Series: Duke Dynasty #2
Author: Sabrina Jeffries
Published February 25th 2020 by Zebra/Headline Eternal
Goodreads Synopsis
New York Times bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries features an irresistible family in a series to savor, as the grown children of a thrice-married dowager duchess piece together the stories of their fathers--while pursuing passions of their own . . .
Lady Gwyn Drake has long protected her family's reputation by hiding an imprudent affair from her youth. But when her former suitor appears at Armitage Hall, manhandling the heiress and threatening to go public with her secrets, it's Gwyn who needs protecting. Her twin brother, Thorn, hires Joshua Wolfe, the estate's gamekeeper, to keep her safe in London during her debut. As a war hero, Joshua feels obligated to fulfill the assignment he has accepted. But as a man, it's torment to be so very close to the beauty he's fought to ignore . . .
With handsome Joshua monitoring her every move, Gwyn would prefer to forget both the past and the parade of money-seeking bachelors at her coming out. But Joshua is unmoved by her attempts at flirtation, and the threat of blackmail still hangs over her. With danger closing in, Gwyn must decide which is the greater risk: deflecting a scoundrel's attempts to sabotage her--or revealing her whole heart to the rugged bodyguard she can't resist . . .
Goodreads
Review
In the second book of the Duke Dynasty series, the only daughter of the dynasty, Gwyn, makes her debut, and finds romance after being hurt in love before. As a young woman, she had an ill-advised affair, and has kept it a secret ever since, in order to protect her family. But now in England, following the death of her step-father, and preparing for her debut, her former beau arrives at Artimage Hall, and threatens to tell all, lest she pays him. As a wealthy heiress, and daughter and sister to dukes, she's expected to make a fantastic match, and any hint of a past scandal will ruin her, and her family's chances. So, her brother Thorn, asks the estate gamekeeper, and brother to their sister-in-law, Beatrice, Joshua Wolfe, to act as Gwyn's bodyguard during the Season. But, it's soon clear that the sparks flying between the couple aren't those of animosity, but rather desire. Will they be able to defeat the blackmail attempt, or lose their hearts in the process?
Ever since I read Project Duchess, and met both Gwyn and Joshua, who rubbed each other up the wrong way, I knew they were made for each other. Their chemistry together was simply fantastic, and though it might have started off a little 'enemies-to-lovers', they never really hated each other, they just had very strong opinions about the other. As a former soldier, Joshua likes things to be perfect, and is quite stuck in his ways. But that's all understandable when you consider that he has PTSD and the trust his cousin, Sheridan, has given him, in allowing him to be the estate gamekeeper, means the world to him. When he's asked to be Gwyn's bodyguard, it's a big change for him, and one hard to adjust to. He's gruff, and has a tough exterior, but it's all a disguise, one which he uses to hide how much pain he's in, and he doesn't like how Gwyn seems to see straight through it. The past that Gwyn has been hiding was an ill-advised mistake, and she would do anything for her family, so when Joshua starts to interfere with her efforts to pay off her blackmailer, it makes her angry, and sometimes hurtful towards Joshua. There was a little too much miscommunication and angst in this one for my liking, but all in all, a fantastic book, which starts to explore the overarching mystery of the death's of Lydia's husbands even more.
Dates Read:
Rating
4 Stars
