Bargaining with a Rake

By Julie Johnstone

Bargaining with a Rake - Julie Johnstone
  • Release Date: 2018-01-31
  • Genre: Historical Romance
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 350 Ratings

Description

Her first mistake was striking a bargain with a notorious rogue bent on revenge. Her second was falling in love with him.

A lady desperate to escape.

For eleven years, Gillian Rutherford has dreamed of escaping her family’s dark secret and living a normal life. Now, faced with an unwelcome marriage that will chain her to London and the secret slowly killing her, she’s frantic to save herself and the sister she adores. Salvation comes in the form of an American shipping tycoon, and all she must do is seduce him into marrying her. But Gillian’s scheme hits a snag when she makes a bargain with a notorious rake. He’ll help her win the hand of his American friend, if she’ll assist him with exacting revenge against her unwanted fiancé. But the price of the pact, may be her heart.

A rogue out for vengeance.

The day tragedy strikes Alexander Trevelle’s family, he vows to obtain revenge against the man responsible. And when he discovers the man’s betrothed wishes to escape wedding him, Alex is more than happy to assist the ravishing lady in her scheme. But the more time he spends with the quick-witted bold Gillian, the less perfect the rash bargain seems. Each moment around her is sweet torture, and passion simmers between them, even igniting at times. Yet Alex is fighting it with all the strength he possesses, because to ever truly claim her as his, he’d have to offer the one thing he’s unsure he could—his heart.

An arrangement better broken.

When Gillian and Alex’s common enemy positions himself to outmaneuver them both and take away any chance at the unexpected gift hanging between them, the proud lady and the damaged rouge risk losing each other forever unless they expose their carefully guarded secrets and trust in each other so that they can claim the greatest victory of them all—triumphant unwavering love!

Reviews

  • Need to read

    5
    By painstreakedpink
    Brilliant! Absolutely a page turning, most romantic, beautiful story!
  • Bargaining With A Rake

    5
    By szurgirl
    It was the first book I’ve read by Julie, I loved it. It was a fun read. I see books as movies when I read them, I really enjoyed “watching” it as I read it. I’ll be getting Book 2 today, I know it’ll be just as good.
  • Bargaining with a Duke

    5
    By sbsbrinson
    Really loved this story! Lots of twists and turns! Love won out in the end!!
  • Emotional

    5
    By stephanieG#26
    To die for
  • Rakes

    5
    By math wizard
    The title is very appropriate for the story. A well written excellent story. There are a lot of past secrets and everyone is trying to protect someone. Now Alex, Lord Lionhurst is trying to help Gillian get the man who can save her and her sister Whitney. There are more than one plot twist here but all are slanted to one person who is trying to raise himself to a better social station but doesn’t care who he hurts. Such mystery, romance and action. I loved the book and plan on reading the next in the series.
  • Bargaining with a rake

    5
    By magslujan
    I always love reading your books and this one is a great book, it makes me feel like I’m there, this story is so romantic and sometimes a little funny, you are a great author and recommend all the books you write, thank you!
  • Which Rake?

    4
    By Peg1951
    Gillian believes that she can escape marriage to her horrible betrothed and keep the family secret if she can marry the American partner in Alex’s shipping company. Now all she needs to do is get him to pay more attention to her than to her sister. Will Alex help her with her quest, or is he discovering he might not want his partner to have her? This is a well-written entertaining story with mystery, blackmail, secrets, and a couple of somewhat uncommon courtships. The characters include a spunky heroine, a somewhat confused hero, a nasty villain, and a “helpful” aunt. The story is fun to read. There are a few twists and turns and a fitting comeuppance for the villain(s). I enjoyed Tristan Hunt’s narration. His smooth baritone was a pleasure to listen to.
  • A Winner!

    5
    By Earthdragonwing
    I loved the interaction between Alex and Gillian. You just knew from the beginning that Drake and her were not going to work out. The first clue was it took forever for her to get introduced to him. This story has another side plot of blackmail twisted through it and adds to the excitement of the climax.
  • FANTASTIC !!!

    5
    By Kat Wiley
    FANTASTIC, Another great by Julie Johnstone! Julie has never let me down in her books and Bargaining With A Rake is no exception. This is her 1st book in A Whisper Of Scandal series. The storyline is amazing and very creative, you bond with the characters and the descriptions are so clear you can see them in your mind. Once you start reading this book, you won’t be able to put it down. There are dark secrets, blackmail, pure evil, a love of family, friendship, caring, death, revenge, betrothed, hate, judgement, loneliness, unexpected kindness, pride, scoundrels, villains, abuse, sisterly love, protection and so much more. I highly recommend this book, it is great from the 1st page to the last. This love story begins In London 1817 with Gillian Rutherford and Drake Sutherland an American or is it with Alexander Trevelle Lord Lionhurst? You will just have to read to find out. ***This book was gifted to me and I am voluntarily reviewing.
  • Heart pounding romance

    5
    By Suz Clark
    I loved this book. I highly recommend it. Johnstone is a master romance writer. Can’t wait to read book 2 in the series