Reading Julie Ann Long’s I Kissed an Earl is a wickedly exciting experience in the extreme. The fourth book in the Pennyroyal Green series is a delightful romp on the high seas when Violet Redmond stows away on the Earl of Armay’s ship as a cook’s mate.

The Bay of Biscay provides the setting for most of this book as Captain Flint, Earl of Armay, is commandeed by the king to bring in the notorious Le Chat (pronounced cat). The charge? Pirating in the dead of night, taking the rich cargo, then sinking the transport to the depths of the sea.

The king has had enough of the piracy and asks Asher Flint for a small favor - a bribe really. If he captures Le Chat and brings him to justice for his crimes, the king will bestow upon him (a man with land but no money) the capital with which to feed his vast lands. It is an offer that Flint cannot refuse. It seems too easy for the Captain, in fact, until he meets Violet Redmond at a ball the night before they are to sail away to find the elusive privateer.

Flint recognizes an uncanny resemblance between Violet and her younger brother, Jonathon, who is also at the ball, and one Le Chat. Realizing this, Violet concocts a plan to stow away on his ship to convince him to stop this crazy hunt for her oldest brother and family heir. But it is of no use that Violet has bribed the cook’s mate with a few shillings and replaced him on the ship. It is of no use that with every swell of the sea, Violet and Flint grow closer. The sexual tension fairly vibrates off the page, the romantic gestures; the sweet longing they feel toward one another is almost a living thing.

But their love cannot be expressed; they both know it will lead nowhere once their paths cross Le Chat's. Either Flint will bring him to justice and Violet will hate him forever, or she will find a way to sneak her brother away from the terrible grip of fate and Flint will never forgive her. Either way they cannot be together. Or can they? Can they find a way to brave the high seas without losing each other, or will they forever be at cross-purposes and never find the connection?

Julie Ann Long crafts yet another fine story of fairytale love with bumps and bruise along the way. I loved each and every minute of reading Violet and Flint’s story and cannot wait for the next book in the Pennyroyal Green series, What I Did for a Duke, due out in February.