Title: It’s All About
the Duke
Rakes of St. James 3
Author: Amelia Grey
Release Date: May 29,
2018
(ARC Version)
Published By: St.
Martin’s
Category: Historical
Romance – Regency
Type: Digital –
Paperback
Blurb:
Nearing thirty, the
Duke of Rathburne is finally ready to make amends for the wager that caused him
and his best friends such scandal―but taking on a ward who needs a husband is a
feat he’s not sure he can manage. The last he saw of Miss Marlena Fast, she was
a spirited little ruffian, not the sort of bride most bachelors on the marriage
mart sought. But one glance at the lovely lady she has become is enough to
convince him otherwise…
Orphaned young and
shuffled from family to family, Marlena counts on her fierce independence and
quick wits to keep herself content. Being the responsibility of a notoriously
wicked duke who upended so many lives is an unexpected challenge when she
realizes he arouses her decidedly feminine desires. Marlena must be careful.
She has her own scandalous secret to protect. If he finds out, will it shatter
her chances of a happily-ever-after with the notorious rake?
By reading any further, you are stating that
you are at least 18 years of age.
If you are under the age of 18,
please exit this site.
Favorite Lines:
That man? Disturbed? He
was too arrogant for such a human emotion.
~ Marlena
“I can’t believe you were
the two I offered to share my port with when I first entered Oxford. I should
have kept the whole bottle for myself and left you dry.” ~ Rath
Excerpt:
“Then you realize you don’t have to be frightened of me.”
Miss Fast gave him a quizzical stare at first, and then suddenly her shoulders squared. Her chin lifted defiantly. He hadn’t understood until now that she hadn’t known her fear of him showed.
“Frightened?” she asked indignantly. “Me?”
“I thought it must be so,” he answered honestly.
“I have no memory of the first two or three years of my life, Your Grace, but I do remember the next few quite vividly. I lived with an aunt and uncle who had five sons—all older than me. I often followed those boys’romps through muddy swamps, dark woods, and old cemeteries at night when they slipped out of the house. If losing sight of them in those places didn’t frighten me, I doubt you are capable of doing so.”
If that was true—and Rath had no reason to doubt her word—it was impressive for a girl so young and explained why she wasn’t afraid to hold a frog when he’d first met her.
“My apologies. I didn’t know you lived with a family of boys before Mr. Olingworth.”
“Though I am not frightened or desperate, I think disturbed would be an appropriate word for how I’m feeling right now.”
Maybe she was upset at first that he’d caught her in the garden? Certainly not a place a proper lady should be with a pair of clippers and cuttings in her basket. Frustrated by his failure to ease the tension between them, Rath rubbed the back of his neck once before saying, “All right. Why does my visit disturb you?”
“I’ve asked several times why you are here and you’ve ignored me each time.”
“Three times I think, but wait.”He paused as an idea came to him. It was completely unacceptable, not to mention risky, but he’d never let anything such as unacceptable consequences stop him. “Shh,” he said softly, putting his forefinger to his lips to quiet her when she started to speak. “Be very still. You brought something from the garden with you and it’s on your cheek.”
Her fan-shaped brows flew up again. Uncertainty filled her eyes before she quickly lowered her lashes and tried to look down her nose at her face.
“What is it? I don’t see anything. I don’t feel it crawling on me.”
She took one hand off the basket and started to lift her arm, but he said, “No, don’t move.”He stepped closer to her.
“Is it a bee or ladybug?” she asked quietly as her hand settled near the other on the basket handle once more. “A spider then? Please tell me it’s not. They are creepy and I hope it’s not one. Is it still there? I don’t feel it moving around.”
“Shh,” he said again and moved still closer.
“Or even a wasp,” she continued, ignoring his soft command for her to be silent. “There are many different kinds, you know. They won’t hurt you if you don’t try to hurt them. Though it is much too early in the year for a bee or a wasp to be out. Not any of the insects that fly and crawl about in the garden, but I’m not afraid of them.”
He believed her. A young girl who would hold a frog or follow boys into a cemetery wouldn’t be worried about a bug. Though she kept talking, she remained still.
“They land on me from time to time when I’m outside. Especially on hot, dry days in midsummer. Wasps sting sometimes, but the pain doesn’t last long. I’ve learned that a cloth dipped in vinegar helps keep down the swelling.”
It usually irritated the devil out of Rath when anyone kept up a nervous chatter, but Miss Fast was entertaining him with her brave assertion that insects didn’t worry her.
He pulled a neatly folded handkerchief out of his coat pocket. Without considering what the miss, or the housekeeper who stood just inside the doorway, might think, he lightly wiped across her cheek.
Her head snapped up. Her long, dark, and velvety lashes fluttered.
“There,” he said in a satisfied tone.
“Is it gone?” she asked anxiously.
“Yes.”
“What was it? A ladybug? Did it fly away?”
He held the bit of white cloth up and showed her the soil from her cheek.
She glanced down at the handkerchief, took it from his hand for a closer inspection, before looking up at him again. Suddenly her eyes widened with indignation. A storm of anger gathered in their depths.
“Dirt!” she huffed, squeezing the cloth into a wad in the palm of her hand. “Is that all that was on my cheek?”
He nodded.
She puffed her annoyance once more and fiddled with her gardening basket yet again. “You forced me to be still and quiet so you could—”
“Wait, wait, please,” he said, holding up his hands to stop her from saying more. “You? Still? Quiet?”
“Yes,” she declared, exasperation flowing from her breaths and her determined glare.
If he thought her fetching with eyes sparkling and full of curiosity when he first saw her, she was now captivating with indignant irritation swirling through her like a fierce, icy wind.
“Now, that I must take exception to, Miss Fast. You never stopped talking though I urged you to more than once.”
“I’m sure I did.”
She paused as if to think over what she was saying. Rath remained silent.
“Anyway,” she continued. “That is neither here nor there. You are obviously guilty of everything I have heard and read about you.”
“I probably am.”
“No proper gentleman would ever touch a young lady without her permission.”
“I do know the rules, Miss Fast, whether or not I choose to obey them.”
Dialogue Highlight:
“Please, sit down.”She motioned to the floral-patterned settee with its bright spring flowers. “I don’t know how long my cousin will be.”
“I’ll stand for now,” he said, noticing the knot of ribbon that rested at the hollow of her throat. It couldn’t be comfortable where it lay. But what would she do if he tried to untie it for her? She was already indignant he’d touched her cheek with his handkerchief. What would she do if he reached for the ribbon?
And what would he do?
His fingertips, his knuckles, and, perhaps, even the backs of his hands would touch her delicate-looking skin. Instinctively, that thought sent a wave of tightening arousal rushing through him. Rath sucked in a hard breath. He could only attribute this awareness of her that gripped him to her being an appealing young lady and him a man. For surely he could have no designs on his ward.
“All right, Your Grace,” she said, impatiently. “For the fourth, fifth, or maybe even the sixth time, please tell me why you are here.”
That was the kind of spunk he expected from a lady who liked to play outside with frogs when she was a mere girl. Though he couldn’t possibly tell her the whole truth. He’d never admit that in a rare remorseful moment he’d thought about penitence for all the debauchery he’d succumbed to in his life. That for a brief time, he thought that by coming to this young lady’s aid, replacing her ailing guardian, he might in some way atone for all the young ladies he’d wronged with the secret admirer letters, and for never truly appreciating his father who’d always been a gentleman, as well as keeping the dukedom prosperous.
But there were more reasons that were even harder for a man to admit. Too much brandy. The fact that his two best friends had recently married and settled into happier lives with their wives and were no longer at the clubs in the evenings or the card games that went on for days. There was no reason to tell any of that. He’d written the letter accepting Olingworth’s urgent request for help and that was all that mattered.
He reached into the inside pocket of his coat, pulled out a sealed envelope, and extended it to her. “This is from Mr. Olingworth and explains why I’m here.”
Taking the envelope from his grasp, she looked down at it before returning her attention to Rath. “I’m confused. How did you get a letter addressed to me from Mr. Olingworth?”
“It was included in a packet that he sent to me only yesterday.”
A quiver of humor hovered at the corners of her beautiful mouth. He found himself silently asking her to go ahead and smile at him without reserve.
Instead she said, “I’m always happy to hear from him, but why are you delivering this? I find it difficult to believe you have succumbed to becoming a common messenger.”
“Well said, Miss Fast.”He smiled at her. “Though I haven’t read the letter, I know what it says. I thought it best that I be here when you received it in case you had questions.”
“Why?”
“He’s telling you that his health continues to decline and he must transfer your guardianship to another.”
“Yes,” she whispered while expelling a deep breath. “Well. I knew it was coming. Just not when. He’s been ill for some time. I had feared he might be getting worse. His letters to me have become infrequent and almost illegible. Though I’ve asked several times in the past few months to be allowed to visit him, he always denies my requests.”
She suddenly turned away from Rath, walked over to the window, and looked out.
Rath stayed silent, giving her time to grasp what was happening to her future in her own way. There was no rush to do what must be done. He was content to watch her standing quietly, lovely with her straw hat resting on the back of her shoulders.
Tut wandered over to him and Rath reached down. This time Tut sniffed his hand and licked his fingers. Good boy, he thought. Rath rewarded him with a pat on the head and a rub down his warm neck and back.
After a few moments, Miss Fast slowly turned toward Rath. Her expression was quizzical.
He gave Tut a final stroke and then straightened to face her. She met his stare a few seconds longer before looking down at the sealed envelope again and tapping it against her palm a couple of times. He watched her expression turn thoughtful, resigned, and just when he was about to believe she had reconciled the matter to her satisfaction her brows knitted closer together, her lips pursed suspiciously.
“I’m curious, Your Grace. Why are you here delivering this news rather than a solicitor or my new guardian?”
The time had come. He’d delayed it as long as possible, hoping her cousin would decide to show herself and be present before he had to give Miss Fast the news.
“I am your new guardian.”
Review:
Marlena Fast is in a pickle – living
with freedoms afforded by a bedridden guardian, she has become accustomed to
the independence given while she waits for a season within the ton which
should have occurred a few years back. Thrusting her deeper into said pickle is
the shocking revelation that her guardianship has been transferred to the Duke
of Rathburne – notorious Rake of St. James and current hot topic in the weekly
scandal sheets. The more time she spends with Rath, the more she grasps how
rakish he can be, but that he truly is an attentive, thoughtful man; not to
mention stimulating to the point of distraction. When she falls for him, her
gut wrenches knowing she can never have him. Marlena has a secret she can never
allow Rath to know because there is no telling what type of retribution he will
seek against the one who revived the folly of his youth, breathing life into
the scandal sheets each week, possibly exposing innocents to compromising
situations in her zeal. Marlena is Miss Honora Truth.
The Duke of Rathburne – Rath – cannot
believe what kind of situation he’s gotten himself into following a long night
with a bottle of brandy. Now stuck with a ward of his own, he sets out to do
his father proud, trying to behave responsibly for once in his life. That description may
be a bit harsh, but he is seeking penance for the bet he put his friends up to
many years ago and what better way than to suffer the gossips right along with
his two best friends as they did when their sisters debuted in Society. What he
didn’t count on was the ragamuffin he remembers from several years ago
captivating his so thoroughly. He absolutely cannot seduce his ward, but damn
if she doesn’t consume his every thought. That settled, he will have her. But
the truth she has been protecting and the reason for all of the oddities that
seem to surround her might be more than their delicate relationship can rally
back from. But like the other Rakes of St, James, Rath isn’t accustomed to
losing and despite his startling discovery, he isn’t about the begin now – not
with so much on the line. He’s just got to figure out how to tie up all of the loose
ends of the tangled web he’s caught up in.
I am beyond pleased to announce that I
consider this book the best of the series. If you read my previous reviews for
the preceding books in the series, I was a bit worried because they were so
much alike that the books came across as a retelling of nearly the same story.
While I still enjoyed them quite a lot, I was less than ecstatic at their
similarities. The Rakes of St. James still captivated me and while I was a bit
let down with the 2nd book, I was still hoping that Rath’s book was
quite the thing. He was, after all, the rake I was most looking forward to
finding his own HEA. Thankfully, this final book in the trilogy met my
expectations. I would have been heartbroken to have said otherwise. However, I am once again mystified as to what Rath's name is. Who was he prior to inheriting his title?
What a clever spin to give Rath a ward
to be responsible for since he was the only of the Rakes who did not have a
sister that could have been adversely affected by the gossip rags. And not just
any ward – the very woman who started the scandal sheet to begin with. Talk
about overcoming obstacles – however, I would have argued (and was surprised it
wasn’t mentioned) that had Marlena not begun such a potentially ruinous tale,
not one of the Dukes would have met their HEAs. While the personalities of
Marlena and Rath follow suit to the other MCs in the earlier books, there was
the added strife of Marlena carefully guarding her secret identity; Marlena
coming to grips with the fact that not one of the Dukes was a cad as she had written
them to be; and Rath with his keen senses and knowing it was just a scant
amount of time before he caught on to the ruse – his well-developed ability to
discern having been eluded to in the previous installments. I would go so far
as to say that he, if it ever came to it, would easily win as the most rakish
of the three Dukes – quite clever was he in obtaining what he was after in
several instances. And we find that Marlena – or Miss Truth – has just
published a book of how to avoid such outrageous gentlemen as a companion of
sorts to her weekly scandal sheet. Of course, as per the theme of this series,
we are treated to several of Miss Truth’s tips for avoiding said rogues at the
beginning of each chapter.
The introduction of several new
characters also helped garner my attention; Ms. Grey going all out and throwing
in several irons in the fire with the numerous subplots occurring. For those of
you who have read the first two portions of the trilogy and may have been
somewhat concerned as I was at their glaring likenesses, no need to worry over
this final segment. I am beyond pleased that I did not give in and abandon the
series. Despite the slight let down with the middle book, I feel my time with
this series was well spent. Having ended the series on such a high note, I plan
to seek out further work by Ms. Grey to check for compatibility. I am hopeful.
Overall, these books are enjoyable HR stories, each with a beautiful HEA. They
should be read in order, but I did not find it absolutely necessary to do so.
And at the heart of each book is a dashing rake that needs to be challenged in
order to find love – which is what I truly crave within my reads.
That said, this trilogy, and most especially this book itself, delivers fully.
Kindle
ARC version provided by publisher/St. Martin’s in exchange for an honest review.
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