No Good
Duke Goes Unpunished
The Third
Rule of Scoundrels
By: Sarah MacLean
Blurb
A rogue
ruined...
He is the Killer Duke, accused of murdering Mara Lowe on the eve of her
wedding. With no memory of that fateful night, Temple has reigned over the
darkest of London’s corners for twelve years, wealthy and powerful, but beyond
redemption. Until one night, Mara resurfaces, offering the one thing he’s
dreamed of...absolution.
A lady returned...
Mara planned never to return to the world from which she’d run, but when her
brother falls deep into debt at Temple’s exclusive casino, she has no choice
but to offer Temple a trade that ends in her returning to society and proving
to the world what only she knows...that he is no killer.
A scandal revealed...
It’s a fine trade, until Temple realizes that the lady-and her past-are more
than they appear. It will take every bit of his strength to resist the pull of
this mysterious, maddening woman who seems willing to risk everything for honor
. . . and to keep from putting himself on the line for love
Buy Links
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Excerpt:
TEMPLE
Whitefawn Abbey, Devonshire
November 1819
He woke with a
splitting head and a hard cock.
The situation was not uncommon. He had, after all, woken each day for more than
half a decade with one of the items in question, and on more mornings than he
could count with both.
William Harrow, Marquess of Chapin and heir to the dukedom of Lamont was
wealthy, titled, privileged and` handsome—and a young man blessed with those
traits rarely wanted for anything relating to wine or women.
So it was that on this morning, he did not fret. Knowing (as skilled drinkers
do) that the splitting head would dissipate by midday, he moved to cure the
other affliction and, without opening his eyes, reached for the female no doubt
nearby.
Except, she wasn’t.
Instead of a handful of warm, willing flesh, William came up with a handful of
unsatisfying pillow.
He opened his eyes, the bright light of the Devonshire sun assaulting his
senses and emphasizing the thundering in his head.
He cursed. He
draped one forearm over his closed eyes, sunlight burning red behind the lids,
and took a deep breath.
Daylight was the
fastest way to ruin a morning.
Likely, it was for the best that the woman from the previous evening had
disappeared, though the memory of lovely lush breasts, a mane of auburn curls
and a mouth made for sin did bring with it a wave of regret.
She had been gorgeous.
And in bed—
In bed she’d been—
He stilled.
He couldn’t
remember.
Surely he hadn’t had that much drink. Had he? She’d been tall and full of
curves, made just the way he liked his women, a match for the height and
breadth that was too often his curse when it came to women. He did not like
feeling like he might crush a girl.
And she’d had smile
that made him think of innocence and sin all at once. She’d refused to tell him
her name . . . refused to hear his . . .
Utter perfection.
And her eyes—he’d never seen eyes like hers, one the blue of the summer sea,
and one just on the edge of green. He’d spent too long looking at those eyes,
fascinated by them, wide and welcoming.
They’d crept through the kitchens and up the servants’ stairs to his room,
she’d poured him a scotch . . .
And that was all he remembered.
Good Lord. He had to stop drinking.
Just as soon as today was over. He would need drink to survive his father’s
wedding day—the day William gained his fourth stepmother. Younger than all the
others. Younger than him.
And very very rich.
Not that he’d met her, this paragon of brideliness. He’d meet her at the
ceremony and not before, just as he’d done the other three. And then, once the
familial coffers had been once again filled, he would leave. Back to Oxford,
having done his duty and played the role of doting son. Back to the glorious,
libidinal life that belonged to the heir to the dukedom, filled with drink and
dice and women and not a worry in the world.
Back to the life he adored.
But tonight, he would honor his father and greet his new mother and pretend
that he cared for the sake of propriety. And perhaps, after he was done playing
the role of heir, he’d seek out the playful young thing from the gardens and do
his best to recall the events of the night before.
Thank Heaven for country estates and well-attended nuptials. There wasn’t a
female in creation who could resist the sexual lure of a wedding, and because
of that, William had a great affinity for holy matrimony.
How lucky that his father had such a knack for it.
He grinned and stretched wide in the bed, throwing one arm wide across the cool
linen sheets.
Cold linen sheets.
Cold wet linen sheets.
What in hell?
His eyes flew open.
It was only then that he realized it wasn’t his room.
It wasn’t his bed.
And the red wash across the bedsheets, dampening his fingers with its sticky
residue, was not his blood.
Before he could speak, or move, or understand, the door to the strange
bedchamber opened and a maid appeared, fresh-faced and eager.
There were a dozen different things that could have gone through his mind at
that moment . . . a hundred of them. And yet, in the fleeting seconds between
the young maid’s entrance and her notice of him, William thought of only one
thing—that he was about to ruin the poor girl’s life.
He knew, without doubt, that she would never again casually open a door, or
spread sheets across a bed, or bask in the rare, bright sunlight of a
Devonshire winter morning without remembering this moment.
A moment he could not change.
He did not speak
when she noticed him, nor when she froze in place, nor when she went deathly
pale and her brown eyes—funny that he noticed their color—went wide with first
recognition and then horror.
Nor did he speak
when she opened her mouth and screamed. No doubt he would have done the same,
had he been in her position.
It was only when
she was through with that first, ear-shattering shriek—the one that brought
footmen and maids and wedding guests and his father running—that he spoke,
taking the quiet moment before the coming storm to ask, “Where am I?”
The maid simply
stared, dumbstruck.
He made to move
from the bed, the sheets falling to his waist, stopping short as he realized
his clothes were nowhere in sight.
He was naked. In a
bed that was not his own.
And he was covered
in blood.
He met the maid’s
horrified gaze again, and when he spoke, the words came out young and full of
something he would later identify as fear. “Whose bed is this?”
Remarkably, she
found her answer without stuttering. “Miss Lowe.”
Miss Mara Lowe,
daughter of a wealthy financier, with a dowry large enough to catch a duke.
Miss Mara Lowe,
soon-to-be the Duchess of Lamont.
His future
stepmother.
Review: This was such an unexpectedly wonderful read. The prologue sets up the story of the son of the Duke of Lamont, on the morn of his father's marriage, wakes up naked in the bed of his future stepmother, and he is covered in blood.
For twelve years he's believed that he just might have killed Mara Lowe and then she shows up in his life again.
For me, this book was all about Temple, The Killer Duke. I adored him from the very start. He was a bit of a rogue in the Prologue, but there was something about him even then that you had to love.
Mara was a bit harder to warm up to, maybe if Sarah would have let the reader in on the reasoning of her wanting to stage her own death, it would have been easier to like her. It was even harder to like her brother, who gambled away her dowry. He was truly detestable.
But Mara isn't totally unlikable. She runs a boy's home and she's marvelously good at it. I loved the scene where Temple is teaching the boys and Mara how to fight. (Later in the book, Mara puts that knowledge to the test)
Unlike a lot of historical romances, this story isn't light and fluffy. It is dark and it plays on the emotions. Mostly, you see the struggles the Temple has gone through. He is a strong character and you want him to get his reputation back. You have to root for him.
Once Mara reveals her reasoning for her disappearing, you start to have more sympathy for her character, and for a short time even her brother, but that isn't very long. It would have been nice to get to know her more. I felt she needed more of a back story than what was given, perhaps a bit more of Temple's past as well, I would have liked to have know what sort of man his father was.
Still, Sarah MacLean has delivered a wonderful historical read that you won't want to pass up.
Author Info
Sarah MacLean grew
up in Rhode Island, obsessed with historical romance and bemoaning the fact
that she was born far too late for her own season. Her love of all things
historical helped to earn her degrees from Smith College and Harvard University
before she finally set pen to paper and wrote her first book.
Sarah now lives in New York City with her husband, their dog, and a
ridiculously large collection of romance novels. She loves to hear from
readers. Please visit her at www.macleanspace.com
Author Links
Rafflecopter Giveaway (Copy of A ROUGE BY
ANY OTHER NAME & ONE GOOD EARL DESERVES A LOVER, Book One and Two of the
Rules of Scoundrels Series)
