Romancing Lady Stone (School of Gallantry #3.5) by Delilah Marvelle

Every time I read a book by Delilah Marvelle, I come away in awe. Last night I couldn't sleep, I had just come off writing four reviews in the evening and my eyes were practically crossed. It was around 1am when I opened my Iphone's Kindle app and started reading Delilah Marvelle's ROMANCING LADY STONE and didn't put the phone down until the ending around 3:30am.

  Handsome Russian, Konstantin Alexie Levin, had been a career criminal until he saves the life of  a Duc for the sole reason that it was the right thing to do, but life on the straight and narrow although the right path can be a destitute one. One night at the stroke of midnight, two questionable men meet with Konstantin to tell him that the Duc would like to compensate him for saving his life, and his fortune would be found in London. Well Konstantin always wanted to go to London and meet English women, he didn't know however that he would meet one sooner than expected.

She woke up in a daze with her head in his lap on a moving coach that was not the one she hired. Lady Cecilia was far from home and all alone. Where was her companion? Where was her money? Why was she groggy? Konstantin tries to tell Lady Stone what he believed happened to her. She had been drugged and placed in the carriage by thieves. Lady Stone, although quite composed was frantic inside, for her very reason for being in Russia was to stop her 21 year old son from marrying a aging actress and ruining his life and how would she do that in her current circumstances?

Konstantin reluctantly decides to be Lady Stone's savior and help her find her son before his departing to London to better his life. In the meantime, the stark attraction between the Russian former criminal and the English Lady sizzles within the carriage walls and by the time they reach lodgings the sexual tension is scorching. Lady Stone has been widowed for years now and even when she was married she was unfulfilled and unhappy. The chance at having even one night of complete passion stirs Cecilia into action and the next two days with Konstantin must fill her lifetime of loneliness. When Lady Stone explains to her lover that in London their relationship would  undergo extreme scrutiny and it would be the downfall for Cecilia's children to ever make good marriages, Konstantin is devastated by her cutting remarks. 

Without a farewell Konstantin leaves a sleeping Lady Stone safely in the hands of her son and continues on his chosen path. Lady Stone awakens in the company of her son but when she finds her lover gone, she is shaken. She didn't want their relationship to end like it did.

What can I say? I am in awe. Although it was a novella, I did not feel cheated in any way. It was a wonderful story from the first word to the last,  perfection in  Delilah Marvelle fashion. ROMANCING LADY STONE is witty, exciting and very sexy. I find myself in love with the fact that Cecilia is a decade older than Konstantin and he makes nothing of it, in fact pursuing her all the more! Another winner for the phenomenal Delilah Marvelle.

~KIMBERLY~

*Ms. Marvelle was very kind enough to gift me a copy of this story for an honest review.