St. Martin's Press
Featuring: Esmeralda Swift; Duke of Griffin
304 pages ISBN: 1250102499 EAN: 9781250102492 Kindle: B01KFWX6XU Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List
Esmeralda Swift is the administrator of Miss Fortescue's
Employment Agency, which supplies chaperones, governess,
tutors and nurses. Esmeralda has never been a chaperone,
and when the duke of Griffin notices the agency while
walking down the street, he decides to drop in. He needs
a chaperone for his sisters for the Season, and when he
hears Esmeralda talking to one of her employees, he knows
that Esmeralda is the one he will hire. He expected a
much older and plainer lady: Esmeralda is beautiful, if a
bit dowdy, and always dressed in grey. Esmeralda, who
never loses her cool, is rather flummoxed at seeing the
duke, any duke actually. Especially as he is the most
handsome man she has ever seen. She adamantly refuses to
take the position, she makes ridiculous demands which she
knows Griffin will decline, but the duke will not bow
down; no one else will do. He and two of his friends, the
Rakes of St. James, also dukes, got into mischief many
years ago, and it seems that someone has decided that
Lady Vera and Lady Sara -- Griffin's twin sisters -- will
pay for his past transgressions. Griffin is not a saint,
he has mended his ways, and he will do everything in his
power to protect his sisters. If only he weren't so
attracted to the lovely Miss Swift!
The characters are well fleshed-out and sympathetic, and
there are quite a few principals: Esmeralda, Griffin,
Vera and Sara, and Esmeralda's twelve year-old sister
Josephine, as well as her dog Napoleon, whose name causes
quite a stir, as you can imagine. At first, Griffin and
Esmeralda butt heads, neither will budge, and it is very
entertaining banter indeed! The dialogues are excellent
overall, and my favourite exchanges involved Madame
Donceux, a modiste, whose accent and tone were so well
written, and this without butchering any French words,
that I could hear her voice and intonation. Griffin is
arrogant, as befitting a duke, but he's not unpleasant;
it's the way he is. He is however charming and
charismatic, and Esmeralda is more than a match for him.
Esmeralda is also a wonderful character; she is very
proper, but doesn't hesitate to put the duke in his
place, even if she does surprise herself doing so. She
doesn't like aristocrats, which is understandable when
one looks at her family, but Griffin is truly
irresistible, even when he's acting most entitled.
Readers who thrive on fast-paced action and sex scenes
might not enjoy LAST NIGHT WITH THE DUKE so much, as it
is a character-based and mostly clean romance. There is a
lot of sexual tension, and this made the romance more
believable to me, it never felt anachronistic. LAST NIGHT
WITH THE DUKE is not the type of romance I would have
expected to enjoy so much, but I did, and I believe it's
due to the exquisite prose, the superb dialogues, the
richness of the characters, and that everything felt
authentic. I cannot wait to read about the other two
Rakes of St. James, whose stories I know will be just as
delightful!
The Duke of Griffin has never lived down his reputation as
one of the Rakes of St. James. Now rumors are swirling that
his twin sisters may bear the brunt of his past follies.
Hiring a competent chaperone is the only thing Griffin has
on his mind--until he meets the lovely and intriguing Miss
Esmeralda Swift. In ways he could never have expected, she
arouses more than just his curiosity.
Esmeralda Swift considered herself too sensible to ever fall
for a scoundrel, but that was before she met the
irresistibly seductive Duke of Griffin. His employment offer
proves too tempting for her to resist. She can’t afford to
be distracted by his devilish charms because the stakes are
so high for his sisters’ debut Season. . .unless one of
London’s most notorious rakes has had a change of heart and
is ready to make Esmeralda his bride?