The Dastardly Duke (Love in Disguise) - Softcover

Putman, Eileen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1519638736 ISBN 13: 9781519638731

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015

Synopsis

Tormented by a dark secret, Julian LeFevre, Duke of Claridge, is a notorious and dissolute rake. His half-hearted attempt to reform his character has left him bored to death. To relieve the tedium, he wagers a friend that he can mold any pretty trollop from the London streets into a lady who'll pass muster with society's elite. But Hannah Gregory is no biddable lump of clay. She has solemn gray eyes, a rebellious streak -- and is deaf from a long-ago accident. And although she conceals her real past, she can't disguise her attraction to the scoundrel who offers her a small fortune that could pay for a new medical treatment. The charade might heal her, but it also might break her heart -- if Hannah forgets that this dark and dangerous duke is well past the point of redemption.

About this title

From the Author:

A contemptible, conniving, depraved peer of the realm who takes advantage of a destitute young deaf woman is nothing if not dastardly.

Julian LeFevre was the perfect villain--cold, cruel, an inveterate seducer. He deserved to lose, and lose he did--his woman, his self-respect, and very nearly his life--in my October `97 release, The Perfect Bride. Making this dangerous rake into the hero of The Dastardly Duke was the kind of challenge that keeps a writer up at night.

In love, the darkest heroes fall the hardest. They take us with them, for there is something compelling about watching a man who believes in nothing discover that life's greatest gift is waiting for him to take it, if he can.

Tormented by his secret belief that he was a bastard, Julian knew he was not entitled to his wealth and title. He was living a lie, and it was killing him. With the dukedom and perhaps his very soul hanging in the balance, he vows to mend his ways but cannot resist a wicked wager to fool the ton by making a trollop pass for a lady. Would the woman be his salvation--or his downfall?

Both, of course.

Far from the biddable miss he thought he hired for the job, Hannah Gregory possesses a sharp tongue, rebellious ways, and the most wondrous gray eyes. She is deaf, the result of an accident that occurred when she had the temerity to climb a tree at the ripe old age of seventeen.

In those times, the deaf faced great pressures to develop oral skills like speech and lipreading. Because she was not born deaf, Hannah had little difficulty making her way in a hearing world. But she had not yet come to terms with the silence in her life and, especially, the loss of her beloved music. Reduced to desperate circumstances, Hannah needs money to pay for an operation that may restore her hearing. She certainly doesn't need this disturbing duke with the devil's own eyes.

There are all kinds of music in this world, from the music of Beethoven to the music of the heart. As Julian and Hannah struggled to find their own special song of love, I swear I heard the angels sing. I hope you do too.

About the Author:

Eileen Putman's love of Regency England has inspired her many research trips to Britain, France and other countries -- stepping on the very soil that Beau Brummell and his champagne-polished Hessians trod in such incomparable style.

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1519638736
• ISBN 13: 9781519638731
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 293