Status Updates From The Return of the Duke (Onc...

The epilogue proved exceptionally satisfying. Griff has provided the heir, Esme now is working for the War office and will be traveling to Europe. And Marcus, traveling with her, will be “ At your side, at your front, at your back. Wherever you need me…” end of story.

I found images of compartment message rings now at the Victoria and Albert Museum. One specifically had tiles and I encourage a reader to search this out. It provides a stunning view of what such jewelry would have looked like.

https://share.google/J7x4YVjs0Wk6wBnBr

I am trying to imagine the ring, wide enough to have tiles that could conceal a message or a poison. I am still trying.

The Duchess as spy? All historical romances that have this trope have been enormously enjoyed. Lorraine Heath should think about that for future project.

Kudos to the author who in style created a ring that even in the imagination is beyond desirable

Marcus relates to Esme that she should see his home “ free of all it’s tarps and coverings…”
Another irony, the Kennedy Center finally has Trump’s name removed, but they have hung a huge tarp over the front. This is the petty revenge of a narcissist, who probably should be in a guarded home, definitely for the criminally insane. His policies have killed millions.

Marcus, His Grace, fortuitously arrives on Christmas Eve. It is interesting that I would be reading this during the Royal Ascot races, watching the King and Queen, Prince of Wales, Princess of Wales and a sea of top hats. In addition to the breathless thoroughbreds who are racing on grass.

Esme had a small Christmas tree. The first Christmas tree in the English court was introduced by Queen Charlotte (the German-born wife of King George III) in December 1800. She set up a yew branch adorned with tapers, colored paper, and sweets

Who can say what is the larger punishment? A moment, a month, a year before a person is hanged? Or to have Oglethorpe spend the rest of his days in an insane asylum. Insane people do not know they are insane because if they did, they wouldn’t be insane. But Oglethorpe had the fitting punishment of justice.

This note has redeemed the entire plot. And my faith has been restored.

Marcus waited two months before he dared to approach her residence, finding a replacement agent of the Crown. Of course, the book needs a few more pages before the hero and the heroine are reunited.

The reveal of the obvious. The queen restores his title and lands, snd Esme disappears

Curious that the physician left him with a sniffer of scotch as he refused laudanum. I thought it was a practice that was not looked unwell, but maybe I’m wrong. I have been before.

Actually, I was partially right because Brewster was involved in betraying Esme to O. The male can see of feeling neglected. So in evidence today.

All in all, the plot was rather mundane. I will be very glad when I finish this book, or should I say paperback?

I got bored of the book and I got bored of annotating. So I was right the first time it was O or Oglethorpe., he tried to accuse, Esme, but that didn’t work. Perhaps his hunchback drove him mad, but the plot was to put him on the throne as he could trace his lineage back to Richard the third. Who in fact was not a hunchback and was a good king reputation ruined by Shakespeare

That all of the Trewlove’s have joined the plot is a comfort. Catching up on them. But the most interesting couple is least mention, and that is Griff and Katheryn. The fair and spare was the best of the series.

Marcus and Esme are in the rules as husband and wife, now at the castle in Scotland, to try and trap the conspirators. I thought which I don’t like to presume, but I will offer it. Is that Brewster possibly is part of the plot. Marcus and Esme are humping like rabbits, and I am just breezing over those pages.

Queen Victoria never employed a surrogate or body double. But Prince Albert came up with the ingenious idea of a mesh umbrella, and she also traveled incognito.

Marcus tells Esme that he’d like to flatter every inch of her, which was a very nice sentiment.

So I jumped the gun. By 1874 travel had become far far more common acceptable and almost prerequisite for the aristocracy. So forgive my previous comment. Travel changed
drastically after 1850. By 1874 the grand hotels were flourishing.

Best casually mentions that he will send his parents, the Duke and Duchess, to Europe for a few weeks. Again, Lorraine Heath takes poetic license.
The Scottish aristocracy rarely traveled to Europe. travel was expensive, logistically complex, and physically grueling. Journeys were usually planned years in advance, undertaken for specific milestones, or tied to seasonal migrations between estates.

OK, I am chastised. The queen was never intended to be in attendance. She has a double for unreliable situations. Kim Jong Un, the malevolent leader of North Korea, had a heart attack some years ago. Not normally a conspiracy theorist, I do believe that he has many body doubles. And there’s a distinct possibility one of them is the puppet.

I get that this is a romance, but still for your intelligent readers, it would behoove the author to descend into fantasy land

Totally unrealistic that Queen Victoria would sleep overnight at a nearby castle, even if it was a Duke’s castle. Preparations for entertaining a monarch or enormous.

We’ve had encounters with ruffians.. that is to put it mildly, considering the near death experience at the hands of Willie and the devil‘s hand, and by association, Lucifer.

I have presaged the entrance of John Brown, who was her equerry until his death. Queen Victoria warned him and had a magnificent memorial constructed. Rumor still abound exactly how intimate she was with him. He slept in an outer room of hers, and was her near constant companion

Queen Victoria is at her residence at Balmoral. Enter stage right “ to be honest, I think she has a tender for John Brown. “

To be honest, I have skimmed the last several pages because I really didn’t need Lorraine Heath instructing me an intimacy. But it seemed it was excellent for both of them. So good on them.