title: Ruthless (The House of Rohan)
author:  Anne Stuart 
description: Stuart (Fire and Ice) launches a trilogy with this dark, intense, and sometimes unsettling historical romance. In 1760s Paris, penniless British noblewoman Elinor Harriman is struggling to support her family when her ill mother runs away to an orgy held by Viscount Rohan, a mysterious libertine known as the King of Hell. This sets in motion a chain of events that draws Elinor and Rohan into a fierce contest of wills and desires. Stuart's writing is crisp and quick, and her characters are finely and memorably drawn, but Rohan's often violent and predatory treatment of Elinor goes well beyond what most readers will find acceptable in an ostensible hero, especially given Elinor's traumatic childhood. Notions of the reformatory power of love fall flat against these grim scenes, which uncomfortably detract from an otherwise enjoyable and powerful story. <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/00003.jpg)
  
  ANNE STUART
  
  Ruthless
  
  THE HOUSE OF ROHAN
  
  For my darling middle-aged editor who’s very tolerant, and my brilliant agent
  who’s very fierce.
  
  Contents
  
  Beginning
  
  Chapter 2
  
  Chapter 3
  
  Chapter 4
  
  Chapter 5
  
  Chapter 6
  
  Chapter 7
  
  Chapter 8
  
  Chapter 9
  
  Chapter 10
  
  Chapter 11
  
  Chapter 12
  
  Chapter 13
  
  Chapter 14
  
  Chapter 15
  
  Chapter 16
  
  Chapter 17
  
  Chapter 18
  
  Chapter 19
  
  Chapter 20
  
  Chapter 21
  
  Chapter 22
  
  Chapter 23
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter 24
  
  
  Beginning
  
  
  Paris, 1768
  
  The visit with the lawyer had not gone well. Elinor Harriman arrived home just
  as her sister, Lydia, had finished dealing with their landlord, and she ducked
  out of sight so the old lecher wouldn’t see her. Monsieur Picot had no
  patience for either her or her mother, but her baby sister was a different
  matter. All Lydia had to do was let tears fill her limpid blue eyes and make
  her Cupid’s bow mouth tremble and M. Picot was destroyed, awash with apologies
  and assurances. He
  
  didn’t realize h