What the Duke Doesn’t Know
The Duke’s Sons, #2
by Jane Ashford
Pubdate: September 6th 2016
ISBN:
9781492621591
A proper English wife, or
the freedom of the sea?
Lord James Gresham is the fifth son of the Duke of Langford, a captain in the Royal Navy, and at a loss for what to do next. He’s made his fortune; perhaps now he should find a proper wife and set up his nursery. But the sea calls to him, while his search for a wife leaves him uninspired. And then, a dark beauty with a heart for revenge is swept into his life.
Lord James Gresham is the fifth son of the Duke of Langford, a captain in the Royal Navy, and at a loss for what to do next. He’s made his fortune; perhaps now he should find a proper wife and set up his nursery. But the sea calls to him, while his search for a wife leaves him uninspired. And then, a dark beauty with a heart for revenge is swept into his life.
He can’t have both, but he
won’t give up either
Half-English,
half-Polynesian Kawena Benson is out to avenge her father and reclaim a cache
of stolen jewels. There’s nothing for James to do but protest his innocence and
help Kawena search for the jewels, even though it turns his world upside down.
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An Excerpt:
James had just started his letter to
Nathaniel when there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” he called without
looking up.
He heard the door open, and a lilting voice
say, “Hello.”
James turned in his chair. Kawena stepped
through his bedchamber door, shut it, walked over, and sat down in the armchair
by the empty fireplace. “I wanted to thank you,” she began.
“You can’t sit here,” James said.
She looked down at the comfortable chair,
back up at him. “Why not?”
“This is my bedroom.” The moment he said it,
he became acutely conscious of the bed just a few feet away.
“I know. I came up to thank—”
“It isn’t proper,” he blurted out.
“But you are taking some trouble to help me.
When you don’t really wish to. I can see that, you know. It is only right that
I thank—”
“Not that. You shouldn’t be in a man’s
bedchamber. Alone. With him. Me.” He heard himself stammering like a callow
youth, and was revolted. She was just so very beautiful. Utterly alluring,
really. The effect seemed multiplied here in his private quarters. And she
appeared so at ease—as if they knew each other far better than they actually
did. James could almost imagine her coming over to him, offering a hand to pull
him to his feet, and closer… No, this line of thought was unacceptable. He
stood and moved toward the door instead. “It isn’t done,” he added. “Young
ladies do not visit gentlemen in their bedchambers.” Well, some did, if what
he’d heard about country house parties was true, but that was…irrelevant to
this discussion.
“We must speak only downstairs?” wondered
Kawena. “Is that an English rule?”
Her honest bewilderment was rather charming.
“If a man and a woman are alone in a bedchamber, people assume they’re…up to
something improper,” James explained.
“Getting into bed together, you mean?” Kawena
replied without a trace of embarrassment. She gazed at the wide four-poster as
if it was on exhibit.
James felt his cheeks redden. Years at sea
might have left him unused to polite female company, but even his brother,
Robert, the town beau, would have been confounded by this quite unusual young
woman. “Er, yes.”
“But we are not.”
“No… Not in this case. However—”
“And no people know that I’m here,” she
pointed out. “I told no one I was coming up.”
“You can never tell when there’s a servant
about,” James replied. The staff at Langford always seemed well aware of
everyone’s movements.
“Do they hide and watch?” said Kawena,
looking surprised.
James choked back a laugh, and then wondered
if maybe they did. How else would that housemaid have seen Sebastian with the
frogs…? But that was beside the point. He needed to remove a lovely young woman
from his bedchamber—didn’t he? Yes, yes. And wasn’t that a problem he’d never
imagined having? When had it become his job to preach the proprieties? He felt
like a fool even trying. But if she didn’t go soon, he might not be able to
resist… James decided to shift the onus off onto someone else. “This is my
brother’s house. I wouldn’t wish to upset him, or his wife.”
Kawena cocked her head. “Your brother and
Ariel would not approve of my being here?”
James assumed so. No, of course they
wouldn’t. And that was beside the point. He nodded.
To his relief, Kawena rose at once. “I would
not wish to offend them. They have been very kind to me.” She shrugged as she
moved toward the door. “My father always says…” She paused, swallowed. “Said
that it is rude to disregard others’ customs when it does you no harm to
observe them.”
“Pr…precisely.” She passed quite close to him
on her way out. Her long fall of black hair swayed seductively with each step.
Was he really throwing her out of his room? Her initial words came floating
back. She’d come up to thank him. Perhaps with something warmer than words?
Some marvelous island custom? No. She hadn’t meant that. Clearly, obviously. No
sign whatsoever of any such thing, despite her unembarrassed mention of
bedding. Besides, it would be an awkward complication, as they were living
together in his brother’s house. Not together. As fellow guests. Strangers, in
fact.
“Good night,” said Kawena.
“Good night,” James replied, shutting the
door firmly behind her.
He leaned against it, listening to her soft
footsteps retreat along the corridor. Perhaps helping her wasn’t quite such a
burden. It would give him a chance to become better acquainted with one of the
loveliest, and most unusual, girls he’d ever encountered. Her courage and fire
drew him—now that she’d stopped calling him names. How many women, how many
people, would have done as she had, sailing halfway around the world to find
justice? Very
few, hardly any, really, he thought. She’d looked
positively intrepid, stepping out of the shrubbery with her gun. And under his
hands, on the turf, she’d felt… James fell into a pleasant reverie. It was some
time before he returned to his letter.
*^*^*^*^*
With five adventure seeking sons, there’s a lot that the Duke of
Langford doesn’t know. Luckily for us, Jane
Ashford has agreed to pull back the curtain and reveal one of the Langford
family’s secrets – just remember, don’t tell the Duke!
One thing the Duke doesn’t
know: That his son James is finding it
hard to feel at home in England, after ten years spent mainly at sea.
*^*^*^*^*
Jane Ashford discovered Georgette Heyer in junior high school and was captivated by
the glittering world and witty language of Regency England. That delight led
her to study English literature and travel widely in Britain and Europe. Her
historical and contemporary romances have been published in Sweden, Italy,
England, Denmark, France, Russia, Latvia, Slovenia, and Spain, as well as the
U.S. Twenty-six of her new and backlist Regency romances are being published by
Sourcebooks. Jane has been nominated for a Career Achievement Award by RT Book
Reviews. She is currently rather nomadic.
GIVEAWAY:
10 copies of Heir to the Duke, the first in the Duke’s Sons series
The
giveaway will run from 8/28 – 9/19.
i dont have one just yet
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