Take Me

Take Me, by Lucy Monroe
October 2006, Berkley Sensation.
Grade: A

Back cover reads: Jared, Viscount Ravenswood, has no choice but to honor the deathbed wish of his ailing servant. All she asks is that Jared introduce her soon-to-be orphaned daughter to the notorious and reclusive Calantha, Duchess of Clairborne. No ordinary request, for this is no ordinary child. She is, in fact, the key to the Duchess's most private secrets, and to Jared's own past-one that has branded him Lord Beast among the ton.

But when the Viscount meets the Duchess, he finds not the pitiless dowager he expected, but a lovely and wary angel-survivor of a brutal marriage left now with only her roses and the breathtaking mystery that is her life. For Jared, to solve it is to fall in love, to make her believe in the impossible, and to follow the promise that comes with the most intimate whisper of all... Take me...

This is the third book in the T-me trilogy. After meeting the hero in Tempt Me, I was super excited to learn more about him.
When Jared was a boy he was attacked by a wolf while trying to save his sister, Irisa, who was the heroine in Tempt Me. The wolf attack left a scar on his face. Along with the scar, his huge build and his love of swearing, he was nicknamed 'Lord Beast'. Women are afraid of him, and men intimidated by him.

Cali spent two years in a marriage with a man who humiliated and hit her. He made her feel worthless as a wife and person. When he was bad to her friends and staff she was afraid to stand up to him because she knew he would just hit her for it. Because she knew he would strike her, she considered herself a coward for not sticking up for others.

Jared and Cali are connected because his housekeeper gave birth to Hannah, a baby that Cali's husband fathered. Jared made a death bed promise to Hannah's mother that he would take Hannah to Cali. Knowing the type of monster that Cali was married to, Jared didn't want to give Hannah to her, but Mary-Hannah's mother, promised that she and Cali were once friends and that she is a kind person.
Having been married to an actual beast for 2 years, Cali was able to look past the scars on Jared's body and see the man underneath, A good kind man who loves Hannah like his own who wants the best for her. Jared does not want to give up Hannah so he convinces Cali to marry him so that they can raise the little girl together.

While Jared and Cali are falling in love someone else is trying to kill Hannah and frame Cali for it.
With the help of the couples from the other T-Me books they set out to find out who the real would be killer is.

I felt badly for Cali. Almost everyone in her new family accused her of trying to hurt Hannah, and Cali had to work hard to prove her innocence.
Jared, being the typical alpha male didn't do much to ease her hurt feelings until she flipped out on him. At one point she slapped him across the face, and I cheered her on. He was being such a jerk. Sure, he believed her, but he still let his sister and brothers in law accuse her. Sometimes they did it flat out and other times it was passive aggressive. Kudos to Irisa for sticking up for Cali. It should should been Jared though. The big jerk! I guess I'm being hard on him. I do like him, I really do! Cali doesn't like his swearing, so he tried really hard not to curse in front of her. It was so cute to see this big intimidating man stop mid-word and change what he is saying so as not to offend his wife.

I'd like to add that the the person trying to frame Cali was so not the person I thought it was. I like being fooled that way. It keeps things fresh.
I want a Jared of my own. I don't mind the potty mouth, and his scars turn me on. I love a man who looks dangerous.
I loved this book!!