What are you in the mood for, a scandalous rake? Or maybe a kilted up highlander? A dashing Duke? Historical Romance has a smorgasbord of delicious heroes for us to chose from. So picking our Top Ten Historical Boyfriends-we-have-chained-in-the-basement was a bit of a challenge and has sparked so many urges to reread that all my new releases have been put on hold! So, here are our Top Ten:
Tracker Ochoa
Tracker’s Sin (Hell’s Eight #4)
by Sarah McCarty
If we are going to have a Historical Boyfriend list, we definitely need to add a cowboy. And Tracker Ochoa can lasso me at anytime, lasso me and do dirty dirty things to me. Tracker is half Mexican and half Native American, which combines to mean he is screwed, not that he lets it stop him. I love Tracker, he is both rough and tough, yet gentle and tender with his woman and her child. Maybe it is the image of a sexy man protecting an innocent and helpless baby, it just pulls at everything womanly inside of me…whatever it is, his gorgeous behind deserves to be on the list!
Colin Bridgerton
Romancing Mr Bridgerton (Bridgertons #4)
by Julia Quinn
There is nothing guaranteed to make me smile more than a Julia Quinn book, her gentle humour and lovable hero and heroines wormed their way in to my heart and stayed there. And although they might not all have the wow factor of some other heroes, one of her heroes has always stuck with me. Colin Bridgerton. Maybe it was just the fact that he had the good sense to (finally) fall in love with Penelope Featherington, maybe it was because Romancing Mr Bridgerton has the most fantastic secret revealed. What ever it is, Colin Bridgerton deserves to make the list.
“I love you,” he said, his voice low and fervent. “I love you with everything I am, everything I’ve been, and everything I hope to be. I love you with my past, and I love you for my future.” He bent forward and kissed her, once, softly, on the lips. “I love you for the children we’ll have and for the years we’ll have together. I love you for every one of my smiles, and even more, for every one of your smiles.”
Kev Merripen
Seduce me by Sunrise (Hathaways #2)
by Lisa Kleypas
We can’t have a Top 10 Historical Romance Heroes list and not have Lisa Kleypas. In fact, Kleypas needs a list all of her own! But Kev is one of our top heroes, the sexy gypsy managed to capture all our hearts right from the beginning of the Hathaway series, he may rarely speak, but he has a powerful and charismatic presence, and did I mention how sexy he was?
“All the fires of hell could burn for a thousand years and it wouldn’t equal what I feel for you in one minute of the day. I love you so much there is no pleasure in it. Nothing but torment. Because if I could dilute what I feel for you to the millionth part, it would still be enough to kill you. And even if it drives me mad, I would rather see you live in the arms of that cold, soulless bastard than die in mine.”
Edward de Raaf 
The Raven Prince (The Princes Trilogy #1)
by Elizabeth Hoyt
Aren’t you sick and tired of all those pretty Viscounts and dashingly gorgeous Dukes? I know sometimes I want a hero that doesn’t fade into the background of handsome heroes. And along came Edward. Edward is kind of plain with a pockmarked face, he is gruff and a bit bad tempered, not at all like your typical Earl, and I read this book for the first time around 2010/2011 and he STILL always comes to mind when I think about my favourite heroes. Damn, now I need to reread again!
“Have you ever noticed that once you have had a taste of certain sweets—raspberry trifle is my own despair—it is quite impossible not to think, not to want, not to crave until you have taken another bite?”
“Lord Swartingham is not a raspberry trifle.”
“No, more of a dark chocolate mousse, I should think,”
Iain MacKinnon 
Surrender (MacKinnon’s Rangers #1)
by Pamela Clare
Pamela Clare – Ian McKinnon is one of my first historical love. True warrior of his time. Not only he fought for his brothers and his country but for what is right. He is also quite the romantic giving up everything to be with his love.
Was it truly possible for the heart to withstand such a tempest of feelings–Equal parts grief and joy, fear and hope? She hadn’t known love could be so sorrowful, nor joy such a source of sadness. Yet if this tumult was what it meant to love Iain with her entire being-body, mind and soul-she would accept it.
Ian MacKenzie
The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie (MacKenzies #1)
by Jennifer Ashley
Oh, my poor, lovely Ian! One of the more unique heroes on this list, Ian has a special place in my heart. Born with some form of Aspergers Syndrome in a time when mental illness was something to be locked and hidden in a cage, Ian finds it hard to relate or read other people’s emotion and has a habit of saying exactly what he thinks. Watching Ian fall in love was beautiful, he was intense and focused on his heroine, this is one where Jennifer Ashley not only pulled on my heart strings, but played the damn piano with them!
“Is this what love feels like?” he whispered to her. “I don’t like it, my Beth. It hurts too much.”
Frances Rohan
Ruthless (The House of Rohan #1)
by Anne Stuart
Frances is just so damn bad…I love him, he may be wicked, he may be slightly depraved, but you can’t help put succumb to his seductive allure. Anne Stuart has penned on of my favourite ever rakes with Frances Rohan and with each reread of the book, he just gets better and better.
“You know as well as I do, damn you. Like it or not I seem to have grown a heart. I have absolutely no use for the damned thing, but there it sits, demanding Elinor. I can’t live without her.”
Sebastian St Vincent 
Devil in Winter (Wallflowers #3)
by Lisa Kleypas
Oh lookie here, it’s another Lisa Kleypas hero! And a very popular one! Only Lisa Klepas could turn a former kidnapper and utterly despicable and conscienceless cad in to a hero we all go starry eyes about. St Vincent may be beautiful and refined, all golden skin and tawny hair, but watching his formerly fairly ugly soul transform with Evie – his heroine- has forever earned him a place in our hearts, and if he ever steps out the pages of the book, he is pretty welcome in my bed as well!
“I’ll take your bet,” he said grimly. “I’m going to win it. And in three months, I’m going to put this back on your finger, and take you to bed, and do things to you that are outlawed in the civilized world.”
Dageus Mackelter 
The Dark Highlander (Highlander #5)
by Karen Marie Moning
Highlanders are known for being ruthless, alpha men but none are as dark and mysterious as Dageus MacKelter. Possessed by thirteen Druids, Dageus remains as one of our most favourite tortured heroes. His only relief comes from being inside a woman and let me tell you, the man doesn’t need to worry about finding willing volunteers. I swooned so many times through his book that I grew faint. At least give me some time to recover, KMM!
“Chloe-lass: If I’m not here with you now, I’m beyond this life, for ’tis the only way I’ll ever let you go.”
Derek Craven 
Dreaming of You (Gamblers #2)
by Lisa Kleypas
This list almost turned into our Top Ten Historical – Lisa Kleypas – Boyfriends, so it is no surprise that one of hers has made it to the top spot. Especially when that top spot is filled out so beautifully by one of my favourite ever heroes Derek Craven. Annie and I have had many a slap fight over who the gorgeous, yet rough-around-the-edges cockney belongs to (I won of course!), there is something about Derek that seduces you, and before you know it, you’re in love and having a texting slap fight. Lisa Kleypas once again shows she is a master in her art, with yet another beautifully drawn and unforgettable character.
There was also the occasional bite of resentment when he realized she had become the source of all pleasure to him, all comfort and peace. She was the first human being he had ever needed. He had lost his freedom in a way he had never imagined possible, bound more securely by her love than by a mile’s length of iron chains
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Dageus MacKelter *swoon*
I haven’t read any of these.
Omg! Great list! I agree with them all!
I’ll take one.
How did you reduce this to 10? And what a 10 they are.
Ian Mackenzie is my all time book boyfriend!!!
Colin, mev, mackinnon, ian…*sigh*
Great list 🙂 But where’s Dain, Lord of Scoundrels at 20 years old is still one of my favourites <3 Love Dain
If asked to put together a list of my own, I’m not sure I would be able to. I tend to remember the women of the novels, and not the men. In fact, many times I find the men to be replicas of each other from one historical romance novel to the next. At least that’s what I thought. But reading your list above I found myself shaking my head and going, “yup, yup, yup” the whole way down. Now I feel like I need to re-read all of these (except Ian Mackenzie since I just read another of the… Read more »
I recently did a reread of Dreaming of You. Love that Derek! And I also recently read the whole Wallflowers series, and Sebastian St. Vincent was a hottie, too! I have a few more – how about two Loretta Chase heroes – Rupert from Mr. Impossible and Dain from Lord of Scoundrels? I also Rafe from Say Yes to the Marquess by Tessa Dare, a new one. And Sebastian Hadley-Attwater from His Mistress by Christmas by Victoria Alexander.
Great list! For me, it’s Brodick Buchanan from Julie Garwood’s Ransom.