From emerald jungles to the high seas to the glittering ballrooms of Regency London, beloved author Gaelen Foley tells a sweeping, sensual tale of the ruggedly handsome Lord Jack Knight and the passionate beauty who lays claim to his heart.
An English rose blooming in the untamed jungles of South America, Eden Farraday lives a life of independence–unheard of for a lady–with her doctor–turned–scientist father. But Eden misses England desperately. When the dangerous and darkly charming Lord Jack Knight sails into her life, she seizes her chance to return to civilization, stowing away aboard his London–bound ship.
Roguish and charismatic, a self–made shipping tycoon with a shadowy past and a well–guarded heart, Jack is sailing on a vital secret mission. When the redheaded temptress is discovered aboard his vessel, he reacts with fury—and undeniable lust. Forced to protect her from his rough crew, the devilish Lord Jack demands a scandalous price in exchange for Eden’s safe passage across the sea. As his wicked kiss ignites an unforgettable blaze of passion between them, Jack and Eden confront a soul–searing love that cannot be denied.
Simon Bolivar has often been called the “George Washington of South America.” In similar fashion to how George Washington led America to become independent of the English Crown in the 1770’s, Bolivar, during the Regency period, was leading the colonies of South America to throw off the rule of Spain.
Born to wealthy Creole planters in Caracas, Venezuela on July 24, 1783, Simon Bolivar was orphaned as a child, only to suffer another tragic loss as a young newlywed; his bride perished of an illness barely a year after their marriage. These losses are thought to have plunged Bolivar into such despair that he emerged from them a changed man, taking up the cause of liberty for his homeland as his one remaining reason to live. He joined forces with likeminded revolutionaries in 1810, and the fight to free South America from Spain began in earnest.
Freedom cannot be quickly accomplished, however, and as the battles between the colonies and the Spanish Crown raged, there were at least four separate occasions on which the entire cause of liberty looked totally and completely lost. At times, it seemed as though even God Himself was against the rebels. After a string of victories, Bolivar managed to establish the first republic of Venezuela in 1812, but then a massive earthquake struck Caracas, and the royalist Church wasted no time in using the pulpit to warn the populace that this was the wrath of the Almighty, proving the divine right of the Bourbon King Ferdinand as the rightful ruler of South America. After the earthquake, the Spanish army saw the Venezuelans becoming demoralized by their ordeal, attacked the devastated city, and recaptured it back with ease. Bolivar and his close advisers had to flee to neighboring Jamaica with Spanish assassins at their heels. But no matter what setbacks befell him, Bolivar never gave up. In fact, the final, decisive battle ending Spain’s power in South America was not won until 1824. By the time this was accomplished, not just Venezuela was free, but also Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia, which of course was named after “the Liberator.”
In the midst of this struggle and strife, what is less well known is that thousands of troops were brought over from the British Isles to help even the odds against Spain. The colonial population was very small compared to the established countries of the Old World like Spain, and Bolivar’s army faced a critical shortage of men. With its rich natural resources, however, South America had no lack of silver, so Bolivar was able to pay mercenaries to comeand fight alongside his rebel army.
As luck would have it, Bolivar’s need for additional fighters coincided with the end of the massive war against Napoleon. As Jack points out in Chapter One of HIS WICKED KISS, many thousands of British soldiers were returning home to England, Scotland, and Ireland after the great victory at Waterloo only to find the economy in shambles, and not enough jobs to go around.
History tells us that Bolivar sent secret agents to London in an effort to entice as many of these battle-hardened veterans into coming to fight for him in South America. He offered real army commissions and excellent pay. But as more and more British officers agreed to take the mission, the government grew alarmed.
What was the King of Spain going to think about all these Englishmen going over to take up arms with the rebels who were proving to be such a thorn in his side? Nobody in Parliament was up for another war now that Napoleon had finally been defeated and locked away on the island of St. Helena. Concerned about causing tensions with Spain, Parliament issued a decree forbidding any British soldiers from going to fight in Bolivar’s army.
Due to the lousy economy and the need to feed their families, it was an order that thousands of English, Scottish, and Irish soldiers were willing to ignore. The suspense/intrigue subplot of His Wicked Kiss follows Lord Jack Knight’s secret mission to recruit a battalion of mercenaries for Bolivar—without getting himself arrested.
To learn more about the British fighters in South America, read FOREIGN LEGIONARIES IN THE LIBERATION OF SPANISH SOUTH AMERICA by Alfred Hasbrouck, Octagon Books, 1969.
