The Return of the Duke

MY REVIEWIn the third installment of her Once Upon a Dukedom series, Heath brings us a romance that will break your heart wide open. Marcus wants nothing to do with the woman who was his father’s mistress. But he thinks she has valuable information that can prove his father wasn’t a traitor and clear his family name so he can reclaim his birthright and the dukedom that was taken from them. Esme is nothing like he expected. Yes, she is a vision of loveliness, and he immediately understands his father’s fascination. Yes, she seems to be engineered to bring a man pleasure. She is also resourceful, clear-headed, and extremely self-contained. Marcus is drawn to her and disgusted by it. Esme’s attachment to Marcus’s father was not what the gossip made of it. She isn’t about to let this arrogant, irresistibly handsome man who carries darkness in his soul know that. She’s convinced he doesn’t want to hear the truth. She doesn’t need his meddling to disrupt her own mission.Marcus has been in the streets since his fall from grace, with nowhere to lay his head. They strike a bargain and agree to help each other ferret out the truth. So Marcus accepts Esme’s offer of room and board. They tend each other’s wounds, both seen and unseen ones. They meet in the practice ring as equals, each trying to gain the upper hand, and relishing the close contact. The closer they become, the harder it is to deny the want and need simmering between them. But Esme has secrets. She will not allow him to throw away his future on a woman who cannot be what he needs to carry on his title. I loved so many things about this book. The strong, fierce heroine and the hero that shares her affinity for danger and intrigue. The mystery woven into the fabric of the plot. But one of the things I loved most was the reiteration that a woman is neither defined nor confined by her womb. That a woman’s sole purpose is not wrapped up in her body’s capacity to give birth. That infertility is nothing to be ashamed of and should never be a barrier to finding love. MY FAVORITE QUOTESDanger was her stock-in-trade. However, it wouldn’t limit itself to her but would reach out with deadly tentacles to destroy anyone for whom she had a care. Therefore, it had been years since she’d known the warmth of a gentle touch, since she’d enclosed her heart in ice and her soul had evolved into little more than a shell that allowed her to do what was demanded of her without remorse or regret.

Ruffians. Blood. Gore. She took it all in stride. When most ladies would be in tears, swooning, or have already run off. Ice Princess. But even that moniker he’d bestowed upon her no longer seemed appropriate. With a groan, he shoved himself up to a sitting position and studied her. “Who the devil are you?”

Mostly what she needed to gather was her indifference. She didn’t like the manner in which her stomach had clutched when she’d realized he’d been injured. Didn’t like the worry that had almost made her throw caution aside and bring him straight here. Didn’t much like the way she wanted to offer him her bosom as a cushion for his head so she could stroke his hair and whisper, “You’ll be all right.”

The thing is, your safety is better secured when you suspect everyone of being against you.” He’d learned that lesson the hard way, but it bothered him that she’d attended the same harsh school of reality. Once the darkness had inhabited your soul, you could never rid yourself of it completely. He often wondered what sort of man he’d find himself to be at the end of this journey.

Exhibiting grace, strength, power, and determination, she stole his breath, and he feared she’d pocket it and never give it back. He wanted to take hold of that tail of her hair, wrap it around his knuckles to secure her in place—against his chest so he could tip her head back and claim that mouth presently set in concentration. He’d never wanted anything more in his life, not even the dukedom. “Imagining that’s my nose?”

Dropping his head back, he laughed, the sound big, bold, and beautiful, one that could capture hearts, was threatening to thaw hers. He was far more dangerous than the men in the alleyway—he could make her yearn again for things she could never hold.

Strange how sitting there holding hands almost seemed more intimate than being naked together between the sheets.

She came to an abrupt halt. “Until you, I didn’t know what love was—to love, to be loved.” “Until you, neither did I. If I have to choose between the dukedom and you, I choose you. If your only objection to marrying me is that I need an heir, I have a brother. Perhaps he will provide one. If he does not, I have cousins aplenty. I don’t expect you to give up your position with the Home Office. Being married to a duke could give you access to information or people you might not have had otherwise. And who would suspect a duchess of being a spy?”