Touch of Sin (St. John-Duras Series #4) » (Reissue)

Susan Johnson, award-winning author of nationally bestselling novels, lives in the country near North Branch, Minnesota.  A former art historian, she considers the life of a writer the best of all possible worlds.

Researching her novels takes her to past and distant places, and bringing characters to life allows her imagination full rein, while the creative process offers occasional fascinating glimpses into complicated machinery of the mind.

But most important... writing stories is fun.

Author of a dozen national bestsellers, award-winner Susan Johnson beguiles once more with this breathtaking novel, a blend of scandalous adventure, sensual love, and more than just... A Touch of Sin.

Beatrix Grosvenor couldn't have been caught in a more compromising position: locked in a Parisian apartment with the body of a murdered man.  She could only hope that the charismatic stranger who found her would believe her story of abduction and assassination, and free her to return to her young son in England.

But Pasha Duras was not about to let her escape so easily.  The renowned libertine didn't believe Trixi's fanciful tale, but there was no denying the temptation of her beauty.  He would accompany her home, on a sensual journey that would begin with the most tantalizing of seductions—and end with a dangerous discovery.

Trixi's enemies were real.  Her child was at their mercy... and Pasha's newly awakened heart may prove to be his undoing.

Publishers Weekly

Followers of Johnson's 19th-century romance St. John series will welcome the story of Pasha Duras, the Eurasian son of Teo and Andre Duras from Taboo. Here, Pasha (who displays the usual romance-novel aversion to marriage) meets his lustful match in Lady Trixi Grosvenor when he rescues her and her small son, Chris, from greedy relatives who will stop at nothing--including murder--to prevent Chris from claiming his inheritance. A succession of kidnappings commence with Pasha saving the day. The novel is primarily one long sexual romp (Johnson's trademark); the plot, however, gets a bit heavy-handed toward the end, as the author drops readers into the Greek War of Independence, circa 1820. For the most part, however, this is lightweight fare, footnoted with choice, little-known facts, which, in the author's words, "are always the most interesting part of the book." (Mar.)