Blake Montague has a great deal to offer the war effort, if he could only get his hands on more of Napoleon's secret code. The only sure way he can find is to join the war effort at a level that will allow him access to enemy dispatches, but as an impoverished second son of a Baron, he hasn't enough money to buy his colors. The solution seems clear; marry a woman with enough dowry to pay his way, hopefully someone who won't mind seeing the back of him as he heads off to war.

Jocelyn Carrington has waited patiently for this moment. She is about to inherit money held in trust, hopefully enough for her to make a haven for her family. Her younger brother is not comfortable with people, hiding away his brilliant mind among his collection of pet birds, unable to make his way as a man in the world. Her mother has a similar ailment that kept her at the mercy of her husband, and now suffers the whims of her eldest son and the vicious tongue of her daughter-in-law. Jocelyn will soon have the means to bring her mother and brother under her protection regardless of the power her eldest brother wields. Things would be easier should she find some kind, malleable man to become her husband, one who would not mind an eccentric family, or better yet, would absent himself to London leaving Jocelyn to rebuild her life.

Patricia Rice has long been one of my favorite authors. Her ability to wind the absurd throughout her romances while never diminishing the very real challenges her characters face charms me every time. I am always caught by the very first sentence and am almost unable to put one of her books down until the final page, and always with a sense of sadness that the book is over. THE DEVILISH MONTAGUE is the second in the Rebellious Sons series, following The Wicked Wyckerly.