One Night in London
The Truth About the Duke
Caroline Linden

Avon Books/HarperCollinsPublishers
September 2011 / ISBN 978-0-06-202532-6
Romance · Historical (London, England, early 1800·s)
Amazon

Reviewed by Leslie Halpern

The lovely widow, Lady Francesca Gordon, has one agenda in life: to get custody of her orphaned young niece, Georgina, who has been kidnapped by her abusive stepmother. When Francesca’s attorney gives up her case to take on the more lucrative challenge offered by Edward de Lacey, son of the Duke of Durham, Francesca confronts Edward with an offer that will help her find her niece while saving his family from scandal. The scandal concerns two separate issues: the late Duke’s former marriage to another woman, and a broken engagement by Edward’s fiancée. Naturally Edward accepts Francesca’s offer – partly out of desperation and partly out of curiosity about the beautiful and bold woman, who defiantly comes to his home to chastise him.

When Edward’s two brothers (a drunkard and an over-zealous hothead) cannot solve their family crisis, it falls upon Edward to handle the problem. As he works with the attorney on his case and a private investigator on Francesca’s case, he becomes preoccupied with the widow’s feisty nature and obvious physical charms. Lonely for two years since her husband’s death, Francesca encourages Edward’s attentions to the point of seducing him. Once their relationship becomes physical, both legal cases seem to take on less importance – at least for the moment.

As their sexual encounters increase (up to five times in one night) to the point of nearly exhausting the reader, I found myself wishing they would return to solving their respective problems. The shift from being totally absorbed by their legal issues to being totally absorbed by their physical pleasures feels jarring and unrealistic. I enjoyed the two leads (especially Francesca), the mysteries surrounding their legal problems, and the early stages of their relationship in which they struggled with sexual awareness while trying to work together. However, the story would have been stronger if the romantic elements shared more space with the subplots and secondary characters, both of which have great potential for development.

Reviewer's Note: Sexuality