Genre:
Historical
Heat Level: Sensual
Rating:

She's caught between a rake and certain ruin...

Felicity Worthington's only hope of avoiding poverty—or worse—is to accept her distant cousin's dubious bequest... a thriving, high-class brothel. Felicity has 90 days to convince her cousin's solicitors that Gareth Alexander has taught her the art of pleasing a man, though she's more interested in the gentleman she glimpses beneath Gareth's debauched airs, than in the rake he's become.

In the business of love...How much should he teach her?

Gareth Alexander, Marquis of Heathgate, has little incentive to help a spinster learn to manage a brothel—except that the alternatives for the prim, pretty Miss Worthington are even worse. His resistance to teaching Felicity how to be a madam leaves Gareth wondering if the honor he'd thought long dead still survives, and if that honor allows him to yield to the lady's ruinous scheme... and to their shared desires.

Once you enter the lush Regency world of award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Grace Burrowes, you'll never want to leave.

Review

Due to a bizarre boating accident, Gareth Alexander has now inherited the title of Marquess of Heathgate.  The existing Marquess and the four relatives in line before Gareth all died at the same time.  He never expected or wanted the title.  On top of that, members of the nobility suspect that he had a hand in the accident, and gossip that he is a murderer.  Gareth's response is to build up walls, keep everyone at a distance, focus on increasing the family fortunes, and live the life of a rake.

Felicity Worthington is a Viscount's daughter, but her parents died, leaving her destitute and having the care of a younger sister.  She receives word of an inheritance received from a distant relative.  When she visits the solicitors, she is stunned to find that she has been bequeathed a brothel.  Not only that, she must prove that she is capable of becoming a madam (with all that entails,) must not sell for one year, and Gareth Alexander must be the one to instruct her.

I found it very easy to like Felicity.  She was courageous enough to attempt this mad scheme, hoping to give her younger sister a chance in society.  She was also naive (or perhaps optimistic) that she would never be exposed, and could sell the brothel after the year and put it all behind her.  She did not envision falling in love with Gareth, and when the time came for their final parting, she had the courage to tell him that she would love him and miss him until her dying day.  Her passionate plea should have melted Gareth's hard heart, but he just requested that she leave, and she did so without looking back.  I love that she had the courage to try, and then had the dignity not to beg when he didn't reciprocate her feelings.

Gareth is a hard, jaded man.  I wasn't sure that he was going to be redeemed, or that I was going to like him.  He fought his feelings with all he had, and in doing so was cruel to Felicity as she was falling in love with him.    However, Gareth was not as aloof as he led Felicity to believe, and we see him crumble after she leaves him.  There is a chink in his armor, after all.

The whole premise of the brothel seemed farfetched to me at first, but there is a mystery in the story which is explained satisfactorily.  The focus, though, is the romance of this unlikely couple.  Their happy ending, once it gets here, is very satisfying and touching.  I highly recommend this Book 6 of The Lonely Lords series by Grace Burrowes.

Reviewed by Rose