Left crippled in a wheelchair after an accident that happened three years earlier, the Marquess of Walfort had time on his hands to think about his legacy. His wife, Lady Jayne Seymour, was very devoted to her husband and had miscarried their first child as a result of the tragedy. Unable to have more, Walfort demands that his cousin, Ransom Seymour, the Duke of Ainsley, conceive a child with his wife to make up for the tragic loss and to ensure his family bloodline, through his cousin, is continued as his heir. Walfort wants the resulting child to be claimed as his own.

After much argument and delay, Ainsley unhappily agrees to the deal, out of guilty feelings about his involvement in the earlier accident and his own well hidden love for Jayne. For her part, Jayne is furious and at first refuses to break her sacred marriage vows as she had blamed Ainley's for Walfort's condition; however, Walfort gets her to finally agree by ensuring her it would only be a transaction and there would be no gossip.

Alone with Ainsley in his lovely and isolated luxurious cottage on his Blackmoor estate, except for a few very discreet servants catering to their needs, Jayne soon finds that her feelings are changing as she learns more about the person Ainsley really is and what actually happened. Finding laughter and passion as she is cherished by Ainsey, she wonders if she can really continue with this transaction? For Ainsley, who found such love and joy with Jayne, will he truly be able to never recognize his child as his own?

Lorraine Heath is one of my favorite historical romance authors, especially for her interesting background research as well as for her portrayals of honest passion and realistic emotions and this delightful love tryst is no exception. WAKING UP WITH A DUKE is the third book in her latest series, London's Greatest Lovers. It reads very well as a stand-alone romance and it is sure to bring great reading pleasure to her fans who have eagerly awaited this latest in the series. I have to admit that at first I was uncomfortable with the deliberately manipulated adultery, but as Heath develops her strong storyline, you are pulled right into the conflicted emotions that Ainsley and Jayne have over their situation and with each other. Skillfully intertwined with this love story is the passionate late life love affair of Ainsley's mother and her penchant for the occasional scandalous behavior. The juxtaposition of the two stories also helps explain why Ainsley is the person he is and how he reacts in the story. A compelling and emotional love story with intriguing and dramatic twists of fate!