A Secret Affair

After all his cousins, male and females, have found their partners in life and live a very happily ever after, it is now Constantine Huxtable's turn to find a wife. Dark and brooding he is easily known as "the devil" - born two days before his parents' wedding he never had a chance to gain his father's title and everything that's entailed with it. His equally loved and hated mentally disordered younger brother died early, turning the title and the estate Constantine was born on to his male cousin Steven. But although he should hate all his cousins, they great him with openness and affection and accept him as part of their family. So when the newly widowed Duchess of Dunbarton very openly reaches out her clutches to secure him as her new lover, all his female cousins are in uproar and try to save him from that rich, very beautiful but cold-hearted and scheming bitch. Constantine himself is not too fond of the lady, who apparently only married a very old man just to become his duchess, with diamonds and clothes in abundance and lots of riches after his death, either. But he is on the lookout for another temporary lover as well, so why not try the duchess if she is so eager to get him?- So they engage in a love affair which turns out completely different from what they both expected. And meeting over and over again means not only getting into bed, but to talk as well and to get to know each other more profoundly, even revealing each others secrets. Can their relationship remain a simple love affair, soon to be ended with the season, or will it turn into something lasting, like love forever? Although it is already the fifth part in a series, Mary Balogh did it again! She created strong characters, deeply misjudged by the superficial society around them, gave them space to explore and develop and turned this book into another very interesting romance worth while reading. And the faithful reader of the Huxtable-Family-Stories finally finds all the answers to the earlier mentioned secrets and problems concerning Constantine.

After all his cousins, male and females, have found their partners in life and live a very happily ever after, it is now Constantine Huxtable's turn to find a wife. Dark and brooding he is easily known as "the devil" - born two days before his parents' wedding he never had a chance to gain his father's title and everything that's entailed with it. His equally loved and hated mentally disordered younger brother died early, turning the title and the estate Constantine was born on to his male cousin Steven. But although he should hate all his cousins, they greet him with openness and affection and accept him as part of their family. So when the newly widowed Duchess of Dunbarton very openly reaches out her clutches to secure him as her new lover, all his female cousins are in uproar and try to save him from that rich, very beautiful but cold-hearted and scheming bitch. Constantine himself is not too fond of the lady, who apparently only married a very old man just to become his duchess, with diamonds and clothes in abundance and lots of riches after his death, either. But he is on the lookout for another temporary lover as well, so why not try the duchess if she is so eager to get him?- So they engage in a love affair which turns out completely different from what they both expected. And meeting over and over again means not only getting into bed, but to talk as well and to get to know each other more profoundly, even revealing each others secrets. Can their relationship remain a simple love affair, soon to be ended with the season, or will it turn into something lasting, like love forever? Although it is already the fifth part in a series, Mary Balogh did it again! She created strong characters, deeply misjudged by the superficial society around them, gave them space to explore and develop and turned this book into another very interesting romance worth while reading. And the faithful reader of the Huxtable-Family-Stories finally finds all the answers to the earlier mentioned secrets and problems concerning Constantine. (This comment refers to another pocket book edition.)