Nicholas Sinclair, the new Duke of Shackleton, was wounded in the battle of Trafalga in both body and spirit. The Duke understands he has a responsibility to marry and produce an heir, but has no emotional energy to conduct a courtship. He approaches the local reverend and asks if he can have one of his eight daughters to marry by the end of the week. The reverend, understanding how such a marriage will elevate his family's prospects, agrees and offers Grace, his oldest daughter, to the Duke. Grace is independent and headstrong but smart enough to know how much her marriage will help her family. She is determined to be a good wife to the Duke, but her efforts to get to know him are met with icy indifference. Nicholas is surprised by how much he is drawn to his new wife, but is determined to keep her at a distance. A battle of will and wits ensues, as both struggle to make their marriage of convenience a marriage of love.
I don't remember why I put this one on hold. I think my idea was to try a new historical romance writer. I ended up enjoying 98% of the book. The plot is not super original, but the characters fine and there are some truly amusing scenes with Grace's father who acts in the book as a kind of comic relief. So what of the other 2%? (spoiler alert) About half way through the book the couple decide to consummate their marriage and the author goes into way too much detail about that event. Why? I ask myself. The scene only lasts a few pages, which I skipped over, buy why add it in at all? Why not just have him carry her into the room, and then skip to the morning when they wake up smiling in each other's arms? I guess Ms Watts is not going on my clean romance writer's list. I need to start a new list. An "uhhh, no" list of historical romance writers. (184 p, 2020)
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