story lines in most of the books- girl meets prince-like guy, guy falls head over heels, marries girl, and lives HEA after a few hitches- such as child(ren) out of wedlock with mistress(es) and someone wants to kill either hero or heroine or both. Very formulaic.

[Shel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took a while for me to get into this, but it was a sweet story.