A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by K.J. CharlesMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have seen lots of very positive reviews on KJ Charles' novels so when one became available on NetGalley, set in my home county of Kent, I thought it must be a sign.
Major Rufus d'Aumesty has unexpectedly become the Earl of Oxney, master of the remote Norman built Stone Manor on the edge of Romney Marsh in Kent. He did not grow up as an aristocrat, his mother was a draper's daughter seduced by the local lord of the manor. His cousin Conrad believed that he was to inherit the land and title and has done everything in his power to prevent Rufus from taking his title.
After seven months of wrangling in the Courts, Rufus is declared the rightful heir, only for Conrad to produce another man, Luke Doomsday, who claims his mother was similarly seduced and married by Rufus' father a few months before he married Rufus' mother. Conrad intends this news to render Rufus illegitimate (and therefore ineligible to inherit) not realising that this claim would mean that Luke, rather than Conrad, would inherit.
Luke is a part of the notorious Doomsday family of smugglers, a personal secretary by training, he has his own reasons to be at Stone Manor, wholly unconnected to the issue of who is the Earl, and agrees to act as Rufus' secretary to help him sort out the years of neglect and poor bookkeeping that make running the Manor such a problem.
Despite potentially being the means of disinheriting him, Rufus quickly finds himself relying on the quick-witted and irreverent Luke, which turns into attraction and maybe more, but what will happen when Rufus discovers Luke's real reason for being at the Manor?
I loved this, although we were abruptly thrust into the story at the point where Conrad springs Luke's existence on Rufus (which I initially found a bit jarring), the story soon gets going at a pace. Poor Rufus is dealing with rebellious servants, plotting cousins, a crumbling estate, and he's falling hard for Luke.
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.
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