The Pursuit

by Johanna Lindsey Narrated by Michael Page

Overview

What was to be a grand adventure for Melissa MacGregoramp;mdash;an escape from the wilds of her Scottish home into the whirl of the London social scene - seems to pale before the promise in the passionate gaze of Lincoln Ross Burnett. Though they exchange but a few words before parting after a chance encounter on her grandfather's lands, Melissa instantly knows this bold stranger is her destiny, while Lincoln realizes his heart has been claimed forever and he will never be complete until Melissa MacGregor is his bride.

But there are serious obstacles impeding the well-smitten Viscount Cambury's pursuit of glorious romance: sixteen of themamp;mdash;all big and brawny, six named Ian and all named MacFearson. The bane of Lincoln's youth, Melissa's stifling, disapproving uncles are now determined to rob him of his newfound happiness. Yet he is equally resolved to confront the perilamp;mdash;and to pursue his exquisite obsession all the way to London¿and to the ends of the earth, if necessary.

Editorial Reviews

bn.com

This engaging sequel to Johanna Lindsey's popular Scottish historical romance, Say You Love Me, is a passionate adventure filled with action, humor, past tragedies, and romantic dilemmas. Lincoln Ross Burnett, Viscount Cambury, is visiting family in Scotland before beginning his search for a bride when he meets Melissa MacGregor. Coincidentally, the lovely young daughter of the MacGregor of Kregora Castle is preparing to leave her Highland home in search of a husband. Even before the delighted pair is reunited amid the glittering London Season, they're certain that they are meant for each other. But even destiny doesn't guarantee that everything, or even anything, about their courtship will go smoothly. In fact, a childhood dispute between Lincoln and his newfound beloved's 16 uncles is about to come between them, for the wild side of her family still think he's crazy, and he's equally convinced that they're a pack of savages. Having lost the best friend he ever had over this matter already, he isn't about to lose the woman he now adores as well. But it's soon clear the past is about to add some unexpected complications to the would-be bride and groom's plans for the future.

Publishers Weekly

Energetic and expansive, good-natured and lusty, with enough flouncy dresses and galloping steeds to equip a comic opera, the sequel to Say You Love Me should delight Lindsey's many fans. From the moment that Melissa MacGregor and Lincoln Burnett set eyes on each other, they know they must be together. There's just one little problem actually, 16 very big problems: Melissa's uncles, who remember Lincoln as an out-of-control kid when they were growing up in Scotland. (After losing his father in an accident when he was a little boy, Lincoln was sent away by his mother to live with an aunt and uncle in England, and his bitterness toward his mother has grown ever since.) The uncles' obsession with Melissa's safety is just the excuse the clan of six-footers needs to treat Lincoln with brutish incivility for instance, conniving to stow him on a slow boat to China. But love cannot be shanghaied in a Lindsey novel, at least not for long, especially when it has a heroine like the strong-willed Melissa. The lovers pass one test after another, in the drawing rooms of the London season and the rugged terrain of the Highlands, meanwhile sharing hot kisses and the requisite night during which nothing goes unsaid or undone. What makes Lindsey special is that all her characters, major and minor, seem thrilled to be in the story; they manage even to have fun while pining or punching. There are no villains, only flawed human beings, occasionally misdirected by their loving hearts. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

When Lincoln Ross Burnett sees Melissa MacFearson in his Scottish homeland, he knows she must become his wife. Lincoln had left Scotland as a boy after the death of his father and was raised by an uncle who bequeathed him a title, property, and wealth. But his memories of abandonment by his mother have left scars, and Lincoln will soon find that Melissa, though as smitten as he, has a crew of uncles who hold a grudge against him dating back to his boyhood. While the point of contention with Melissa's uncles may seem a bit unrealistic, the author defends it fairly well. Will Lincoln be able to overcome these obstacles in his pursuit of Melissa? Although listeners may guess the answer, getting there is enjoyable, aided by Michael Page's ability to handle both Scottish and British dialects. His portrayal of older women is sometimes a bit shrill, but his facility with the Scots speech gives a real sense of the Highlands; he gracefully manages the scenes of emotion and seduction. Recommended for fiction collections.-Melody A. Moxley, Rowan P.L., Salisbury, NC Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

A lighthearted romp about the effects of a childhood misunderstanding that became a major feud. When Lincoln, Viscount Cambury, meets Melissa, it is love at first sight for both of them. However, their courtship is complicated because 20 years earlier her 16 uncles had become Lincoln's enemies even though they were just children. Now, the fellows are smotheringly protective of their only niece, and the couple does not have much time together as the entourage moves back and forth between England and Scotland. Most of the characters speak in a Scottish dialect. The story moves quickly, sometimes predictably, but with a few more creative elements toward the end. Readers get to know Lincoln and Melissa as individuals as they interact with the other characters, but the uncles are not well differentiated, although they don't need to be-six of them are even named Ian. Give this to readers who need cheering up; many scenes could be described as slapstick.-Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940172666100
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	05/16/2017
Series:	Sherring Cross , #3
Edition description:	Unabridged

Related Subjects

• Romance
• Fiction
• Historical Romance
• Historical Romance - General
• Historical Romance - Regency
• Historical Romance - Scotland and Highlands

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

"You don't like your mother very much, d'you, m'boy?"

Lincoln Ross Burnett, seventeenth viscount Cambury, glanced curiously at his aunt sitting across from him in the plush coach that was climbing ever higher into the Highlands of Scotland. The question wasn't surprising, at least to him. Yet it was one that would simply be ignored -- if asked by anyone else.

His Aunt Henry -- only her husband and Lincoln had ever been permitted to call her Henry -- was a sweet, cherubic woman in her forty-fifth year. A bit scatterbrained, but that merely made her more adorable. She was short, pudgy, and had a round face surrounded by an arch of frizzy gold curls. Her daughter, Edith, was identical, just a younger version. Neither was classically pretty, but they grew on you; each had her own endearing qualities.

Lincoln loved them both. They were his family now, not the woman who had remained in the Highlands after she'd sent him off to live with his uncle in England nineteen years ago. He'd been only ten at the time, and had been devastated to have been ripped from the only home he'd known and sent to live among strangers.

But the Burnetts didn't remain strangers. From the beginning they treated him like a son, even though they had no children yet. Edith was born the year after his arrival, and they were told, unfortunately, that she would be their one and only. So it wasn't surprising that his Uncle Richard decided to make him his heir, even changing his name so that the Burnett name would be preserved along with the title.

Itshouldn't bother him any longer. He'd lived more years in England now than he had at his home in Scotland. He'd lost the Scottish burr years ago, and he fit so well into English society that most people he was acquainted with had no idea he'd been born in Scotland. They thought Ross was merely his middle name, rather than his original surname.

No, none of this should bother him a bit after all these years, but it bloody well did. He kept his bitterness firmly in hand, though -- at least he'd thought no one had detected it. Yet his aunt's question suggested she knew the truth.

Oddly, one of the things that Lincoln admired greatly in his aunt was that although she could bully with the best of them if it was a matter of health or welfare -- and he'd spent many an unnecessary extra day in his bed getting over a cold to prove it -- she didn't assert herself otherwise. If a matter was considered none of her business, she wouldn't try to make it her business. And how he felt about his mother was his business alone.

Nor was he inclined to own up to those feelings, and so he asked Henriette evasively, "What gives you that idea?"

"This brooding you've been doing since we left home isn't like you, and you've never been so tense -- nor so silent, I might add. You haven't said a word since Edith dozed off."

Thankfully, he had the perfect excuse. "I've had a lot on my mind since you announced Edith was going to have her come-out in the grand old style this season and volunteered me as her chaperone. I don't know the first bloody thing about chaperoning a young miss who's shopping for a husband."

"Nonsense, there's nothing complicated about it. And you did agree it's past time for you to do that shopping for yourself, since you've no one in particular in mind yet either. You should have already got your own family started. You've been tardy, which is fine for a man, but Edith can't afford to be. So you accomplish the same goal together. It's a brilliant plan, and you know it. You haven't changed your mind, have you?"

"No, but--"

"Well, then, we are back to my question, aren't we?" Henriette persisted.

"No, actually, I've answered that, and if not to your satisfaction, at least be assured there is nothing for you to be concerned about."

"Nonsense," she disagreed again. "Just because I haven't nagged you about the direction you choose for your life, doesn't mean I haven't been immeasurably concerned when you've trod down the wrong paths."

"Immeasurably?" He raised a brow, accompanied with a grin he couldn't hold back.

She humphed over his amusement. "You will not dillydally around the subject thinking you can avoid it this time."

He sighed. "Very well, what else has led to this amazing assumption that I don't like my mother?"

"Possibly because you haven't visited her in nineteen years?"

It had been ripping him up, the stark beauty of the view out the coach window. His mind hadn't been playing reminiscent tricks on him all these years. The Highlands of Scotland were as wild and magnificent as he remembered -- and he'd missed his homeland more than even he had realized, to go by the effect that seeing it again was having on him. But even that hadn't been enough to draw him back here sooner.

"There's been no need to visit her here, since she's visited England numerous times," he pointed out.

"And you managed to be busy elsewhere most of those times," she countered.

"Unavoidable circumstance," he maintained, though her expression said she wasn't buying that either.

"I'd say pulling teeth would be easier."

"The timing was never convenient."

"Faugh, none of your reasons ever washed. Excuses all. Goodness, don't think I've ever seen you blush, m'boy. Hit the mark, did I?"

His blush, of course, just deepened, now that it had been pointed out. The increased embarrassment turned his voice quite...

The Pursuit. Copyright © by Johanna Lindsey. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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