Scandal erupts when the news hits that world famous magician Diego Montalvo wants to build a pleasure garden – right on the estate bordering Mrs. Harris’s School for Young Ladies!  Lucinda Seton, a graduate of Mrs. Harris’s school who is temporarily teaching there, is determined to stop him.  What Lucy doesn’t know is that the pleasure garden is only a ruse.  Diego’s real mission is to fulfill a bargain and return a long-lost Spanish heiress to her grandfather and he’ll use every trick in his book to do so.  But when Diego learns that Lucy is the heiress he seeks, he’s troubled by the realization that he, the great conjurer, has fallen under her spell.  Yet when Lucy learns the truth, will their blossoming relationship be able to survive Diego’s deception?

Sabrina Jeffries proves that love is no illusion in this enchanting addition to her already phenomenal School for Heiresses series.  Don’t Bargain with the Devil is one of the most delightful books I’ve read all year with a hero and heroine I fell in love with right from the start.  Lucy is an absolute delight.  She’s honest, straightforward, and has a lively charm that seems to leap off the page.  Lucy is, quite simply, impossible not to like and one of the reasons Don’t Bargain with the Devil was so absorbing was that I was truly eager to see her get her happily ever after with Diego.  As for the master magician himself, Diego is supremely sensual and he won my heart because he not only sees Lucy for who she truly is, he loves her for it.  What also endeared me to Diego is his strong sense of honor and how that warred with him trying to fulfill his bargain to bring Lucy to Spain.

I’m a huge fan of Ms. Jeffries’s work, and Don’t Bargain with the Devil proves why.  It’s a lively, beautifully written romance that left me feeling completely satisfied and eager for more.  By the end of the book, Ms. Jeffries had me on the edge of my seat, waiting for the final book of the series, Charlotte and “Cousin Michael’s” tale, Wed Him Before You Bed Him.  Simply magic!