An Unladylike Offer by Christine Merrill
An Unladylike Offer starts five years after The Inconvenient Duchess ends. [review here] The bad boy of the family Captain St. John Radwell has been off at war and now is back in town trying to be a good boy. Prinny has promised to ‘gift’ him with a title and land for service to the crown, IF he keep his nose clean of scandal. I think it is a do as I say not as I do type thing.
St. John really is a changed man. He is no longer happy to be the rakehell, ne’er do well, younger son living off his responsible Duke brother who hates him for trying to seduce his wives. And he really wants to prove Marcus, his brother the Duke of Haughleigh, that this time he really, really, is a new man.
None of this is good for Esme Canville. She sees St. John (her neighbor) taking the wrath of his recently ‘released’ mistress and thinks he is the answer to her problems. Her unstable (slightly over the top) evil daddy has spent the last few years punishing Esme for her whore mother running off with some man. And now has chosen a man as old and evil respectable as he is (better to keep her in line you see) to be her hubby.
As the old perv leering at her is driving away (the soon-to-be-husband not daddy) Esme decides screw this she would be better off as a mistress to the hunk next door. So when she shows up ready to learn the ways of the rake, St. John doesn’t know what to do with the chit. And after she downs his spiked brandy and passes out on him, he takes her to the only respectable people he knows.
Yep, his brother and his wife (the one he tried to seduce). Miranda comes up with a slightly ‘out there’ cover story and plans to see Esme wed to a decent man. Well, really she wants her to marry St. John and for the brothers to make up and for them all to be one big happy family. The funny thing is St. John would go along with the idea pretty easily if it wasn’t for his lack of funds. He can’t take care of himself, so how could he take on a wife?
I find myself thinking the same thing at the end of An Unladylike Offer as I did The Inconvenient Duchess… I would recommend it if you are in the mood for a quick Regency read. But if you are a hard case for following the ‘regency rules’ you prolly want to skip it. It is very readable and I enjoyed this more than the first book. My biggest issue was how Esme flips the moment she gets what she wants, I find that so annoying. But enjoyed the book enough to see past it.
Grade: B
