Captive Mistress

by Deborah LeVarre

DESTINY'S PRISONER
Desperate to escape her cruel, greedy uncle, raven-haired Christy hid herself aboard the Merrimer, certain she could sneak back ashore before the ship set sail. But before she knew it, the luscious stowaway drifted asleep--and awoke to the hard, flinty glare of Captain Michael Lancer. Christy trembled when he threatened to send her to a watery grave, but she was utterly terrified when he decreed she would pay for her passage with nothing less than her private services in the captain's cabin!

ECSTASY'S SLAVE
With his chiseled features and manly build, Michael Lancer never lacked for feminine attention. But when he saw the tempting, petite Christy, she shattered his control and ravaged his resolve to never touch an unwilling woman. Something in the way her lips pouted and her hips swayed drove him mad with desire. And when she refused to succumb to his sensual charms, Michael had no choice but to claim her forever and make her his own CAPTIVE MISTRESS

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Pirates, Historical Fiction, Southern

622 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1983

Reviews

[KatieV · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this more than I did, but my enjoyment was mostly hampered by 2 things.

#1 - Totally misleading title! The heroine was NEVER the H's mistress. As a fan of old school bodice rippers, I loved the naughty implications of the title/description and was rather irritated to discover this was not the case. The hero rapes the H once and then never touches her again until well after they marry because he wants her willing. However, he does get drunk and tries one other time, but stops.

#2 - The similarities to Kathleen E. Woodiwiss' The Flame and the Flower were far too numerous and glaring. They had me so distracted that I couldn't concentrate on the book for what it was. If you've never read The Flame and the Flower or only read it once (probably after you read Captive Bride) you'd probably enjoy this more. I, however, have read Woodiwiss' novel more times than I can count over the past 25 years so I know it inside and out. It was my first romance novel and, granted, I have a great deal of sentimental attachment to it, but I think the ratings bear out the fact that it is considered the superior novel. Plus, I just didn't like the characters as much. I have no problems with an h crying. IMHO sometimes it's crazy that they don't with all the crap that happens to them, but JEEZ this chick cried at least once a chapter, even if it was just one glittering tear. I know many point fingers at KEW's Heather for being too timid and a cry baby, but she was a pillar of strength compared to poor Christy and much more rational too. Sometimes Christy was head shakingly, infuriatingly stupid. I am going to go into a rant of comparisons, which I'll place under a spoiler cut so those uninterested may be spared.



The Heroine, Christina Patterson - 18 yo, incomparably beautiful, innocent, petite, raven haired Englishwoman who was raised gently, but fell on hard times after her parents died. Her belongings were all sold and she was forced to live in grinding poverty with her evil uncle who worked her like a dog and smacked her around. Until, one day, something horrible happened that sent her fleeing to the London docks where she meets Capt Michael Lancer who mistakes her true identity. And, no matter what, she must never allow Michael to know the shameful secrets of her past. Substitute an evil aunt and the details of the 'big secret' and identity mixup and you have Heather Simmons from The Flame and the Flower.

The Hero, Michael Lancer - Over 30, tall, dark and handsome captain of a merchant ship that frequently trades out of London, however, he also owns a sprawling estate and lumber mill in Charleston, SC. He sells off his ship to devote himself to the mill after bringing Christina back to Charleston. He also doesn't believe in slave labor at his lumber mill. Starting to sound familiar? Brandon Birmingham, maybe?

Villainous OW, Mathilda Lancer - Tall, beautiful, shrewish blond with designs on the H who spends $ she doesn't have and is older and not quite as beautiful as the heroine. Make her an ex-fiance instead of the wife of the H's dead brother and you get Louisa Wells.

I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that almost every character in The Flame in the Flower has a corresponding character in Captive Mistress. There are also so many circumstances and quotes that gave me deja vu, it was astounding. I'm not saying the entire plot was the same. There were differences, of course, but most all of them took you to the same place.

- That one night of rape gets the h pregnant, so the H marries her.
- h is less than willing on their wedding night so he vows not to touch her and becomes a big, grouchy, sexually frustrated ass.
- Finally H realizes he loves the H and decides to try being a loving husband instead of a bully and they fall into bed to become the happy couple.
- Louisa Matilda finds out about Christy's true circumstances from one of Michael's former crew members and threatens to spread rumors about Christy all over Charleston. Enter villain she was running from in England who Matilda is now in cahoots with. The villain wants to blackmail Christy, but she refuses so he tries to kill her. Michael saves her from the villain just in time. Then tells Christy he knew about her past already and didn't care, he only wished she'd trusted him to protect her.



Anyway, I was disappointed (obviously). But gave it 3 stars, because I'm sure I would have enjoyed it at least that much if I hadn't be comparing it to another book. I realize that all books/movies/etc were inspired by other works. I'm not saying this was plagiarism, I just feel like the author didn't do enough to take it past a starting point for inspiration and make this her own unique work. Plus, the title thing (grrr). I had always wondered what would have happened in The Flame and the Flower had Heather not gotten away from Brandon in the beginning and was forced to stay with him as his mistress. This was an opportunity for that story to occur, but it didn't.

[Evelyn Fletcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, I finally finished this horrible book. I'm so angry I just have to write some kind of review. All I want to do now is write an Ode to Michael. That poor man, he suffered through crazy hysterics from everyone around him. His idiotic wife made him jump through flaming hoops for her miserly attentions, and when he did, she accused him of infanticide and conspiracy to murder! So many times during this book, I wished I could stick my hand inside and wrap it around Christina's neck and just squeeze.

This review is very long and spoils everything about this book. Read at your own peril!

So, it started out okay. It began with the Reign of Michael the Tyrant. He was just deliciously callous and cruel to what he thought was a male stowaway. But after an awesome and horrible punishment, he quickly discovered his stowaway was a woman. This was because of her fainting from pain due to literal 'salt on an open wound'. After this, he was quite cordial, even giving her his bed and cabin. What magnanimous generosity! Of course, he made no secret that he wanted her to pay off her indenture in the oldest profession.

She refused (duh!), and just barely managed to fend him off with words (mainly because he just didn't feel like raping her). When she finally recovered from the aforementioned 'open wounds', Michael gave her (on her suggestion) a storage closet which she fashioned into some extremely modest living quarters. By that time, she was ready to do anything to get out of Michael's cabin.

Unfortunately, this proved to be her undoing. And thus the Reign of Michael the Savior began. It was short but sweet, and began with the classic case of animal lust, which came in the form of two drunk, unwashed sailors. They burst into her tiny room, quite uninvited, and proceeded to unleash the full stupidity of their vague-eyed lust upon their helpless victim. Oh, whoops, am I supposed to be shouting in righteous rage about her awful predicament? Fortunately, I did manage to garner up some small reaction.

Anyway, luckily, Michael bursts in a minute later, just in time to save her from this latest vicious attack of... Animal Lust (Warn your children! Anyone who resides in a BR could be at risk!). After she calms down, he proposes a way for her to work off her indenture to him: by being his... accountant. I know, who'da thunk it? She agrees and life goes on fairly well, or so she thinks.

And now, the Reign of Michael the Rapist. So, Christina thinks that life is great. She's fended off Michael, she has a steady job... She doesn't realize that Michael is getting increasingly lusty himself. One night, he comes to his cabin moderately intoxicated. He listens to her blather on about his accounts with ever-increasing boredom and ever-shortening temper. Finally, he just loses it and his temper, which is prevalent throughout the book, and, sick to death of her prudish ways, rapes her.

Yay for the Reign of Michael the Penitent! He is truly regretful of his actions. He's not actually the kind of guy who'd do such a thing under normal circumstances. She's the one to blame, with her irresistible beauty just flaunting itself under his nose. Hey! Stop laughing! I'm completely serious here!

So this is where the book slows down dramatically and becomes quite boring IMHO. When the ship finally docks in Charleston Bay, Christina decides to run off and repay Michael once she gets a job in town. She leaves a note detailing this. She's very angry because she saw him embracing his sister, who she thought was his wife. She is completely unsuccessful in her endeavor. We all know that the Americans were even more prudish than the British at that time, and all the potential employers think she's a tramp.

So it's nighttime and it's raining, and she just so happens to be rescued by a kindly old man who insists that she come home with him. She agrees and is treated like an honored guest, to her surprise. When she wakes up, she discovers that the kindly old gentleman, Sir Phillip, is in fact Michael's father, and she is currently residing in Michael's house.

A lot of things happen over the course of about six months. Christina discovers she's pregnant, so they marry, never consummating of course. Christina meets Michael's widowed sister-in-law, Matilda and they mutually hate each other's guts. Matilda wants Michael as her husband because she wants his money. There's also a near-rape incident with a drunken Michael again.

You see, there's something that happens to me when I read books like this. At first, I'm on the heroine's side and am irritated when the hero rapes her. But after 300 pages of her being a prude and refusing him (even when they're married, the bitch!) my mindset switches completely. Plus, Christina is such an idiot, I just want to kill her. She constantly goes into life-threatening situations, without a thought for her life, or even her child's life. So somewhere in those 300 pages, I began to hate Christina with an unmatched passion.

Finally, the Reign of Michael in Love began. Eventually, Michael realizes he needs to change his tactics. He seduces her with his charm and good looks and they make up and Michael finally, finally gets laid. Not surprisingly, his temper improves drastically.

Matilda's, however, does not. Her evil scheming and plotting finally come to a climax when she blackmails Christina into leaving Michael. Then Matilda strands a 7-month pregnant Christina in the woods in January with a week's worth of food.

Back at Michael's home, Penncrest, Matilda tries to tell Michael that Christina is a thief who stole his jewelry (Matilda actually did that). But Michael, crazy in love, refuses to believe her when he finds a note from Christina that sounds more apologetic than anything else. So he rides off into the forest and saves Christina (a little tardily this time) from a brutal whipping by her evil uncle, who's in cahoots with Matilda.

Christina is delirious and when Michael approaches her, she thinks he going to kill her, so she runs off into the woods. Somehow, a very pregnant and just-whipped young woman manages to outrun a healthy man in his 30s for about a minute, until she trips and goes into early labor. Personally, I don't think it was because of the fall. I think the baby was just so desperate to get away from it's idiotic and suicidal mother, it induced labor.

And now, as an end, the Reign of Michael the Valiant. He takes her home and she loses the baby (DUH!). When she finally recovers consciousness, her first act is to take her delirious and insane notions of his attacking her and accuse him of infanticide! When he finally convinces her of the truth, she blames herself for the miscarriage, and rightly so.

Now, Michael really wants to clear up all these schemes so he can get on with his life. So he visits Matilda, who has a psychotic breakdown and goes batshit insane. This was one of the best scenes in the whole book, and you should read it just for that. After throwing her across the room, Michael flees the house with three battlescars on his cheek.

He finds Christina's uncle and gets a confession, allowing him to arrest everyone involved. He goes home and has a joyful reunion with his wife, who finally pulled herself out of her funk. The police come and inform them that Matilda has gone missing, and that she's 'armed and dangerous'. Michael leaves with them to go look for her.

Surprise! Matilda comes to the house while he's gone. Boy, if she was batshit crazy before... She shoots Phillip and is about to shoot Christina when Michael bursts in again and saves them all. Him and what army? The police, that's who. Matilda jumps out the window with the completely original line of 'You'll never take me alive!'. Michael and the rest are later told that she fell off her horse trying to escape and broke her neck. And they all lived happily ever after.

So, this book made me unbelievable enraged at the stupidity of the heroine, but was saved by the awesomeness of the hero. I just wish all the women in the book had died, so Michael and Phillip could live out their lives in peace as terminal bachelors, like Holmes and Watson. Oh, and there was the aforementioned OTT craziness that served to make it quite entertaining. Still, only 3 stars for the 300 pages that were really boring.

[NA · Rating 1 out of 5]

Someone call the WHAAAAAAAMBULANCE.
WE GOT A CRIER OVER HERE. WHAAAAA..

[Lorelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

To start off my general impression of the book is as follows:

-Nice cover.

-The heroine in this book spends a lot of time recovering from being whipped, punched, slapped, kicked, and several fevers.

-She spends a lot of time sleeping in this book....

-There is actually a knocked down, dragged out girl fight. A first for me.


CAPTAIN MICHAEL LANSER- Sea Captain, colonial, wealthy, dominant and of course he has a handsome face with a tall,lean, muscular body.

CHRISTY PATTERSON- Both beautiful and of course petite, but rounded in all the right places.

Christy was born well to do, but lost family money when parents tragically died and were found to be traitors. Abused and left in poverty by evil Uncle Henry slate. Dressed as a boy, she hid in a crate to escape the Uncle, conveniently fell asleep and was loaded into the ships cargo. She is discovered and sentenced to being nailed back into crate and thrown overboard,just to teach him(her) a lesson. She is rescued and found to be a girl who has been cruelly whipped. The Captain later states that this was when he fell in love with her. He offers her to work off her sentenced indentureship by of course, becoming his mistress. She refuses, and eventually he can't help himself and rapes her. He apologizes, but at the same time defends his actions. There is much more absurdity as the plot unfolds. It is such a soap opera.

Re-read and re-rated. 3 stars for the most OTT and ridiculous storyline.

[Roub · Rating 1 out of 5]

awful! the hero was a rapist and i got mad at the heroine for she spoke like an old school mistress! to come back to the story, michael (the hero) thought it was his right to deflower christy bcoz she was a stowaway on the merrimer. i found it disgusting dat he cud actually rape her and then offer taking her as a mistress to compensate for violating her ! i can't believe anyone can fall in love wid such a man. then they got on land and the book dragged on and on wid most boring, petty things happening! the heroine had so many little incidents, i was shocked to learn she was 3 months pregnant! how come she did not lose the baby!? anyway, i stopped reading the book when they declared their love for each other. i was already so pissed off! :S

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

well omg what a stupid book these characters all seemed touched in the head usually it's just the heroine but the hero in this book was also dimwitted lol it seem's every BR book as a line that the heroine repeate's over and over and in this one for me it was
a tear trickled down her dainty cheek
yuck i got sick of reading it what a weak character she was a jellyfish as more spine the she did.
i would have to say my favorite character was Matilda the crazy sister inlaw lol the best paet of the book was when she yelled
You’ll never take me alive i just could not stop laughing.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

0.5 Actually. The story line was extremely tiring and stretched for no reason. One of the worst books I've ever read.

[Twiggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well this is actually quite enjoyable.

Christy Patterson is the daughter of a well to do horse breeder. However her parents affiliations to the anti slavery cause result in their assets being wrongly seized By a Magistrate Joanace following their death in a mysterious and sinister carriage accident. christy ends up as a ward to her brutal uncle Harry Slate who regularly beats her.one night following her aunt's death, Slate whips her particularly violently and she runs away disguised as a boy. She makes it to the dock yard and hides in one of the crates in order to avoid Slate. Unfortunately she passes out and when she awakens she is discovered as a stowaway. The captain, Michael Lancer, forces her into another crate saying that he is going to cast her adrift to drown in the sea. Christy is forced into the crate which is then nailed shut and dunked in the ocean. It turns out that Lancer was only trying to frighten her and had the crate lifted after a short dunking. At that stage they discover Christy's sex but she faints due to pain and trauma.

She awakens in the Captain's cabin to find her wounds are being tended. From the outset Lancer makes it clear that he has dishonourable intentions and means to have her by way of payment for the voyage. He declares that she is his indentured bond slave until the debt is paid. She makes friends with Patrick McDonough one of the crew who helps her recover and generally tries to avoid the Captain. Christy takes up quarters in a spare closet but has to be rescued by the captain when two of the crew break in and try and rape her. Thereafter her relationship with the captain mellows somewhat and she starts helping him with his accounts. However when they are only 2 weeks from Charlston port she goes into his cabin to get a book but finds him drunk and obstreperous. She tries to placate him but his mood turns nasty and he assaults and rapes her fairly violently. Although he apologises afterwards, this rings pretty hollow and he does not come across as particularly remorseful and it is clear he continues to harbour dishonourable intentions.

When they arrive at Charlston Christy initially tries to run away in order to seek employment but finds that she has no legitimate prospects. She is taken home by a good samaritan Sir Philip, who turns out to be the Captain's father. By this stage Christy feels trapped but realises that she has no other option but to remain although she is uncertain of her place in the house as while Lancer continues to tell her she is his bond slave, she is treated as a lady in the house.

Christy gets injured when rescuing a boy who fell down a well and after she recovers, Michael informs her that she is to act as his secretary, which she is very pleased about this. She is taken into town to get some dresses made where she again bumps into the horrible Matilda Lancer, Michael's widowed sister in law who clearly has matrimonial intentions on the hero. afterwards they walk into town and are introduced to the new Lt Governor who just happens to be the despicable Joanace. Christy is frightened by his reappearance and is noticeably withdrawn.

Within a few weeks she realises that she is pregnant and she and Michael marry. She refuses to sleep with him as he does not love her or treat her with respect. He becomes even more cold and horrible to her culminating in an episode where he comes home drunk one night and almost rapes her again but stops when he falls over drunk.

Thereafter the relationship between the protagonists changes as Michael finally realises that you catch more flies with honey. He behaves tenderly and sensitively and following a ball at Middleton Place, they finally reconcile and make a go of the marriage. Everything appears to be wonderful.

The fly in the ointment is of course of evil sister in law Matilda who it turns out is in league with Joanace and who has paid for horrible uncle Henry to come to Charleston to dispose of Christy.

At this stage the book becomes slightly demented.

Matilda blackmails Christy telling her that unless she leaves her husband forthwith, she will disclose the sordid details of Christy's past. Instead of telling her husband ( which she had already resolved to do) she of course tells Matilda that she has no choice but to go along with her. Christy trustingly gets in the carriage procured for her as it seems she believes Matilda's promise to get her to New Orleans. In fact she is abandoned in the middle of no where at a rough shack with hardly any food in the snow. Days pass and instead of trying to leave, Christy endures This purgatory whilst bemoaning the fact that Michael has not turned up to rescue her and it is only when she is out of food, does she decide to try and seek help elsewhere. Along comes uncle Henry and his whip. He tells her that Matilda wants him to kill her but when he suggests that in fact he would double cross Matilda and allow Christy to return home if she were to pay him loads of money. Again instead of seizing this opportunity to save herself, the unborn baby and to bring Henry before Michael, she tells him that Michael would not pay any money for her and that she would not take anything from him. WTF!!

Henry attacks and brutally whips her. Michael turns up almost in the nick of time and knocks Henry out, but for some crazy reason Christy thinks he is also going to attack her and she runs away and falls. She loses the baby and spends about 3 weeks thinking Michael is in league with the others for no good reason whatsoever. They finally talk and she implicates Matilda before she falls into hysteria.

Michael confronts Matilda and eventually the story comes out. He has Henry arrested and makes arrangements for Joanace and Matilda to also be arrested. Of course Matilda then goes on a killing spree, shooting Henry dead, trying but failing to shoot Michael dead, she shoots Sir Philip in the shoulder, confesses to the murder of her first husband and then tries to beat Christy up by punching her to death. Michael comes to the rescue again and Matilda jumps on a horse and does everyone a favour by falling off and breaking her neck.

They all live hea.

I did actually like this book before it went totally over the top and even then I was so flabbergasted that I had to finish reading.

I hate to be prosaic but the misunderstanding / secret would have really worked better for me if her parents had been accused of something considerably worse than tax evasion. It was just too silly for words.

3.5 -4 stars

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christy stows away on Captain Michael's ship to escape her cruel uncle.

I'm giving this three stars because I remember liking it when I read it probably thirty years ago. It was less superficial than some romances of this era because it was 600+ pages so there was time for relationships to build. HOWEVER, this is also one of those books where the captain rapes the woman to pay for her passage, so go into knowing that this has not aged well. It's hard to read a 'woman learns to love her rapist' book now though this was a common theme in romance books back then.

[Bluestar · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF.cold hero not possessive atall.i didn't like it.80% book was drag no intimacy.

[Michelle Zak · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books, I have now read it four times!

[Karen Boruff · Rating 1 out of 5]

I never finished this message, and threw the book away. Absolutely awful.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice young lady ends up married to a revolting, immoral man, and they call it romance. Whatever.
P S, he is a rapist.