One-Eyed Dukes are Wild
Dukes Behaving Badly #3
By: Megan Frampton
Releasing December 29, 2015
Avon
Another fun and
sexy romance in Megan’s Dukes Behaving Badly series!
When does proper behavior deserve a deliciously
improper reward?
The scandalously
unmarried Lady Margaret Sawford is looking for adventure-and is always up for a
challenge. Her curiosity is aroused by a dangerous-looking stranger with an eye
patch, an ideal companion for the life she longs for, no matter what Society
might say. So when the piratical gentleman turns out to be a duke-and just as
boringly proper as any other nobleman-she can’t help but incite him to walk on
the wild side.
Well-heeled, well-mannered,
and well beyond any interest in society’s expectations, the Duke of Lasham is
tired of being perfect. Margaret’s lush beauty and gently laughing eyes are an
irresistible temptation to embrace the imperfect-and her. But if a little
misbehavior is appealing, unleashing his wild side is completely seductive-as
long as the lovely Margaret is the object of his passion…
1844
A London ballroom
Too many people, too much noise
Lasham took too
big a swallow of his wine, knowing his headache would only be exacerbated by
the alcohol, but unwilling to forgo the possibility that perhaps, for just a
few minutes, his perception would be muffled, blurred a little around the
edges.
So that he
wouldn’t be in a state of constant keen awareness that he was the Duke of
Lasham, that he was likely the most important person wherever he happened to
be—according to everyone but him—and that he was under almost continuous
surveillance.
The ballroom
was filled with the best people of Society, all of whom seemed to be far more
at ease than he had ever been. Could ever be, in fact. He stood to the side of
the dance floor, the whirling fabric of the ladies’ gowns like a child’s top.
Not that he’d
been allowed anything as playful or fun as a top when he was growing up. But he
could identify the toy, at least.
“Enjoying
yourself, Your Grace?” His hostess, along with two of her daughters, had crept
up along his blind side, making him start and slosh his wine onto his gloved
hand. Occurrences like this weren’t the worst part of having lost an eye—that
obviously would be the fact that he only had one eye left—but it was definitely
annoying.
“Yes,” he said,
bowing in their general direction, “thank you, I am.”
The three
ladies gawked at him as though waiting for him to continue to speak, to display
more of his wondrous dukeliness for their delight. As though he were more of an
object than a person.
But he couldn’t
just perform on command, and his hand was damp, and now he would have to go air
out his glove before bestowing another dance on some lady he would be obliged
to dance with, being the duke, and all. Because if his glove was damp, it might
be perceived as, God forbid, sweaty, and sweaty-handed dukes might
mean that the duke had gotten said sweat because he was enthralled with the
person with whom he was dancing, which would lead to expectations, which would
lead to expect a question, and Lasham knew he did not want to ever have to ask
that question of anybody.
It was bad
enough being the object of scrutiny when he was out in public. At home, at
least, he was by himself, blissfully so, and taking a duchess would require
that he be at home by himself with somebody else, and that somebody would
doubtless have ducal expectations of him as well.
“Excuse me,” he said to the silent, gawking
ladies. He sketched a quick bow and strode off, trying to look as though he had
a destination rather than merely wishing to depart.
The series continues with another entertaining love story. The Duke of Lasham is unlike any other duke I've read about. He has always done the right thing, has no idea how to have fun, and is a bit awkward at times. Margaret caused a bit of scandal when she refused to marry the man her parents had arranged for her. This has given her a certain amount of freedom to live on her own and skirt the edge of propriety. Their relationship builds slowly as they spend more time together - Lasham helping Margaret with her special project and Margaret helping him add some adventure to his otherwise boring life. I enjoyed this story and look forward to the next.
I received an ARC via Edelweiss for the purpose of an honest review. I was not compensated for this review, all conclusions are my own.
Megan Frampton writes historical romance under her own name
and romantic women’s fiction as Megan Caldwell. She likes the color black, gin,
dark-haired British men, and huge earrings, not in that order. She lives in
Brooklyn, NY, with her husband and son.
Great review! Thank you for hosting!
ReplyDeleteCrystal, Tasty Book Tours