Review: A Wicked Game

A Wicked Game by Kate Bateman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

She had to give him something worth living for. 

Even with their siblings and cousins crossing into enemy territory and getting married (A Reckless Match and Daring Pursuit) Harriet and Morgan still play into the family rivalry of never turning down a dare from a Montgomery or Davies. It's a tradition that goes back to their childhood days and while Harriet and Morgan's animosity may seem more provocative than combative, they both feel locked into their roles. When Morgan is getting ready to ship out to fight Napoleon, Harriet tries to hide her fear by making him a bet, if they win the war and Morgan comes home, she'll grant him three kisses. Morgan, of course, takes that bet and we have the bet that will finally bring these two together. 

He’d returned to England with two specific goals: seduction, and revenge. 

A Wicked Game is third in the series but new readers could pop-in here, you'd be missing some scenes that teased the chemistry between Harriet and Morgan and some history on why the Montgomery and Davies families have a low-angst combative relationship but otherwise, the only thing you need to know, is prepare for some spine-tingling moments. After the bet is made in the first chapter, the next chapter jumps us two years and Morgan is coming back home after having been imprisoned by a sadistic French general named Da Caen. Morgan was captured because he was using maps he'd lifted off a French vessel he'd previously took, unfortunately, those maps had been planted by the English. The English hired a mapmaker, Crusoe, to falsify maps to hopefully get French vessels lost or run aground on reefs they didn't know were there. Morgan spends six weeks as a prisoner before Napoleon is finally defeated and he and his crew can be let go back to the English. Morgan comes back to England bent on revenge on this Crusoe and to collect his three kisses from Harriet. While at sea and prisoner, he realized that he loved Harriet and is ready to convince her of not only his feelings but her own that he is sure she has. 

Even if he hadn’t ruined her in strictly technical terms, she’d ruined him. For every other woman, ever. She’d won, and she didn’t even know it. 

Within the first fifteen percent, Morgan learns that Harriet is “Crusoe” and that Da Caen has been spotted in London trying to find Crusoe maps. It's rumored that Da Caen stole Napoleon's treasure and ended up using one of Crusoe map to hide it, so in order to find the gold again, Da Caen needs another Crusoe map. This was a very low on plot angst story. Yes, Morgan was taken prisoner and tortured but we don't get flashback scenes, only short re-tellings of some of what happened and Morgan isn't overly broody over it. While Da Caen is brought up right in the beginning, the vast majority of the story forgets about him as the focus is solely on Harriet and Morgan's chemistry. There's actual fun little historical additives in this, mapmaking history, a shout out to Jeanne Baret, how cataracts was treated, and other time period placing trivia but I'm going to have to go back and reread to catch and appreciate them all, I was locked into every spine-tingling moment Harriet and Morgan had around each other. 

He slid his fingers down her arm and caught her hand, then gently turned her so her back was to him. His soft exhale lifted the hairs on her exposed nape and she could feel the heat of his body all along her back, even though they weren’t touching. And then his lips pressed her shoulder and his arms slid around her waist, his fingers spreading across her stomach, and even through the fabric of her stays and chemise, it burned. A heavy pounding started in her blood.

Morgan already realizes he loves Harriet and wants to marry her, normally I like to “see” the falling in love but, again, The Chemistry. It was also just nice to have the male main character so focused on the female main character, Morgan delighted in their teasing, challenging relationship and clearly found her sexy, I love that in my romance couples. Morgan also realized that Harriet wasn't ready to believe in his love, this clearly was to keep them apart and you kind of have to go along with Harriet being so blocked from understanding what is between them. Morgan decides to use the three kisses to seduce Harriet but then gets uncomfortable thinking he is forcing her somehow and we get Harriet taking the reigns a little by making a new bet that she clearly set-up to win to show Morgan she wants this. By fifty percent the three kisses have been given and Morgan declares his love but Harriet doesn't believe he truly wants to marry her. 

Still, she raised her brows. “And you can’t get to know me better because—?” 

He flashed a glance at something over her shoulder and grinned as he leaned closer to whisper in her ear, “Because you’re the captain’s woman.” 

The second half has Harriet dancing with a man who was under Morgan's command and learning that Morgan spoke of her all the time, using her to sometimes keep his men under control and inspire them, always with a sense of love and awe. At around 60% Harriet admits to herself that she loves Morgan but still can't quite believe he loves her. Past main couples also come in to point out and wake-up Harriet to how Morgan has been showing her how much he loves her, helping her father get the cataract surgery he needs, intimidating a rival mapmaker to stop copying her maps, and generally being there for her. At 80% Morgan makes one final push and asks her to give him one week to prove he loves her. 

She opened it to find Morgan on the step, his broad shoulders made even broader by a heavy greatcoat, his face shadowed by a tricorn hat. 

The last twenty percent has Da Caen coming back into the picture and interrupting our grand declaration of love. There's some danger, some taking care of business, and finally a quiet but incredibly sweet moment of I love yous (I hope there is an ordering campaign using the charming Map of the Heart). I remember thinking to myself around kiss three that I had lost the plot but, I think the book did, too. However, the chemistry is the star here and my god did Harriet and Morgan have it and thank you to the author that didn't follow the recent trend of fade-to-black or closed door; parlor and bedroom doors get blown open, folks. A Wicked Game has hot building tension and crackling chemistry, don't miss Harriet and Morgan's story.

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