ONLY WITH A ROGUE By A. Basso, C. Faulkner and D. Raleigh Zebra Historical Romance May 2002 ISBN # 0-8217-7263-5 {Click here to buy this book} Only With A Rogue is a three story anthology by Adrienne Basso, Colleen Faulkner and Debbie Raleigh, three of romances

The Ultimate Lover is by Adrienne Basso. Lady Amelia Wheatly is widowed and fully expects to fill out her remaining days in her estate's dower house, but her domineering and interfering brother in law has schemed to marry her off to a man that Amelia detests in order to get him out of her hair, and to take his brother's fortune for his own. But Amelia has other ideas. With two of her greatest friends in the world, they set out to ruin Amelia's reputation so that no man will have her. Amelia must be seen leaving a man's room by someone, anyone, in the early morning hours Only with that will Amelia be able to claim the dower house as her own refuge.

The scheme backfires though when the ton's most notorious rake, Gareth Travers, become her target His sights are set on a flirtatious tease that he can't see he'll never have. Amelia can't back down though and sneaks into Gareth's room in the dead of night and claims his body under the guide of this other woman. When Gareth realizes who it really is that filled his night with such erotic passion, Amelia must now try to find a way to turn him off her. But does she really want to?

The Pleasures of a Wager, by Colleen Faulkner is the story of an American Heiress, Alison May, who's visiting family in London. Born and raised in America Alison has the temperament of Annie Oakley than of a London bred lady. She wows the gents with her ability to handle a team of horses and sets tongues to wagging with her tomboy way of approaching various situations. Alison makes a hobby of wagering. The one wager she's sure to win turns terribly wrong when she winds up in the bed of Viscount William Bridle. She's forced to marry him in order to save her reputation. But can he ever love her?

One Night With Lucifer by Debbie Raleigh is the final story in this anthology. Diana Howard is the founder of the Athena Society for the Betterment of Women, a society that claims to be equals in a man's world. After a letter has been published in the town paper, Diana sets her sights at achieving the very ten items the author claims a woman can never do, among them include buy a horse at Tattersall's without being fleeced, enter a brothel, knock down a opponent at Jackson's Salon, Seduce the Toast of the Season and stand on the field of honor at the break of dawn. After just barely knocking out her opponent at Jackson's Salon, the rest of the challenges seemed a walk in the park, until she realized the Toast of the Season was the notorious Lord Luceford, dubbed Lord Lucifer by those who were familiar with his reputation as London's greatest rake.

It's difficult to choose which of these tales is my favorite as they were all so well written. Each of the heroine's are strong willed and strong minded with their sights set on one goal and will do anything to achieve it. I enjoyed the high stakes nature of each of these stories and the creative way each author tells their stories.

Were I to choose a favorite hero and heroine I would choose Alison May of The Pleasures of a Wager. She's bold, brash and full of vitality. Her almost fearless nature and straightforward nature make her a very likeable character. My favorite hero would have to be Lord Luceford. His distaste for the Athena Society is common knowledge but he doesn't let it effect how he grows to feel for its founder, Diana.