A Gentleman Never Tells
Whereas the ‘Belmore Square’ first-in-series, One Night with the Duke, presented Eliza Melrose and Johnny (Duke of Chester) Winters failing to keep their hands off each other, in this sequel they’re finally married, thus her brother Frank and his sister Taya take centre stage and, like their siblings, also struggle to control their gropings. Pregnant Eliza soon relinquishes editorial control of the family newspaper to Frank, whose ideas to increase sales primarily involve disclosing the identity of a mysterious prolific highwayman. Problem is, Frank’s incessantly distracted from his work by a visceral attraction to Taya, who for many reasons is forbidden territory. This is no barrier, though, and seldom have two characters tried so hard not to get at it, in a tale where everybody else seems to be doing just that. And drinking; hardly a page goes by without boozing or bonking; in fact, Belmore Square might as well be renamed Bonkmore.
Malpas glides easily from writing as first-person female in Book One to first-person male in this and continues the effective immediacy of a present-tense narrative. All the traditional elements of a good old lighthearted romp are here: amusing characters, humorous verbal jousting, lasciviousness and occasional preposterous scenes bordering on slapstick. Although the ‘Steamy and Sexy’ tag on the front cover refers, oddly, to another of her books, it also applies here, so forget the typos and anachronisms; enjoy it for what it is, an easy fun read.
