An
inheritance she never expected from a father she never met comes with a
surprising stipulation: Prudence Bosworth must marry within the year to
collect the staggering inheritance willed to her. Not only that, but the
man she marries must meet with the approval of the trustees of the estate in
order to qualify her to inherit.
Having lived her childhood as the illegitimate daughter of a poor woman and
her adulthood as a lowly seamstress barely scraping by, Prudence is
ill-prepared for the new world she is thrust into as news of her good
fortune spreads and the fortune hunters begin to surface.
One man is blessedly oblivious to her new status as heiress, and fortunately
he is the only man she is interested in as a husband. Prudence once met the
Duke of St. Cyres while still a seamstress, and is happy for him to remain
ignorant of her fortune as their courtship commences.
But the Rhys De Winter has secrets of his own – and when his perfidy is
unveiled, Prudence stands to lose everything she holds dear.
There are books whose back cover blurbs simply do not do them justice, and I
tell you that THE WICKED WAYS OF A DUKE is just such a book.
While I was certainly interested in this story from the synopsis I read, I
was not prepared for just how delightful a story this is. Mere plot points
in a synopsis cannot accurately convey the feelings Laura Lee Guhrke
engenders in her readers as she spins this captivating story of romance and
betrayal.
Granted, there are reasons for the betrayal Rhys commits upon Prudence, and
those reasons are understandable, albeit still hurtful. In the end, the
question is whether Prudence can forgive her beloved Duke and whether he has
truly changed his wicked ways.
It is actually Rhys’ transformation that I found most compelling throughout
THE WICKED WAYS OF A DUKE. When we first meet him, Rhys is a
veritable cad, even if he is an honorable one. Yes, he is quick to rescue a
damsel in distress from an uncaring rapist, but he is just as quick to
accept that damsel’s gratitude in the form of her own seduction later.
He has lived his adult life as a spendthrift, gadding about Europe with nary
a care until his money was gone and the generosity of his friends began to
wane as well. Finally forced to face the pile of mounting debt he bears,
Rhys resigns himself to the unthinkable – marriage to an heiress.
Discovering that the same seamstress he’d found so attractive very recently
is now one of the richest women in the world seems an opportunity to
fortunate to forgo.
Of course, Rhys could never have expected that the simple lass he intends to
woo will have such a profound effect on him, inspiring him to divulge the
most painful secrets of his past as he actually falls in love with
Prudence. That love, and her faith in him cause Rhys to want to be a better
man, to live up to the ideal she has of him until finally we see an evolved
man we can truly admire, as much as we loved his wicked ways before.
Prudence is even more admirable than Rhys turns out to be. Never losing her
head to the glitz of wealth and elite society, she craves nothing more than
true love and the company of her friends, no matter their social standing.
But as noble as she is, Prudence is never boring or high and mighty. She
sparkles her way through this story by benefit of a winning personality and
a true heart rather than from the silks and jewels she now dons.
THE WICKED WAYS OF A DUKE will sweep you off of your feet into
a romantic historical world sure to make you long for your very own duke.
This inspiring romance will grip you at page one and enthrall you through
the very last paragraph in this page-turner!
Reviewed by Jennifer
