Cybelline is a widowed mother whose husband commited suicide some time ago. She's still not over it and plagued with grief. However, "she's a woman with woman's needs" by her own words, and soon realizes she misses the physical intimacies she used to share with her husband. In a masquerade ball, she's given the chance to finally indulge her need, while keeping her identity hidden. The man she chooses is the Earl of Ferrin, a handsome man with the reputation of a rake, which suits her just fine, as there is little chance of him caring for the identity of his masqued lover afterwards. But Ferrin is much more than he seems and he will soon set out to find her. When they meet again, it's obvious there is still fire between them, but Cybelline is not likely to surrender her heart to another man only to have it crashed once again. She's also been receiving threatening letters since her husband's death, that prove to her how little she knew of him after all: that has made her believe she can't trust her own judgement anymore. Ferrin though, is not a man to give up easily, and will slowly but steadily try to make her change her mind and thaw the ice around her heart. But first, they have to clear the threat that's been hanging over her, while finding out the reason behind her husband's suicide. I really could not enjoy this book and found myself skimming pages in the end, so that it would end sooner. I guessed early on who the villain was, as well as her husband's secret, so there was little interest for me in that way. Goodman's writing style is unusual to say the least, and it took me several chapters to get used to it in the beginning. She writes extremely witty dialogues, the likes of which I've only read by Julia Quinn, but in Goodman's case, the language is so structured that it's inconcievable to think a real person talking like that. In fact, it's my opinion, that Goodman engages in more dialogues that are actually necessary, in order to show her -admitedly- cutting wit, which results in a very slow pace. Also, the lack of authenticity in the dialogues, made me think of the hero and heroine as actors reciting their pre-made speeches on stage, and thus I couldn't come to see them as real persons or care for either of them. They were more like empty puppets, especially the heroine who remained a black box to me, since little of her personality outside her grief and strength was ever revealed. We don't learn anything about her likes and dislikes, her interests, her relationship with her late husband outside the bedchamber, or the woman she used to be before his death. Despite her tangible feeling of betrayal and sorrow, she seemed a very reserved and self-reliant person to me, who actually missed more the physical rather than the emotional relationship with her husbdand. The hero was certainly better sketched, since we do get a background on his family and interests, but he was more beta than I usually like. There was also the matter of his posing to the villagers and servants as his friend, a simple mister instead of an Earl -though the heroine knew who he was all along and he knew she knew- that had no real reason for excistance and merely added confusion.A very mediocre and boring read, where only the heroine's brother shined and showed promise for being a really interesting hero in his own book, which obviously preceeded this one. But, I find myself too disappointed to give Goodman another try at this point. ( )