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One Night in London: The Truth About the Duke
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One Night in London: The Truth About the Duke
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One Night in London: The Truth About the Duke
Ebook368 pages5 hours

One Night in London: The Truth About the Duke

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

About this ebook

A bargain that was all business . . . and pure passion.

Neither wealth nor beauty will help Lady Francesca Gordon win custody of her young niece Georgina, saving the girl from a cruel stepmother; she needs London’s top solicitor for that. But when Edward de Lacey, son of the powerful Duke of Durham, hires away the one man who can do the job, Francesca decides Edward himself must champion her case . . . if only she can melt the dashing lord’s stony heart.

Edward has reason to be guarded, though. London’s tabloids have just exposed a secret that could ruin his entire family. When Francesca offers a unique chance to undo the damage, Edward is forced to agree to a partnership . . . and now, each moment together feeds the flames of his scandalous longing for the passionate widow. But when Georgina disappears, fate will test them both . . . and leave their love hanging in the balance.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperCollins
Release dateAug 30, 2011
ISBN9780062096418
Author

Caroline Linden

Caroline Linden knew from an early age she was a reader, not a writer. She earned a math degree from Harvard University and wrote computer code before turning to fiction. Her books have won the Daphne du Maurier Award, the NJRW Golden Leaf Award, and RWA’s RITA® Award, and have been translated into seventeen languages around the world. She lives in New England with her family. Find her online at www.CarolineLinden.com.

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Reviews for One Night in London

Rating: 3.950495128712871 out of 5 stars
4/5

101 ratings7 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    What would you do if you found out on your father's deathbed that when he was young he was married, and not only married but never divorced before he married your mother? That's what happens to Edward de Lacey and his brothers. They all may be illegimate. Charles, the oldest & heir, may not be the new Duke of Durham; but that currently doesn't seem to matter to the carefree playboy. And Gerad, the youngest on leave from his post in the military, wants to pound someone. It is left to Edward, the middle son, to be more practical. The rock of the family goes and hires the best solicitor in town to protect their interests. They would like to avoid scandal and ruin, as well as keep both their good names and fortunes. Thus begins One Night in London: The Truth about the Duke, Caroline Linden's new historical romance series.Edward isn't the only one in town looking for a top solicitor. Lady Francesca Gordon wants to win custody of her young niece Georgina from an "evil" stepmother and needs London's best lawyer for that. She gets him to take her case until Edward de Lacey, son of the powerful Duke of Durham, hires him away. Francesca is so incensed that she goes to Edward's house to convince him to help her since he took her only hope of getting her niece. She does this by offering to help with the London tabloids which have got hold of the possible illegitimacy.Turns out Edward should have listened to his brothers and not told his fiance about his father's secret. Not only did his fiance drop him (her family needs money now), but the tabloids have reported his family's possible inheritance problems. The widow Francesca proposes a partnership: she will help him with his gossip problem and he will help her find a lawyer for her custody case. As they spend more together they grow closer. But can they afford it? Francesca needs to find and save her niece, while Edward needs to concentrate on the Durham legacy. It's easy for the reader to see that the passionate Francesca and the reserved Edward belong together. It is wonderful to watch their love story unfold as they realize it too.Although the mystery of the Durham legacy probably won't be resolved until Charlie's story, we do get to experience the wonderfully entertaining and passionate love story of Edward and Francesca. The end gives us a glimpse into Gerard's story, the next book in the series, Blame it on Bath.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    ONE NIGHT IN LONDON:THE TRUTH ABOUT ABOUT A DUKE by Caroline Linden is an exciting historical romance set in Regency London. This is the first in “The Truth About A Duke” trilogy.This is the trilogy of three brothers,”Edward the logical, responsible brother; Gerard the independent man of action; and Charlie the enigma”, who find out on their father’s death bed,he had a major secret that could destroy their inheritance and their lives.This is an exciting story one’s need to find her niece and another’s need to find his father’s secrets. When widow Lady Francesca Gordonwin meets Edward de Lacey the son of the Duke of Durham,whe finds more that she bargains for. Not only is Edward but he is handsome,sexy,arrogrant,and determined. Lady Francesca needs Edward to help her find her niece,who is missing.Together,they set out to find her niece,Georgina,and find his dying father’s secret.This story has romance,passion,banter between the hero and heroine,sweet sensuality,suspense,intrigue and of course family. A must read for all historical romance readers.It is a fast paced story with a few twists and turns. Received for review from Net Galley and the publisher. Details can be found at Avon,an imprint of Harper Collins Publishing and My Book Addiction and More.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A good read. Interesting characters, heroes, villains, etc.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Original one-star review
    This is a perfectly middling story, but I refuse to give a good rating to a book that ends with a cliffhanger designed to tempt us into buying the next book in the trilogy.

    Upon rereading . . .
    I confess that my temper got the best of me after the first reading, which ends with the arrival of a mysterious letter after the wedding of Francesca and Edward. Perhaps if it had been styled "Epilogue," I would not have been so unpleasantly shocked. I thought, though, that there would be more progress toward resolution of the "truth about the Duke," but now it's clear that we must wait until the third installment to clear up this mystery.

    This is a very sweet love story, with some good steamy scenes. Edward likes lots of foreplay, so those scenes tend to go on for pages. Not that I'm complaining . . . .

    I'm hooked enough that I'll undoubtedly read the rest of the series.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This eBook is courtesy of NetGalley and Harper Collins/Avon.This is the first in “The Truth About A Duke” trilogy.This is the trilogy of three brothers,”Edward the logical, responsible brother; Gerard the independent man of action; and Charlie the enigma”, who find out on their father’s death bed,he had a major secret that could destroy their inheritance and their lives.A bargain that was all business . . . and pure passion. Neither wealth nor beauty will help Lady Francesca Gordon win custody of her young niece Georgina, saving the girl from a cruel stepmother; she needs London’s top solicitor for that. But when Edward de Lacey, son of the powerful Duke of Durham, hires away the one man who can do the job, Francesca decides Edward himself must champion her case . . . if only she can melt the dashing lord’s stony heart. Edward has reason to be guarded, though. London’s tabloids have just exposed a secret that could ruin his entire family. When Francesca offers a unique chance to undo the damage, Edward is forced to agree to a partnership . . . and now, each moment together feeds the flames of his scandalous longing for the passionate widow. But when Georgina disappears, fate will test them both . . . and leave their love hanging in the balance.This is the first book by Caroline Linden I have read, but it won't be my last! I loved it! The writing drew me in and kept me turning pages until the very end. I really warmed to the characters. Francesca was daring and sassy, but she also brought out Edward's sensual and warm side that had been hiding since the very beginning. They were a great pair that I very much enjoyed getting to know as the story went on. Edward was a different person when he was around Francesca, their personalities complemented each other very well. I will be looking forward to the next book in this series because this one definitely leaves you wondering!!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Publishers really like trilogies. If a reader is hooked by the first book, they are all but guaranteed to go on to books two and three, a winning scenario for the publisher and the author. I freely admit I enjoy books in series but I have the odd stipulation that I want them to be complete in and of themselves. I don't want to be compelled to go on to have closure in a story, although I fully intend to keep reading if I enjoy the first book enough. Romances not only lend themselves nicely to giving me the happy ending I sometimes require, but they also tend to have series where each story is complete within a larger framework. While this historical romance by Linden is the first in a series and tells the love story of Edward, the pragmatic middle son of the Duke of Durham and the widowed Lady Francesca Gordon, it has a larger tale to it that doesn't conclude within its pages, leaving the reader with a cliffhanger which ostensibly won't be tied up until the third book. This makes me crabby and it is no exception here but I will forgive it because I enjoyed the love story enough to keep me willing to read the second installment.The Duke of Durham is on his deathbed as the novel opens and he is terribly agitated, needing to tell his heir something incredibly important. But his heir is a rake and a bit of a gadfly and it falls to pragmatic, clinical, middle brother Edward to find out what is so bothering their father. What he learns, that his father was married before he married their mother and was never officially divorced, could not only ruin the de Lacey brothers in society but strip them of their inheritance and legitimacy. And so Edward hires the best soliciter money can buy to help come up with a legal defense and protect their interests in case it becomes necessary.But Edward's hiring of this legal top gun means that Lady Francesca Gordon, who had all but secured the man's services herself, will have to find someone else to help her win custody of her orphaned niece. She's so furious with Edward de Lacey that she vows she will force him to help her himself. And so starts their association with each other. Edward, as an honorable man, cannot turn the lady down, especially when he sees how heartfelt she is in her desire and love for this little girl and her fear for the child when Georgina's stepmother disappears with her. It doesn't hurt that she also holds the power to make the tabloid writer who printed the news about the possible loss of the de Lacey's inheritance retract or at least soften his story.As Edward and Francesca work together to find Georgina and to come up with the best possible case to grant the impetuous Francesca custody, they find they are incredibly attracted to each other. Their chemistry is quite believable and grows organically rather than being forced simply to fit the story's need. This is very much a story of opposites attracting, each lending balance to the other until a misunderstanding rooted in their very different personalities could drive them apart.The question of the de Lacey brothers' legitimacy is completely unresolved here and doesn't promise to be resolved in the next book: youngest son, the hotheaded Gerard's story either. While the novel ends with the ending romance readers expect and require, other sub-plot threads are resolved in completely unexpected and yet wholly appropriate ways. The other two de Lacey brothers are intriguing, which bodes well as they both have their own novels following this one. And the other secondary characters are mostly appealing and make worthwhile additions to the story. Historical romance readers will be quite satisfied with this start to Linden's trilogy.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The setup for their interactions was a bit of a stretch, but it improved from there. I liked how the competing interest for the heroine was treated, it seemed more believable than the black and white view that is more often presented. Lots of trying to resist being drawn to someone but failing, which is fun.