The Governor-General of India has given Major Gareth Hamilton and his four closest friends and comrades the task of bringing down the villainous Black Cobra, head of a merciless, murderous cult that has been ravaging Indian villages.  While escorting the niece of the Governor of Bombay, one of Gareth’s friends discovers a key piece of evidence to prove the Black Cobra’s identity.  But before he can get back to his comrades, the man is killed, leaving the governor’s niece, Emily Ensworth, to deliver the evidence to his friends.  Fulfilling his request brings Emily right into Gareth’s path.

Emily knows at once that there’s a good chance Gareth is her “one.”  The one man she could see falling in love and building a life with.  But before she can explore her attraction to the handsome major, he up and leaves India!  There’s only one thing Emily can do – follow him.  What Emily doesn’t expect is that her quest for true love brings great danger with it, as the Black Cobra’s assassins are not only after Gareth and the evidence he’s carrying to his contact in England, but Emily as well.

With assassins around every corner, there is no place in the world for Gareth and Emily to escape peril.  And behind closed doors, there’s no place to hide from the attraction swiftly brewing between the two.  Emily’s gut instinct might be right about her and Gareth’s future, but to prove her point the two will have to make it to England alive, first.

Be advised Stephanie Laurens fans new and old: The Elusive Bride is one of this talented author’s best books yet!  Get ready for a sweeping journey from India to England, with many stops in between as one determined, honorable hero and his bold, brave heroine battle and outwit cultists even as they navigate through the uncharted territory of falling in love.  Gareth is the strong and sexy hero I have come to expect from Ms. Laurens, but he’s got a little something extra that makes him stand out in a crowd: his patience and immediate acceptance of Emily’s intelligence and resourcefulness.  Emily is my favorite heroine of Ms. Lauren’s so far.  She has a boundless energy and hopefulness that drew me to her from the start.  Throughout The Elusive Bride Ms. Laurens includes Emily’s diary entries and those, more than anything, made me connect to her, as if she were a friend.  I adored the fact that she saw Gareth as her “one” right from the start and, as she grew more certain of this fact, she carefully set out to make him see it as well.  In a word, Emily is a “fun” heroine.  Sparkling and bright and I rooted for her to not only aid Gareth in his mission, but to get her happily ever after with him.  It’s no secret that he falls for her fast, but I was happy to discover that this English major has a surprisingly romantic way with words.

The Elusive Bride is the second book in the Black Cobra Quartet and Ms. Laurens does provide the basic information from the first story so that those who have not read The Untamed Bride can follow along (though there are plot spoilers for the first book in The Elusive Bride).  For readers who want the full background on Gareth’s mission, I recommend reading The Untamed Bride first or at least visiting Ms. Lauren’s website where she has the prelude to the series posted on the page for the quartet.  The Elusive Bride proves that this series is just getting better, and I finished Gareth and Emily’s story excited to see what happens in book three, The Brazen Bride.