Sandy M’s review of The Duke Next Door (Heiress Brides, Book 2) by Celeste Bradley
Historical Romance published by St. Martin’s Paperbacks 1 April 08
I was quite taken with the heroine in the first book of this trilogy, Phoebe in Desperately Seeking a Duke (read the review), but I enjoyed her cousin, Deirdre even more. The heroine of this book, she’s a woman who has survived the hatred and jealousy of a stepmother and long dreamed of the man who would be able to take her away from such a horrible situation and who will love her for who she is. Deirdre thought she’d lost that opportunity when Phoebe ended up betrothed to Calder in the first book, so she’s not about to stand by and let the life she wants slip through her fingers once again. She knows what she wants and she successfully goes after it. Or at least she thinks so.
So as soon as Phoebe and Rafe have departed for their honeymoon, Deirdre waits for no man, she corners Calder and promptly proposes to him! You go, girl! For all the emotional upheaval Calder has gone through over the last several weeks, he has no intention of running headlong into another relationship, let alone a marriage, but for some inexplicable reason he finds himself saying yes to Deirdre’s proposal.
He has no idea that she has loved him for years, ever since she watched him go through hell during the inquest into his wife’s death. She’s hoarded information and articles about him, dreamed about what it would be like to be his wife, his lover. Then she saw her dream disappear when Calder asked for Phoebe’s hand, but now Deidre’s time is here and her dreams are about to finally come true — at least until Calder begins ordering her around like one of the servants. She didn’t escape her stepmother’s prison just to trade it for the prison of a man who isn’t turning out to be what she expected at all.
As lovely as Deirdre is, Calder has no idea what’s gotten into him, but the die is cast and their marriage is imminent. And in his usual unenlightened way, he sends Deirdre stomping away from him with a few choice words. He’s never been one who’s been comfortable around women, has never known how to talk to them or react to them. His brother is the one with all the charm in the family.
Calder also flubs up when he chooses not to tell Deirdre about his young daughter. A daughter who is going to be living with them, a daughter who needs a mother. Springing such a thing on his new wife is not the way to start a marriage, as he finds out when he spends his wedding night alone. Calder does have feelings for Deirdre, so much so he hasn’t thought about his factory for days and hasn’t had the need to even go check on how business is faring. However, it’s beyond him how to let her know of his feelings and he only makes things worse every time he opens his mouth.
I really liked how Deirdre never gives up on Calder. She knows he’s a good man and that they can have a wonderful life together if he’ll only open up and embrace what they could have. There are some old, familiar faces floating around the story, who are still as clueless as always but who are good comic relief, although this time around their machinations bring about tragedy.
The best part of the book, besides the relationship between Calder and Deirdre, is the blossoming relationship between Deirdre and Lady Margaret, Calder’s daughter. Deirdre wins her over as no one else has done all because she had been in the same situation with her stepmother and knows exactly what Margaret doesn’t need. She also helps Calder strengthen his relationship with his daughter. With Calder’s ineptness at talking to women, I was hoping Rafe would be back in the picture to perhaps school Calder in charming the ladies, thus bringing the brothers closer together, but, alas, I’m not the author and that didn’t happen.
I’m quite pleased with how this book turned out. I like it even better than the first, which I didn’t think would happen. Now I’m very curious about the third book, Duke Most Wanted, which is Sophie’s story. It will be interesting to see what the author has done with the plain and homely cousin of these two beautiful and vivacious women.
Grade: A+
From the back cover:
A MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE
The dangerously beautiful Deirdre Cantor is determined to inherit her grandfather’s vast fortune. All she needs is to marry a duke . . . and be the first granddaughter to walk down the aisle. So when brooding Calder Marbrook, the Marquis of Brookhaven and future Duke of of Brookmoor, is abandoned at the altar, Deirdre makes it her business to become his wife–in spite of the whispers about his past.
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
Soon Deirdre’s visions of a lavish existence with the handsome Calder are shattered when she learns his shocking secret. Feeling betrayed, Deirdre seeks veangeance by playing a perilous and seductive game of cat and mouse with her husband that threatens to drive them both to the heights of passion. But at what cost? Calder is determined to keep his secret under lock and key–and to make his stunning wife his in every way that matters. Even if it means winning her heart all over again . . .
Read an excerpt here.
