The Flower

Doomed to a life of unending toil, Heather Simmons fears for her innocence—until a shocking, desperate act forces her to flee. . . and to seek refuge in the arms of a virile and dangerous stranger.

The Flame

A lusty adventurer married to the sea, Captain Brandon Birmingham courts scorn and peril when he abducts the beautiful fugitive from the tumultuous London dockside. But no power on Earth can compel him to relinquish his exquisite prize. For he is determined to make the sapphire-eyed prize. For he is determined to make the sapphire-eyed lovely his woman. . .and to carry her off to far, uncharted realms of sensuous, passionate love.

A

The Flame and The Flower is a guilty pleasure of mine. I have probably read it, oh, 10 times. No joke. There is just something about this story that appeals to me and also, its one of my familiars, like an old friend. Do you have a book or two that is like that? I also love the time period. I am a sucker for historical fiction. Though the excerpt from Goodreads really does tell you what it really is about,

Anyway - Brandon Birimingham is the epitome of male for me. He's handsome, business savvy, has a temper, ridiculously protective, and has the soft side. We see the soft side in the very beginning when he first "abducts" Heather but when he is forced to marry her man does he turn in to a jerk, but through his thoughts we see, he has already realized that by not being nice to Heather, he is hurting himself.  Upon meeting Louisa, Brandon's ex-fiance- we see how nasty she is, and so does Brandon, not that he ever thought she was sweet - just not that nasty and slutty. We also see his protective side and how he aims to keep Heather safe from Louisa's biting words.

Heather - might be the most innocent characters I have ever read about.  From going with the god-awful William Court, dealing with Aunt Fanny, Brandon's nasty temper, Louisa and another person. But for every bad person, there is a good person, Lord Hampton, George, Jeff, Brandon (eventually) and Hatti.  Heather immediately causes people who are not jack wagons to love her.

Heather's innocence is also what ultimately lands Brandon in love with her. She does things just because, not to be calculating, and he becomes very aware of her.  Once they finally figure out they love each other, I love the little moments that we can read about, the touch of his hand on her shoulder, how he fastens her gown for her, carries her up the stairs when she is tired.

One of the best love stories. Really go get it.