When Stephanie Laurens wrote Devil’s Bride, she seemed to take the romance world by storm. Lots of people (including myself) loved it. Others didn’t, but it seemed like almost everyone read it. By now, most people have formed an opinion on the Bar Cynster Series. If you didn’t care for the preceding books, then you probably won’t think much of A Rogue’s Proposal, because it is very much like them. But that’s good news for Laurens fans, who will be glad to see another hero with a demonic nickname, a heroine with spunk to spare, and Laurens’ trademark steamy love scenes.

Demon Cynster has had enough of the ton with its simpering misses and scheming mamas, so he decides to sit out the season at his horse breeding farm in Newmarket. When he arrives home, he is surprised to see a young lad he doesn’t even know exercising his prize thoroughbred. After he sees the competent way the young man sits a horse, he relaxes a little. Then he takes a better look and realizes that the “seat” in question could not possibly belong to a man!

It turns out that the “man” is Felicity Parteger, the ward of Demon’s mentor, a man known as the General. Felicity has a good reason for her duplicity; the General’s son has become involved in a race-fixing scheme. He is in way over his head, and has had to go into hiding because his life is in danger. He has no idea who else is part of the scheme, and Felicity has taken the job at Demon’s stables in hopes that she may overhear someone trying to bribe a jockey.

Demon has known Felicity since she was seven, but he always thought of her as the little girl he called “Flick.” Felicity, on the other hand, has loved Demon from afar for years, and has always considered him her ideal man. Since she never thought he would be interested in her, she is shocked when he immediately takes notice. As they work together to try to figure out the mastermind behind the race-fixing syndicate, their sensual awareness of each other steadily increases. Soon Demon is only too eager to forget his vow of eternal bachelorhood. When he accidentally compromises Felicity, he can hardly wait to propose, so he is very annoyed when she doesn’t accept him immediately. But Felicity dreams of love, and refuses to marry without it. As the book changes scene from Newmarket to London, Felicity doubts that her dreams of a love match can ever come true. And meanwhile, they still need to solve the riddle of the race-fixing syndicate so they can save the General’s son.

This book excels on many fronts. Stephanie Laurens generally has her heroes pursue the heroine relentlessly, and Demon is no exception. He realizes that he wants to marry Felicity early on, and he never waivers in his devotion. Parts of this plot may have a familiar ring, but it’s a ring I like to hear – so much better than a plot brimming with countless misunderstandings.

The dialogue sparkles with humor and sexual tension. There is a delightfully funny scene in which Felicity tries to get Demon to explain exactly why he wants to marry her, and her questions lead her to ask about sexual desire. Laurens fans have come to expect hot, detailed love scenes, and A Rogue’s Proposal doesn’t disappoint in this arena either. Laurens handles the sexual tension masterfully, building it to a fever pitch that culminates when Felicity and Demon finally consummate their relationship.

While I enjoyed this book very much, I didn’t find it to be perfect. Laurens often goes over the top in her descriptions, and after a while some of them become repetitive. Demon is always leashing his demons, or caging them. Felicity is constantly described as a Botticelli angel. I would like to have gone through the book and cut these references by half. But while these phrase are a bit heavy-handed, they also seem to fit in with the lush prose.

Though it’s fourth in a series, for the most part this book can stand alone. Many of the characters from earlier books make an appearance, but they aren’t essential to the plot. There are a lot of them, however, and I’m sure it’s easier to keep them straight if you have met them all before. If you have met them all before, you will undoubtedly enjoy seeing them again. And again and again – there are still two more Bar Cynster books yet to come. For many of us, that’s good news.