THE WICKED DUKE TAKES A WIFE

Author: Jillian Hunter ISBN: 9780345503954 11/2009 HISTORICAL Publisher: BALLANTINE
Time Period: Regency 1818

Lord Griffin Boscastle has no intention of ending his glorious career as a rakehell now that he has inherited a dukedom. Still, there are responsibilities he must discharge before his pleasures resume, including finding a bride, and depositing his incorrigible niece at a relative’s academy outside London. It is at this so-very-proper finishing school that flame-haired instructress Harriet Gardner awakens in Griffin emotions so dangerously intoxicating that he must avoid her at all cost. Yet when Harriet finds work in the townhouse where Griffin resides, her presence tempts him at every turn. Harriet has survived London’s streets far too long to let an arrogant duke woo a bride he doesn’t want when she desires him for herself, and she has seen too much of life not to recognize a man ripe for redemption. But just as Harriet finds the perfect cure for His Lordship’s devilish ways, a vindictive enemy intervenes, and the duke whom Harriet has plotted to save suddenly becomes her devoted protector.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

How I love Boscastle men! They are passionate, domineering, and very, very, manly. They make perfect leading men and will not stand for anything but the best in their leading ladies, even when said ladies are not gently born.

And so is the case in THE WICKED DUKE TAKES A WIFE. All the meddling aunts in the world could not really persuade Griffin to settle for an instructress at a ladies academy. He had to desire her for himself, and she had to be willing to share her less-than-high-class past with him. Both had to be willing to snub their noses at the ton and save his wayward niece from her own folly.

Everything I mentioned above makes THE WICKED DUKE TAKES A WIFE a lovely read. I especially love Harriet, the heroine, for never reaching for the Duke, living her life the way she sees fit and making him realize he wants her above all others.

Shannon Johnson