Name: One Night with the Laird
ISBN: 9780373777907

Nicola Cornick

Widow Lady Mairi thought that her one night of passion with Jack Rutherford was just a fling, but as she helps him clear his name of murder, her devotion to her deceases husband wanes and her desire for Jack is set aflame. Original.

One Night with the Laird

Lover of Romance 

" All I want," he said, "is to have you in my bed again."He kissed her, his lips moving against hers with a possessive demand that stole both her breath and her resistance. 


Lady Mairi has spent the last four years mourning her husband, who was her best childhood friend. She keeps a dark secret that she fears coming out. So one night feeling restless and caved in, she desires to do something no one would expect the respectable widow to do. So she goes to a masquerade ball, and seduces a man she has always had a wild attraction to, Jack Rutherford. After sharing a night of wild passion, she leaves Jack unsuspecting on her true identity--or that is what she thought. A few months pass, until Jack is asked to escort her to a special event for her sister. But when Jack and Mairi meet once more, Jack recognizes her for the woman that he has dreamed of ever since that special night. For years Jack and Mairi have shared a contention between each other, but with a passion stirring, their dislike for each other soon turns into something deeper. But with Mairi being blackmailed, and being put in danger, she and Jack will need to work together to get to the bottom of that which threatens Mairi and her very life.

One Night With the Laird is the second in the series, by Nicola Cornick. I was able to get a copy of One Night With The Laird through Netgalley and HQN. I have always enjoyed HQN, and since I enjoyed the first one so much, I was looking forward to reading One Night With The Laird. When I read the blurb, I wasn't too excited to read it, I don't know why since it is the type of story I would love. So it took me a while to pick this one up, but I am glad that I did. I had no problem getting fully into the story, and before I fully realized it, the story was over. I was able to read it in just a few hours. It starts out with seeing the special sensual night between Jack and Mairi. Then they don't see each other for a few months, but when they do meet again, a passion sparks, and tension rises, and boy enough heat in the room it fogged up the windows. Then Jack learns of a plot of a distant cousin to Mairi's husband who wants all the wealth she inherited. Jack, even though he feels like Mairi is cold and distant, he can't seem but help her with the danger that she is in. Jack soon learns that Mairi is anything but cold, she has had a life that in the past years has put her in a shell and she has had to protect herself.

Jack, is the type to carouse and fill his nights with women. But after sharing a night with the masked lady, he is mesmerized and caught in her spell. He does have a past and suffers from guilt and shame, and shields himself, by being brooding and aloof. I found him sexy yet charming and doesn't let Mairi control him like she does everything else in her life. He is firm but not overly controlling. Mairi I couldn't fully like. As a main character and the heroine, I did like certain characteristics, but I felt like she was too harsh with Jack and was letting her past control her present. I did sense that her faults made her seem more easier to relate with though. The love story that develops between Jack and Mairi was powerful and highly sensual. I thought in a scene or two, it was too much. I don't want to give anything away, but a bit too rough for my taste (a bit of BDSM-which isn't my cup of tea), so I did skimmed over those parts, however for the most part I felt like the author created a lively story.

Although I found it to be a stimulating and a solid romance, I did have a few issues with it. I felt as if the flow of the story wasn't as smooth, it had some rough spots, and it was almost like riding on a bumpy roller coaster. I did like the way the plot was full of creativity and excitement. Overall I enjoyed the witty and entertaining tale with a sizzling passion to warm you up on a winters night. WONDERFUL!!