Hamish MacHugh is finished being a soldier, and just
wants to enjoy peace in his beloved Scotland. Instead,
he inherits a dukedom he doesn't want, and has to escort
his two sisters to London for a season. Resigned to
"doing his duty," Hamish arrives in town to hear whispers
about his brutality and his misbehavior while a soldier.
Some even call him the Duke of Murder. While trying to
stay under the radar, he observes a former officer he's
familiar with bullying a young woman, and steps in.
Megan Windham is in an awful fix. A youthful
indiscretion she committed a few years back has returned
to haunt her in a big way. Sir Fletcher Pilkington knows
all about Megan's secret, and is using this knowledge to
force Megan to marry him. He's in a very precarious
financial situation, and a wealthy heiress is just what
he needs. Fletcher is tired of Megan putting him off,
and his cruel nature has him snatching the spectacles off
her face. Just as he's about to drop them and crush
them, a large hand reaches in to rescue them and return
them to Megan. The so-called murderous duke, Hamish,
saves the day, and forces the bully to back down, at
least for the moment.
Megan is very grateful for Hamish's aid, and treats him
with the most courtesy and kindness he's been shown since
coming to town. Though he desperately lacks polish and
tends to let his speech revert back to his soldiering
days, Megan sees the kind and wounded man underneath the
rough exterior. Soon, she's teaching him to waltz, and
he's meeting her extensive family. A friendship
develops, and Megan finds herself confessing her
situation with Fletcher. Knowing Fletcher's true nature,
Hamish is determined not to let Megan be trapped in such
a horrible marriage, and devises a plan...
Opposites do, indeed, attract as Megan and Hamish
initially begin to comfort and confide in each other.
Comfort turns to hugs, which turn to kisses, which
eventually turns to passion. I love their chemistry and
how neither judged the other, and how they listened to
each other. Megan is gently bred, niece of a duke, and
socially adept. She also has very poor vision, bad
enough that it affects her daily life. I admire her not
feeling sorry for herself, and for being tenacious enough
to pursue a relationship with Hamish, who doesn't feel
he's good enough for her. Hamish is a very large, rough
man. He endured a lot of pain while serving as a
soldier, and is severely misjudged regarding most of the
things he's been accused of doing. I love how this big,
bluff man became putty in the hands of Megan, and how he
worked to become her hero.
THE TROUBLE WITH DUKES is a warm and satisfying read,
full of family love, romance, a truly loathsome villain,
and a delightful happy ever after for a most deserving
couple. Grace Burrowes filled this story with many dear
old friends from the original Windham series, and it's
pure joy to catch up with them. I'm betting you'll want
to read their individual stories if this new series,
Windham
Brides, is your first introduction. I thoroughly
enjoyed Hamish and Megan's story, and heartily recommend
THE TROUBLE WITH DUKES.
The gossips whisper that the new Duke of Murdoch is a brute,
a murderer, and even worse--a Scot. They say he
should never be trusted alone with a woman. But Megan
Windham sees in Hamish something different, someone
different.
No one was fiercer at war than Hamish MacHugh, though now
the soldier faces a whole new battlefield: a London Season.
To make his sisters happy, he'll take on any challenge--even
letting their friend Miss Windham teach him to waltz. Megan
isn't the least bit intimidated by his dark reputation, but
Hamish senses that she's fighting battles of her own. For
her, he'll become the warrior once more, and for her, he
might just lose his heart.
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