The Lost Duke of Wyndham

THE LOST DUKE OF WYNDHAM: Julia Quinn: Avon Books: Romance: 371 pgs.

Grace Eversleigh has a comfortable life serving as the companion to the dowager Duchess of Wyndham. This position provides Grace with stability and a place to live, but it is lonely and the dowager is a crotchety old woman. Grace doesn’t have any reason to doubt her circumstances will change when the dowager’s carriage is stopped by a highwayman. Grace falls for Jack Audley, the handsome highwayman, the moment he holds her at gunpoint. Recognizing the highwayman as her long lost grandson, the dowager later kidnaps him, with Grace’s unwilling assistance, and brings him back to Wyndham. Jack also finds himself increasingly attracted to Grace the more time he spends with her.

Complications arise though when they all realize that if proven legitimate, Jack would be the rightful Duke of Wyndham. Grace tries to stop her growing attraction to Jack, as she would not be a suitable match for him if he became the duke. Jack wants Grace just as much, but worries about the impending trip to Ireland to prove his parents’ marriage was valid and the unwelcome idea of being the real duke.

I put off reading this for a long time, but found myself mildly entertained by it. The story wasn’t too bad and some descriptions (all the footmen in the dowager’s employ had to be 5 foot 11 inches) and conversations made me laugh. All in all, this was a relatively enjoyable (and not too graphic) entry into the romance world for me.


MN