After a year of grand adventures touring the classical ruins of Italy and Greece, Iphiginia Bright returned to England to discover that the real excitement was at home. It seems that her Aunt Zoe has fallen victim to a sinister blackmailer and only Iphiginia can hope to stop the culprit before he can do more harm. Her plan is inspired: Imitating history's most legendary beauties--Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, Aphrodite--the former schoolmistress will remake herself, and descend upon London Society as the dazzling mistress of Marcus Valerius Cloud, the infamous Earl of Masters. Rumors hint that the Earl has disappeared at the blackmailer's hands, and by posing as his unknown mistress, Iphiginia is convinced she can ferret out the villain. Overnight, Iphiginia is transformed into a vision with a host of eager admirers, including one she does not expect--the Earl of Masters himself, who strides into a shimmering ballroom one evening to cooly reclaim his "mistress". He is everything they say he is... arrogant, attractive, devastatingly seductive, and Iphiginia can't help but be enthralled. But when Marcus agrees to play along with her charade, she doesn't know that the determined Earl has plans of his own: to tease and tempt her, until the beautiful deceiver becomes more than his mistress in name only.
Anny P. (wolfnme) from EASTPORT, NY wrote on 8/11/2006...
From Library Journal
Learning that her aunt is being blackmailed, school mistress Iphiginia Bright boldly palms herself off as the mistress of the Earl of Masters, whom she believes dead by the hand of the same blackmailer. She succeeds admirably-until Marcus Valerius Cloud, the dead earl, suddenly walks into the room and throws her plans, and her life, into passionate chaos. Sprightly, funny, and highly sensual, this story harks back to the earlier Quick historicals (Ravished, Bantam, 1992).