In the Lion's Den by Barbara Taylor Bradford

The mystery of who hired thugs to attack James and a friend, left dangling in Vol. Too often, such misunderstandings take the place of actual conflict. While avoiding her own family, Alexis is still involved with Sebastian’s clan, which inhabits the large Trevalian country estate nearby-and she’s hurt when the Trevalians avert a potential scandal, involving an unwed mother, without her help. To Alexis' extreme resentment, James has effectively usurped her status as Malvern’s chief deputy since Alexis has chosen to remain, grieving, in the Kentish cottage her late fiance, Sebastian Trevalian, built for her before his untimely demise. Which seem to have mostly to do with competition for her father’s good graces. One senses immediately, despite their speedy progress from attraction to a perfunctory “insert sex scene here,” that Irina is just a place holder-until James and Alexis, Henry’s daughter, between whom an attraction has been brewing since Master, can resolve their differences. Ward, age 31, left London for health reasons, but now there is Irina, age 22, fetching great-granddaughter of a Russian ambassador.

And James is still exhibiting his preference for older women. The decor of every dwelling, be it ever so bourgeois, is still lavishly detailed. As in the first installment, Master of His Fate (2018), James’ extended family is still warm and supportive. The second in Bradford’s House of Falconer series about a retail dynasty.īy 1889, James Falconer, soon to turn 21, has made himself indispensable to commerce impresario Henry Malvern while dreaming of founding his own retail empire.

In the Lion's Den by Barbara Taylor Bradford