The Woman
Lady Henrietta Maclellan longs for the romantic swirl of a London season. But as a rusticating country maiden, she has always kept her sensuous nature firmly under wraps—until she meets Simon Darby. Simon makes her want to whisper promises late at night, exchange kisses on a balcony, receive illicit love notes. So Henrietta lets her imagination soar and writes…
The Letter
A very steamy love letter that becomes shockingly public. Everyone supposes that he has written it to her, but the truth hardly matters in the face of the scandal to come if they don’t marry at once. But nothing has quite prepared Henrietta for the pure sensuality of…
The Man
Simon has vowed he will never turn himself into a fool over a woman. So, while debutantes swoon as he disdainfully strides past the lovely ladies of the ton, he ignores them all…until Henrietta. Could it be possible that he has been the foolish one all along?
Published in 2003, I read this one years ago and picked it up again (because I read a lot, and sometimes forget what I read). Part of Eloisa James’ Duchess Quartet Series (this is book 2) it functions fine as a standalone. However, years ago I had also read #1, Duchess in Love, which I think probably helped me remember snatches of the backstory. So, if this is a first go at this series, start with #1.
Henrietta is a take charge kind of heroine who struggles with serious hip problems that make her sometimes limp and also believe she cannot have children. This is a particular type of torture for Lady Henrietta as she is a student of parenting literature and child rearing.
Of course, interactions with the difficult wards of Simon Darby quickly challenge those assumptions and studies.
Darby is a fussy Dandy of the first order who is hard to figure out, but becomes very likable as you unwrap all his lacey packaging.
Despite being a virgin, Henrietta writes a steamy letter that Darby takes the public fall for. This results in a marriage of convenience (or a marriage to avoid ruin). The set up is a bit more contrived, but this happens pretty quickly.
That leaves the rest of the book to focus on more of a misunderstandings sort of plot and it does feature a lot of action with children, if that is a put off for you. Another main conflict for Simon is the possibility of losing his inheritance but the conclusion does not resolve that, pushing it off to a future book. So that is a bit frustrating.
However, James is a masterful writer who is also funny and writes some really cute scenes with outlandish characters. Or at least characters that behave outlandishly. This makes the reading fast and fun. Its also, from what I remember, a solid series that does feature some Dukes and Duchesses, which I know is hot right now.
There are plenty of intimate scenes, mature subject matter and frank conversations that are probably a bit too modern, and generally sensibilities that will not be admired by Regency Romance traditionalists or clean readers.
4 out of 6 A bit of a marriage of convenience with unique H/H
| Content Rating/Heat Index | |
|---|---|
| Mature Content |   |
| Mentions of adult subject matter, including mistresses and safe sex | |
| Intimacy | |
| Vanilla variety, multiple scenes. | |
| Violence | |
| Not much | |
| Overall |  |
|---|---|
| Mature readers. Clean readers steer clear. | |
